Marite Burwell

Don’t worry about pushing your stroller uphill—the namesake incline here was leveled by the Brits during the Revolutionary War. These days the only turf battle is between the new wave of chain stores and the old-guard Italian shops, Middle Eastern eateries and other family-run businesses that know their customers by name. It’s this mix that makes the neighborhood so alluring. Streets here feel like Brooklyn at its most ideal. Local kids chase ice cream trucks, jump into spraying fire hydrants and play stickball in the street, just like they did in the land before Wii. Check it out Off the F train’s Bergen Street stop, Cobble Hill has two parallel arteries, Smith and Court. Among the restaurants and shops are enough kid-magnets to make a camp counselor giddy. Tots at the Salsa Salon dance studio (259 Smith St, 347-628-5883) prove the Mad Hot Ballroom craze is still on the upswing. Fledgling Mozarts find their muse at Arts Cetera (212 Smith St, 718-643-6817), where free trial music classes encourage children to sing and clap. For something calmer, Cobble Hill Cinemas (265 Court St, 718-596-9113) screens “Big Movies for Little Kids,” a series of children’s classics like Muppets from Space, as well as with blockbuster fare. Good eats Despite a sophisticated air, kid-inclusiveness permeates the restaurant scene. Bocca Lupo (391 Henry St, 718-243-2522), on the more residential west side of Cobble Hill, shows off a chrome-and-wood urban refinement, but the children’s menu demonstrat