Neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Park Slope is a neighborhood in western Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park and Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Avenue to the north, and Prospect Expressway to the south. Generally, the neighborhood is divided into three sections from north to south: North Slope, Center Slope, and South Slope.[4][5][6] The neighborhood takes its name from its location on the western slope of neighboring Prospect Park. Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue are its primary commercial streets, while its east–west side streets are lined with brownstones and apartment buildings.[7]
Park Slope was settled by the Lenape before Europeans arrived in the 17th century. The area was mostly farms and woods until the early 19th century, when the land was subdivided into rectangular parcels. The western section of the neighborhood was occupied in the mid-19th century, being located near the industrial Gowanus Canal and ferries. After the completion of Prospect Park, numerous mansions and rowhouses were developed in Park Slope's eastern section in the 1880s. Park Slope faced social and infrastructural decline in the mid-20th century, but the building stock was renovated after the area became gentrified starting in the 1960s. Much of the neighborhood is overlaid by the Park Slope Historic District, which is composed of a National Historic District and a New York City landmark district.
Though modern-day Brooklyn is coextensive with Kings County, this was not always the case. South Brooklyn, an area in central Kings County extending to the former Brooklyn city line near Green-Wood Cemetery's southern border, was originally settled by the Canarsee Indians, one of several indigenous Lenape peoples who farmed and hunted on the land. The Lenape typically lived in wigwams, and had larger fishing and hunting communities near freshwater sites on higher land.[12][13] Several Lenape roads crossed the landscape[14] and were later widened into "ferry roads" by 17th-century Dutch settlers, since they were used to provide transport to the waterfront. One was the Flatbush Road, running roughly north–south to the east of the path of present-day Flatbush Avenue. Just north of modern-day Park Slope was the Jamaica Road, running east to Jamaica, Queens, on what is now the path of Fulton Street.[15][16]
The first European settlement occurred in 1637-1639 when Willem Kieft, the Dutch West India Company's director, purchased almost all land in what is now Brooklyn and Queens.[15][17]:43–44 The area was used as farmland over the next two centuries.[15]
During the American Revolutionary War, on August 27, 1776, the Park Slope area served as the backdrop for the beginning of the Battle of Long Island.[15] In this battle, over 10,000 British soldiers and Hessian mercenaries routed outnumbered American forces, which resulted in the British occupation of Long and Staten Islands.[18][19][20] The Battle Pass site is now preserved in Prospect Park,[21][22] while on Fifth Avenue, there is a reconstruction of the Old Stone House, a farmhouse where a countercharge covered the American retreat.[23]
19th century
Early development
Transit from Park Slope improved in the early 19th century. The Brooklyn, Jamaica and Flatbush Turnpike Company was incorporated in 1809 to widen the Flatbush and Jamaica ferry roads,[16][24] prior to the establishment of the Fulton Ferry to Manhattan in 1814.[25] Afterward, stagecoaches started running on Flatbush Road in 1830, with omnibus service following four years later.[24] The land comprising what is now Park Slope was still mostly undeveloped c.1810. There were a couple of houses on and around Prospect Hill, a tavern, and a resort; the section of Flatbush Road through present-day Prospect Park contained ponds of standing water, which caused fevers and other illnesses.[24][26]:135 Soon afterward, the land was split up into rectangular parcels, which were bought by numerous people and cultivated as farmland. As in the rest of Kings County, the farmland was likely dependent on slave labor.[24][27]:81
The farm parcels were further split in the 19th century, allowing for the development of smaller urban lots.[24] After Brooklyn was incorporated as a city in 1834,[28][29] the Commissioners Plan of 1839 was devised, a street plan that extended to South Brooklyn.[30][31][32] Park Slope was originally located in the northern section of the Eighth Ward, which at the time was the city's least populous ward.[24][33]
The Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad started running on Atlantic Avenue, north of Park Slope, in 1836.[34][35] The railroad's presence did not hasten the slow rate of residential growth in South Brooklyn because the locomotives provided slow and inefficient service.[35] Horse-drawn railcar companies provided competition to the railroad: the first, the Brooklyn City Railroad, was founded in 1853.[36]:25 Other streetcar routes were founded, including a line on Flatbush Avenue in 1875, as well as the Atlantic Avenue Company's Fifth Avenue and Ninth Avenue lines, the latter of which served the Eighth Ward directly.[35]
Prospect Park and further development
Park Slope Historic District during a blizzard
