Neighborhood Intel: North Park Slope, Brooklyn

It's common, often snickered about, knowledge that "the Slope" is the place to which Manhattanites flee once they have kids and are sick of squeezing into too-small rental apartments.

Child-free Brooklynites love to complain about the Park Slope "stroller brigade" but all those moms (like the ones recently depicted in the novel "Prospect Park West") are attracted for good reason.

The North Slope's charming brownstone-lined streets; setting adjacent to Prospect Park (Brooklyn's answer to Central Park) and relatively affordable prices for everything from groceries to rental apartments are the big draws. It's not quite hipster-Brooklyn-it's short on music clubs and art spaces-but it is a picturesque and amenity-filled neighborhood with top transportation and a doable commute to Manhattan.

Here's the skinny: