CHELSEA

THE BASICS: The townhouses and prewar co-ops of gay-friendly Chelsea have been home to photographers and filmmakers for years. But “we’re increasingly seeing doctors, lawyers, and business owners,” says Stribling’s Georgia Asher. “You won’t see many small children,” adds Ashforth Warburg’s Judith Thorn. “You wouldn’t move to Chelsea for the schools.”

WHAT'S NEW: Luxury rentals have sprung up along Sixth Avenue. The Tate, the Westminster, and the Sierra, all mid-rises built last year, mix studios from $2,000 with two-bedrooms from $3,500. The Campiello Collection, a pair of condo towers at 224 West 18th and 151 West 17th, has one- to three-bedroom apartments from $1 million to $3 million.

BARGAIN HUNTING: Prices drop the farther north you get from London Terrace (the famed prewar building that occupies a full block of 23rd Street at Ninth Avenue) and the Chelsea Market, especially up in the grittier Thirties.

HOT SPOTS: Man Ray, the French-Asian restaurant at 15th Street and Seventh Avenue owned by Johnny Depp, John Malkovich, and Sean Penn, caters to the sunglasses-at-night set. Serena, in the basement of the Hotel Chelsea, draws the young and fabulous, as does the bar at the Park, on Tenth Avenue near 17th Street.