Much attention has been paid to the changes the Barclays Center has wrought on the surrounding brownstone neighborhoods: eminent domain evictions, property values both falling and rising, construction noise, a starchitect fight and a rat tsunami. Yet nothing could have prepared the borough of kings and kombucha for this: Hooters “desperately” wants to open an outlet near the new Nets arena. Read More
Though many thought it was not possible, Park Slope is becoming even more perfect. (And no, the ice cream trucks have not agreed to vacate Prospect Park.)
Today, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a sizable expansion of the Park Slope historic district, making it one of the largest historic districts in the city, according to a release from City Councilmember Brad Lander.
The extension will include some 580 buildings and will stretch from roughly 7th Street to 15th Street, mostly between 7th Avenue and 8th Avenues. The brownstone bedecked South Slope blocks also include the former Ansonia Clock Works factory and the factory workers’ homes. Read More
After a Park Slope mother complained on a local listserv about the ice cream vendors that are befouling a local playground, her lament went ’round the world with a slew of mostly mocking news stories about the dust-up.
This reaction did not go appreciated by Park Slope parents, and now, the keepers of the listserv have put a kibosh on any more discussion of the frozen dairy treats and their interloping purveyors:
“We are calling a HALT to all discussion of the ice cream thread and the responses it has received,” reads a message sent out by the list’s moderator. “For me the best news is that clearly there isn’t any REAL news to cover or this wouldn’t have received the coverage it did. It is time to focus on spring, holidays, vacations, and the great things our neighborhood has to offer.” Read More
“Why is that baby being such a dick?”
This was in 2009. My husband, Jeff, and I were on our way to Berlin, and a toddler a few rows ahead of us was voicing dissatisfaction with his sudden corporeal confinement by making the sorts of noises Janis Joplin might have produced had she lived to accidentally stick her hand into a garbage disposal.
I rolled my eyes and returned to my US Weekly and Delta-issue merlot. “I know. What an asshole.”
John Lennon once sang of instant karma. But in my case, it took three years. Read More
It’s one thing to stop for a pomegranate frozen yogurt on the way home from the park, but Park Slope parents have had it with those ice cream trucks that are always lurking around the playground. (And no, this has nothing to do with boycotting Israel.)
In true Park Slope fashion, parents have taken to the infamous Park Slope Parents blog to air their grievances with the trucks, The New York Post reports. And rather than teaching kids to deal with temptations and master their impulses, parents would like those temptations removed. Now! Please. Read More
Depeche Mode founder Vince Clarke, a.k.a. Vincent Martin and his wife Tracy Hurley Martin will be enjoying a “new life” in Park Slope after purchasing the townhouse of J.Crew creative director Jenna Lyons, according to Fucked in Park Slope. Read More
For the politically minded, there is no shortage of righteous causes to adopt. Women throughout the world—especially in certain regions—are oppressed by societies governed by medieval practices and beliefs. Brutal dictators throughout the globe think nothing of killing and torturing anybody thought to harbor an independent thought. Here in the United States, some state and local governments have enacted or are considering horrifying laws targeting immigrants, pregnant women and gay people.
For some radical-chic types in Park Slope, however, the above practices and causes apparently are too pedestrian for their outrage. Instead, they have decided to channel their energy against Israel. Read More
J.Crew is known for its upscale but largely affordable clothes, but when it comes to some items—like president and creative director Jenna Lyons’ Park Slope townhouse—people are apparently willing to pay above retail.
The fashion guru’s 7 bed, 3.5 bath, 4,400 square foot townhouse sold for $4 million to Vincent and Tracy Martin, according to Curbed — 7 percent more than the $3.75 million that Ms. Lyons listed the property for last November. Read More
I signed up for Park Slope Parents, the notorious community listserv for procreating BroBos, under absurdly apropos circumstances: via 4G roaming Internet on an iPad 2 in a car on my way back from a President’s Day weekend trip to New England. As I typed away on my convenient keyboard dock, my five-month-old son sat beside me in his car seat, idly drooling on a tarted-up chew toy crafted to resemble an anthropomorphic toadstool with a nipple protruding from its head like a jaunty, pastel fez. This toy retails for almost $20, and is considered a steal at my local baby boutique, where it was sold to me by a cute lesbian shopkeep who favors ironic trucker hats.
The moment you realize you’ve become a cliche—strolling down upper Madison Avenue in your fur and turban, say, or arranging the artisanal cheese and pluot plate at the reception for the dystopian YA novel you Kickstarter-published—is a New York rite of passage. And there on I-95, as I sent in the $35 annual fee, I knew I had crossed the paper-thin threshold that separates the merely pretentious from the parodic: I had become the consummate SAHM (stay-at-home mom). Read More
Is Park Slope dead? Yes, Eustace Tilley, of course it is. It died years ago. But washed ashore on the East River’s bay in Brooklyn, the old Park Slope decomposed and fertilized the neighborhood that it has become today. It is merely the circle of life: reborn with a silver spoon, a stroller, and Caribbean nanny.
Just as Fifth Avenue in Manhattan garnered prosperity and luxury at the turn of the 20th century, Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn is doing the same at the turn of the 21st century. National chains—Barnes and Noble and Starbucks—have spread to the neighborhood, but so have yoga shops, children’s stores, and some Brooklyn favorites: Beacon’s Closet, Bird, Gorilla Coffee and the Chocolate Room. Read More