The first plans to develop modern-day Park Slope arose in 1847 when Colonel Daniel Richards requested permission from the Brooklyn Common Council to develop the Eighth Ward's streets. Richards also proposed the renovation of the nearby Gowanus Creek into a canal, including draining the marshes in its watershed.[37] Between 1849 and 1860, under a decree by the New York Legislature, the Gowanus Creek was deepened.[38] Simultaneously, a local lawyer and railroad developer named Edwin Clarke Litchfield (1815–1885) purchased large tracts of what was then farmland, erecting his Litchfield Villa on the east side of the neighborhood in 1857.[39][40] Through the American Civil War era, Litchfield sold off much of his land to residential developers.[7]
Development increased with the planning and creation of Prospect Park, just east of modern-day Park Slope.[41] In February 1860, a group of fifteen commissioners had submitted suggestions for locations of four large parks and three small parks in Brooklyn.[40][42][43] The largest of these proposed parks was a 320-acre (1.3km2) plot east of Ninth and Tenth Avenue in the Eighth Ward.[40][44] After work was stopped during the Civil War, the proposed park's boundaries were changed, shifting the boundaries slightly west and south.[45][46] In 1868, the City of Brooklyn purchased his estate and adjoining property to complete the West Drive and the southern portion of the Long Meadow in Prospect Park, for the then-exorbitant price of $1.7 million ($39 million in 2023).[7][40] The modern-day Park Slope was split into the city's 22nd Ward the same year.[33]
By the late 1870s, with horse-drawn rail cars running to the park and the ferry, bringing many rich New Yorkers in the process, urban sprawl dramatically changed the neighborhood into a streetcar suburb.[35] The opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 led to further development in the city of Brooklyn.[35][47] The Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad extended its Fifth Avenue elevated line to South Brooklyn six years later.[35][48] During the 1890s, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company added electric trolley lines or converted old stagecoach lines to electric service.[41]
Upscale residential neighborhood
Many of the large Victorian mansions on Prospect Park West, known as the Gold Coast, were built in the 1880s and 1890s to take advantage of the park views.[49] Early colloquial names for the neighborhood included "Prospect Heights" (later applied to the neighborhood north of Prospect Park), "Prospect Hill", and "Park Hill Side", before residents settled on Park Slope.[50] By 1883, with the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge, Park Slope continued to boom and subsequent brick and brownstone structures pushed the neighborhood's borders farther. The 1890 census showed Park Slope to be the richest community in the United States. Realtors and community members saw a clear connection between Park Slope's bucolic setting and the comfort of living there. As the New York Tribune wrote in 1899, "Nature set the park down where it is, and man has embellished her work in laying out great lawns and artificial lakes, in bringing together menageries and creating conservatories, in making roads and driveways, and in doing everything in his power to make the place a pleasant pleasure ground and a charming resort."[51]
Brooklyn Conservatory of Music
Baseball had also played a prominent role in the history of the Park Slope area. From 1879 to 1889, the Brooklyn Atlantics played at Washington Park on 5th Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets. When the park was destroyed by a fire, the team moved to two other sites. In 1898, the "New" Washington Park was built between Third and Fourth Avenues and between First and Third Streets near the Gowanus Canal. The team, by this point known as the Dodgers, played to an ever-growing fan base at this location, and team owner Charles Ebbets moved the team to his Ebbets Field stadium in Flatbush for the beginning of the 1913 season.[52] The Federal League'sBrooklyn Tip-Tops rebuilt much of the park in concrete and steel and played there for two years, in 1914 and 1915, before the league folded. A portion of the ballpark's wall still exists today on Fourth Avenue.[53]
20th century to present
Following Brooklyn's subsumption into the City of Greater New York in 1898 and accelerating in the 1910s, many wealthy and upper middle-class families fled for the suburban life, initially to outlying Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods (such as nearby Flatbush) and thence to more distant locales in Westchester County, Nassau County and New Jersey amid the adoption of the automobile. Manhattan gained economic and cultural dominance in the consolidated city, helped by transportation improvements like the subway, which brought a more heterogeneous population to Brooklyn. Existing families adapted by relocating to exclusive districts in the other boroughs, most notably the Upper East Side. Accordingly, Park Slope gradually became a more working class neighborhood amid the subdivision of the expansive Victorian-era housing stock into apartment buildings and rooming houses.
