Park Slope, Brooklyn
chitownguy01 writes in the Park Slope Message Boards: “My wife and I are moving to NYC in a couple months. We’re strongly considering renting in Park Slope. Has anyone used a broker to find their apartment? Any good ones you can recommend? Any ones to stay away from?”
“I bought a book a couple months ago that listed the following brokers:”
-Aguayo and Huebener
-William B. Mary
-Berman Realty
-Rita Knox Realty
-Gurl Realty
Jennifer White Karp in the New York Times:
“At 12:30 a.m. one recent Thursday, a car horn outside our window wakes us. The offender leans on the horn for a good 10 seconds, only to pause and honk again and again…”
“In the age of the cellphone, this is outrageous! Why honk? Especially at this hour, when the residents of Eighth Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn, are seemingly tucked in bed.”
“‘Can you actually reach the car with the flashlight?'”
travisruse writes to Daily Slope: “South Park Slope has won its downzoning battle.”
“It’s official!! As of 2:40pm, Wednesday the 16th of November 2005, South Park Slope and Greenwood Heights have been downzoned. Another mindless R6 district has bitten the dust…”
“And so what happens to the numerous sites that were racing to be the clock? Namely the two Isaac Katan 12-story monsters on 15th and 16th streets. And also the Robert Scarano building which was going to block the view from Minerva to the Statue of Liberty. Well it looks like it might be a clean sweep in favor of the community… it looks like none have completed foundations… Read more…
Drew wrote: “the other day i was in the mall and stores were playing christmas music. they were all on the overhead speakers like “christmas time is here! christmas! christmas time!” this is just blatantly not true. christmas time does not start until after thanksgiving.”
Photo: colorstalker documents holiday cheer in Park Slope.
From the New York Times: “A bear with a prominent grease spot on his little beige nose spends his days wedged behind the bumper guard of an ironworker’s pickup in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn. A fuzzy rabbit and a clown, garroted by a bungee cord, slump from the front of a Dodge van in Park Slope. Stewie, the evil baby from “Family Guy,” scowls from the grille of a Pepperidge Farm delivery truck in Brooklyn Heights, mold occasionally sprouting from his forehead…”
[Pictured: Stuffed toys strapped onto a van in Park Slope, Brooklyn. David F. Gallagher for NYT]
1. Laptop-free coffee shop. Like a smoke-free zone.
2. A space that caters to “laptop army,” and specificallly the 10 million freelancers in the neighborhood who are looking to get away from their home offices/get some work done outside of the client office. Coffee, workstations, free secure wireless internet, maybe some music at a very low background level. A spot like the Microchip Cafe would be perfect, but (with all respect to the extremely nice people who own it and work there…) in its current form, that place not only has zero atmosphere, it has negative atmosphere. I’ve been in a few times and couldn’t wait to leave.
Today on Gothamist:
Favorite bar or restaurant?
Hunan Delight in Park Slope has great chicken with mixed vegetables and soft tofu with mixed vegetables. Oddly, they also have a flashy Flash-based website. I’m going to tell them that I mentioned them in this interview, and hopefully they’ll print it out and put it in the window, so that way, whenever I walk in, I’ll see myself recommending them and won’t have second thoughts. Also, Russ and Daughters–great herring.
The Park Slope Food Co-op is quite a high-profile target these days. On Gothamist, Phoebe Maltz claims that it is “taboo to insult the Park Slope Food Co-op. Even if you are not a member, you are supposed to understand that joining is both a good deal and—more importantly—a progressive act.”
“I happen to believe it is neither, and have already made this semi-public by writing about it on my semi-read blog. If revealing this to a larger audience means I will be banished to, say, a townhouse in the West Village, so be it.” Read more…
Sarah from the Slope writes in the Park Slope Message Boards: “Below is the email from the PSP moderators about the resolution of their legal problems. They got a kick-ass lawyer who set the record straight right quick…”
“Dear PSP Members,
“The PSP Message Archives are Back!
