Ms. Hambleton, a Columbia grad employed by Creative Time, a nonprofit arts organization in the East Village, said she rarely goes to Manhattan except for work, finding the crowds, traffic, noise and high prices there vulgar and uninviting. Sometimes she can’t believe how good her life in Brooklyn—her lifestyle—is. “It’s like, wait, shouldn’t this be harder?” she told The Observer, pausing outside a restaurant serving “100% organic, fresh, nourishing raw food” as well as juice, kale and vegan baked goods.