The socioeconomic changes were slowed by the ongoing development of upscale apartment houses on Prospect Park West and Plaza Street along with infill middle-class buildings throughout the neighborhood. Only a fraction of the area, centered in the traditional Gold Coast district and select adjoining blocks, retained wealthy and upper middle-class residents into the 1940s.[54] The Emery Roth-designed 35 Prospect Park West, marketed as a competitor to the upscale apartment houses of Fifth Avenue, Park Avenue and Central Park West, opened right before the Great Depression in 1929, and contained a variety of luxury accommodations (including penthouses, duplexes and maisonettes) alongside "just plain apartments".[55] While the building attracted such notable residents as pharmaceutical executive John L. Smith and remained a "solid fortress of wealth" for decades, it ultimately failed to anchor comparable development in the neighborhood.[56]
By the 1950s, the working-class Italian-American and Irish-American populations predominated, though this changed by the 1970s as the black and Latino population of the area increased and the white ethnic population began to relocate amid the less exclusive, though effectively segregated, wave of postwar suburbanization.[57] However, the area straddling Flatbush and Washington Avenues between Prospect Park and Atlantic Avenue began to attract a population that was mostly African-American and West Indian-American, similar to neighboring Crown Heights. This area was increasingly identified as the separate neighborhood of Prospect Heights, a moniker that had previously been used to identify areas of Park Slope outside the Gold Coast.
Some of those that remained reacted violently to the ethnic changes to the neighborhood; for example, white residents of Park Slope attempted to bar African-Americans from participating in after-school programs at William Alexander Middle School in 1966.[58] After this failed, white teenagers engaged in firebomb attacks on African-American homes on Fourth Street.[58] In 1968, a street fight between Italian and African-American gangs occurred at Fifth Avenue and President Street, using bricks and bottles as weapons;[59] in the aftermath of the fight, fourteen African-Americans and three Italian-Americans were arrested.[59]
The architectural details of one of Park Slope's buildings
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the renovation of a now-$4.8 million brownstone along Berkeley Place[63] sparked a trend where the rest of the brownstones were cleaned up and the grittiness of the neighborhood began to fade.[64] Young professionals began to buy and renovate brownstones (which only cost around $15,000–35,000 at the time), often converting them from rooming houses into single and two-family homes.[65] Preservationists helped secure landmark status for many of the neighborhood's blocks of historic row houses, brownstone, and Queen Anne, Renaissance Revival, and Romanesque mansions. After the 1973 creation of the landmark district, primarily above 7th Avenue, the rate of gentrification was sped up, and throughout the 1970s, the area saw an influx of young professional couples.[66]
Seventh Avenue in Park Slope
By the early 1980s, however, even as the gentrification of the neighborhood was rapidly proceeding, crime was soaring, along with crime in the rest of New York City. The neighborhood was affected by daily armed muggings within the Prospect Park area especially at night primarily from the high crime neighboring area of UnderHill known as Prospect Heights.[67] Gentrification accelerated during the 1980s and 1990s, as working-class families were displaced and discriminated due to classism regardless of race, many of those displaced being Italian, Irish and Hispanic. These gentrifiers were generally Manhtattanites attracted by the neighborhood's low cost of living and historic, turn-of-the-century housing stock. Following decades of socioeconomic precarity, the influx of the upper middle class has returned Park Slope to its Gilded Age milieu as one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Brooklyn—and the nation.[68] Sociologist and urban theorist Sharon Zukin has written of the trend, "In Park Slope, the middle class found a sense of history and a picturesque quality that fit their sense of themselves."[69] Since the mid-1990s, gentrification has increased: a 2001 report by the New York City Rent Guidelines Board found that from 1990 to 1999, rents in Park Slope increased by 3.5–4.4% per year, depending on what kind of building the apartment was in.[70]
Park Slope contains a variety of zoning districts, including manufacturing, commercial, residential, and mixed-use. Much of the neighborhood is composed of rowhouses and six-to-eight-story apartment buildings, though Fourth, Fifth and Seventh Avenues contain residential structures with commercial space on the ground floors. The westernmost portion of Park Slope near the Gowanus Canal is a light industrial district. The section of Seventh Avenue south of Ninth Street is largely zoned for low-density commercial use.[71]
Much of Park Slope is located within the Park Slope Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.[72][73] The historic district was also designated by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1973;[74] the city-designated district was extended to the south in 2012[75] and to the north in 2016.[76] Containing 2,575 buildings stretching over part or all of around 40 city blocks, the historic district is New York's largest landmark neighborhood.