“THANK YOU Park Slope parents community for your outpouring of support… We now feel it is time to discuss what happened…”
“A question was posted about a month ago about Midwood Montessori School. Two positive messages were posted, along with a negative post on the list regarding its principal…”
More… Check it out, here.
Are the wire public garbage baskets slowly disappearing?
Looks like somebody has threatened the moderators of the Park Slope Parents Yahoo Group with a lawsuit related to something that a member posted.
They have shut down the Message Archives until further notice, and are seeking an “expert in Internet law” to help:
“The PSP Moderators and Advisory Committee have already spent hundreds of hours trying to resolve this situation. It is important that we resolve this quickly and with integrity — if we do not, the entire PSP list may be in jeopardy and may have to be closed down entirely…”
See a pair of Brooklyn bunnies, live, on your computer.
Welcome to the future!
Discuss Bunny Cuteness: Check the Message Boards
A remarkably large number of New Yorkers have finished the New York Marathon. There’s a good chance you’ve done it once. Almost everyone knows somebody who’s crossed the finish line.
Yet it’s still regarded as an accomplishment of almost heroic proportions, which may explain why there is a disconnect between certain aspects of Marathon behavior and what we normally consider acceptable. On any other day, peeing in a public place is normally an offense that can get you a fine, if not a trip to the precinct house. Yet for some reason, it seems totally acceptable to us. You could be guilty of violating public urination laws while running in the New York City Marathon, and yet you’ve never thought twice about it.
There could be a good question in here somewhere for Randy Cohen, ethicist on call to NPR and the New York Times.
How could this disconnect exist? Does advertising play a role? Corporate marketing has clearly shaped our perception of what the Marathon is all about. As noted, tens of thousands of runners finish marathons each year, yet this particular road race has been transformed into a Celebration of Personal Achievement, mainly in the service of selling products, including sport shoes, socks and shirts, sugary “performance” foods, painkillers, and a wide variety of investment products. Are we cutting these heros too much slack? There are urinals strategically located all along the marathon route–is public urination really a necessity, or an attempt to shave a few minutes off the the finish time?
This ethical dilemma becomes very real just after the 7-mile mark in the ING New York City Marathon, as noted on Chubsucker.com: “…Runners passing through Park Slope, Brooklyn, on 4th Ave. are treated to a Poland Spring-sponsored water station … a vacant lot perfect for a quick piss is just one block away. This impromptu public urinal served many runners well today.”
The author continues: “Incidentally, I got into a mild argument with another spectator who scoffed my photographing this spectacle. He said it was disrespectful of me to take photos of their private moment. I asked if it was any more disrespectful than pissing on the side of someone’s house. And what makes this such a private moment?” Read more…
… has its own blog.
Jessica Berthold writes in The (Allentown, Pa.) Morning Call: “The site chronicles the journey of Allentown native Farid Ali as he opens a Latin restaurant with a friend in trendy Park Slope, Brooklyn. It takes the reader from the beginning steps of procuring loans, through hiring (and firing) staff, all the way to September’s grand opening party and beyond.”
The article quotes Ali: “… Now I’m looking at it as a way to record some stories about my experiences in the restaurant, as well as a marketing tool. People come into the restaurant and joke and say ”Will I be on the blog?’ because I like to take photos of customers. I think they kind of dig it.”
“I didn’t anticipate lifting boxes at the age of 40, hauling meat and fish over my shoulders. Also, quite often your employees make more money than you. The dishwasher makes more than me right now.” Read more…
It’s more expensive than ever to buy in Park Slope.
Median house prices in Park Slope (actually Park Slope/BoCoCa/Brooklyn Heights combined) jumped from $900,000 to $1,250,000 from First Half 2004 to First Half 2005, according to a report from Halstead that was reported on Curbed.
Average price is up from $1.09 million to $1.38 million over than same time period.
