The South, they argue, has maintained its bohemian D.I.Y. roots, with its indie boutiques, bearded mixologists, artists’ lofts and working-class families: in sum, the “real” Williamsburg.

“The people who live in those towers on the north side, they don’t want to experience anything authentically Brooklyn,” said Robert Anasi, the author of “The Last Bohemia: Scenes From the Life of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.” “It’s a totally homogeneous living experience,” he said.

But residents of the north are not above stereotyping, either. To them, the south can feel, well, a little too real: a backwater of vinyl siding, dusty bodegas, Gen-Y drifters and unrenovated dumps unfit for civilized company. As they see it, their corner of Williamsburg has matured into a desirable address, one with ample green space and light, see-and-be-seen-in restaurants and amenities rivaling tonier ZIP codes.

“It’s just like an extension of Manhattan now,” said David Weinholdt, a waiter at Café de La Esquina near North Third Street, a spinoff of the Manhattan taqueria. “But people who live here like to think it’s cooler than Manhattan.”