From the Daily News: “Peeling paint. No heat. An overwhelming stench of sewage in the halls… Welcome to life at 152 Fourth Ave. – one of five ‘buildings from hell’ in Park Slope where a landlord is trying to drive tenants from their rent-stabilized homes, housing advocates charge…”
“Organizers from the Fifth Avenue Committee charge landlord Gustav Rodriguez has refused to provide heat or make necessary repairs to the buildings as a way to harass tenants into leaving.”
DOES IT WORK? “Guerra said last year the 40 apartments in the buildings were full. Now only eight are occupied.”
LANDLORD REBUTTAL: “Rodriguez insisted Friday he has done nothing wrong: ‘Everything that the court told me to do I did.'”
Ah ha ha… a tenant’s dream: the landlord who does everything… everything that he is forced to do by a court of law!
ic96 writes in the Park Slope Message Boards: “How is the marathon watching in Park Slope on 4th Ave? I’ve normally gone to the Upper East Side bars/restaurants to hang out for marathon watching. How is it in the Slope?”
Discuss: Park Slope Message Boards:
Carpathian Kitten Loss reports: “Last night was the Halloween Parade. No, not the hedonistic one the cool kids go to in the Village… the Park Slope Halloween Parade…”
“One of the nice things about Park Slope is while yes it’s choc a bloc full of parents, these often are young cool parents. And these parents make awesome costumes for their three year olds who have no clue what’s going on.”
Barbershop in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Where is the best dessert to be found in Park Slope? You’ve done Two Little Red Hens, and admired their pig stool (thanks, Ranjit). What’s the alternative, Jane asks in the Park Slope Message Boards?
Daniel says the Opera cake at Cousin Johns (7th Ave + Berkely) is “incredible… Most of the baked goods there are great – we had a chocolate ganache cake (as they were out of Opera cake, and we forgot to pre-order) for my birthday …”
When it comes to baked goods in South Brooklyn, however, Court Street is the place to go, according to Jack: “The Slope simply does not have anything that comes close to the goodness of the stuff over there… It depends on tastes, but it’s yuppie-ish and good and it’s called Sweet Melissa has some great stuff. You defiinitely pay a little more, but it’s very much worth it.”
“If you want Cannoli and some great Italian pastries, Court Pastry is great as well. Not too heavy when it should not be too heavy. And just the right balance of richness all around. These are Italian baked goods exactly as they should be…”
From the photostream of gak: “… Skipped 2 of the open houses and passed by the locations of 2 others to see this gem in Park Slope. Barrels of light and space, close to 7th Avenue and Prospect Park yet very quiet, the possibility of a lower rent for only one occupant…”
From the New York Post: “a couple’s romantic stroll along a leafy Brooklyn block turned into a randy romp on the sidewalk that was abruptly interrupted when a cop caught the woman bare-bottomed and her boyfriend sprawled on top.”
“Officer Talat Awad spotted the obliviously passionate pair at 4:50 a.m. Thursday on the pavement in front of a classic brownstone stretch of First Street near Sixth Avenue in Park Slope.”
“‘People make mistakes,’ [24-year-old Philip] Clonan [of Williamsburg] told The Post … ‘This is the biggest one I ever made.'”
LINK: Public Lovers Nailed [New York Post]
PREVIOUSLY: Monday Night Sex (on a Filthy Mattress the Neighbor Girl Threw Out) [Daily Slope via Gawker]
May be just a rumor after all.
MsAnthea writes: “A little over a week ago, there was an electical fire beneath the street in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The fire eventually burst out of a manhole 5 houses down from me … I was without a phone for more than 24 hours, without DSL for over a week & my lights were flickering off & on as though the house were possessed…”
In the New York Times: “For more than a decade, doctors have advocated putting babies to bed on their backs as a precaution against sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS… however, some new parents are finding that the benefits of having babies sleep soundly – more likely when they sleep on their stomachs – outweigh the comparatively tiny risk of SIDS.”
“‘Do you want your child to be uncomfortable or dead?’ asked Vanessa Saft, the mother of a 2-year-old, Ramona, and an early childhood educator … Ms. Saft said she was baffled by some of the permissive discussions she read on the e-mail list of the Park Slope Parents, where Brooklynites share their advice on vaccinations, sippy cups, schools, nannies and, also, sleeping.
“But Ms. Saft said she refrained from chiming in with an unpopular viewpoint, even one in line with the medical mainstream, because, ‘I always get in trouble.'”
The Park Slope Food Co-op just announced that it be switching to 100% wind-generated electricity from New York and Pennsylvania. The co-op board voted 66-0 in favor of the switch.
This is the largest private purchase of wind power in Brooklyn to date, and the first purchase of wind by a food co-op in the Northeast, according to Community Energy, which markets “NewWind” electricity around the country.
General Coordinator Joe Holtz: “We want to do our part to lessen U. S. dependence on foreign oil, reduce our emissions of CO2 and harmful pollutants, and raise people’s awareness” which apparently will include encouraging co-op members to make the switch, too.
The 920,000-kilowatt-hour purchase saves 800,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per year, comparable to taking 58 cars off the road, according to Community Energy.
You can buy wind power, too. One route is to go though Con Edison. Purchasing “25% NewWind Energy®/ 75% Small-hydro” will set you back an additional 1/2 cent per kWh on all usage, according to this Community Energy page.
Discuss: Park Slope Message Boards
From the New York Times: “On a still-industrial strip of Fourth Avenue, just beyond the leafy residential quiet of Park Slope, this welcoming bi-level club is both bar and clubhouse, populated by diverse crowds of lesbians and their friends. The welcoming space is bigger and more polished than owner Brooke Webster’s previous venture, the now-defunct Houston Street dive Meow Mix…”
“…Many varieties of the Sapphically inclined were visible on a recent night: boyish girls in Carhartts and their male friends, middle-aged couples, a bartender with a mohawk. The countercultural and the traditionalist should both find a place to feel at home here…”
Cattyshack | 249 Fourth Ave., Brooklyn, NY. 718-230-5740
LINKS:
Top Pick: Cattyshack [New York Times]
Meow Mix Owner Lands on Her Feet [Curbed.com]
Discuss: [Park Slope Message Boards]
From the New York Post: “Brooklyn parents, who were hot and bothered by a billboard featuring a naked blonde across the street from an elementary school, have won their fight to have the sign taken down. A spokesman for FlashDancers, a Manhattan ‘gentlemen’s club,’ said the billboard across from PS 133 in Park Slope would be removed…”
“He blamed society for a double-standard on adult material: ‘That sign is less risqué than the ads on city busses.'”
“… the stiletto-wearing woman … offers a come-hither look as she stares down at kids in the school playground.”
Councilman David Yassky … called it ‘totally inappropriate’ …”
“‘Wow, look at the hot lady,’ said one 9-year-old boy…”
LINKS:
Ad to be Stripped [New York Post]
A Young Audience for an Explicit Ad [New York Times]
Christian Lorentzen sent us a link to his take on Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and The Whale:
“People over age 50 are signally absent from Park Slope, Brooklyn. It’s a neighborhood where members of the ‘creative class’ move during their breeding years to mate, spawn, and keep housepets. The elegant brownstones are spacious and just barely affordable, grocery stores and veterinary clinics abound, the streets remain fairly safe, and a majestic park sits atop the hill. What better place to fall in love and raise a family?”
“But here comes the paradox. No zone – besides perhaps a college dormitory – could be more hostile to monogamy… The density of the Slope’s educated, attractive, liberal-minded population translates… into a practically limitless array of analogous sexual options within walking distance. The lonesomeness of the uncoupled, or the isolation of marital strife, can be assuaged without difficulty. Someone else will always be thirsty too, and chances are he or she is pretty good-looking, attended a respected college, holds a really interesting job, has an intriguing ethnic background, and there’s always the thrill of seeing the inside of someone else’s apartment…” Read more…