Several other structures in Park Slope are both NRHP and city landmarks:
The Grand Prospect Hall, an NRHP-listed banquet hall on Prospect Avenue, was built in 1892 and was demolished in 2022.[90][91]
Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of the Park Slope–Gowanus neighborhood tabulation area was 67,649, a change of 386 (0.6%) from the 67,263 counted in 2000. Covering an area of 961.17 acres (388.97ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 70.4 inhabitants per acre (45,100/sqmi; 17,400/km2).[3]
The entirety of Community Board 6, which covers areas around Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, had 109,351 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 81.4 years.[92]:2,20 This is slightly higher than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods.[93]:53 (PDF p. 84)[94] Most inhabitants are middle-aged adults and youth: 18% are between the ages of 0 and 17, 46% between 25 and 44, and 20% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 5% and 10% respectively.[92]:2
As of 2016, the median household income in Community District 6 was $134,804.[95] In 2018, an estimated 10% of Park Slope and Carroll Gardens residents lived in poverty, compared to 21% in all of Brooklyn and 20% in all of New York City. Less than one in fifteen residents (6%) were unemployed, compared to 9% in the rest of both Brooklyn and New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 37% in Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, lower than the citywide and boroughwide rates of 52% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018[update], Park Slope and Carroll Gardens are considered to be high income and not gentrifying.[92]:7
As of the 2020 census data from New York City Department of City Planning, there were between 30,000 and 39,999 White residents and 5,000 to 9,999 Hispanic residents, meanwhile the Black and Asian residents were each less than 5000 residents.[96][97]
The NYPD 78th Precinct building
Park Slope is patrolled by the 78th Precinct of the NYPD, located at 65 6th Avenue.[10] The 78th Precinct ranked 41st safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010.[98]As of 2018[update], with a non-fatal assault rate of 30 per 100,000 people, Park Slope and Carroll Gardens' rate of violent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 294 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole.[92]:8
The 78th Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 77.3% between 1990 and 2023. The precinct reported 2 murders, 10 rapes, 124 robberies, 178 felony assaults, 181 burglaries, 553 grand larcenies, and 128 grand larcenies auto in 2019.[99]
Squad 1/Technical Response Vehicle – 788 Union Street
As of 2018[update], preterm births and births to teenage mothers are less common in Park Slope and Carroll Gardens than in other places citywide. In Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, there were 27 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 7.9 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide).[92]:11 Park Slope and Carroll Gardens has a relatively high population of residents who are uninsured, or who receive healthcare through Medicaid.[103] In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 22%, which is higher than the citywide rate of 12%.[92]:14
The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Park Slope and Carroll Gardens is 0.0089 milligrams per cubic metre (8.9×10−9oz/cuft), higher than the citywide and boroughwide averages.[92]:9 Fifteen percent of Park Slope and Carroll Gardens residents are smokers, which is slightly higher than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers.[92]:13 In Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, 15% of residents are obese, 6% are diabetic, and 22% have high blood pressure—compared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively.[92]:16 In addition, 9% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%.[92]:12
Ninety-four percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is higher than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 88% of residents described their health as "good", "very good", or "excellent", greater than the city's average of 78%.[92]:13 For every supermarket in Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, there are 12 bodegas.[92]:10
Park Slope is covered by two ZIP Codes: 11217 north of Union Street and 11215 south of Union Street.[104] The United States Post Office operates three locations nearby:
Prospect Park West Station – 225 Prospect Park West[105]
Park Slope is considered one of New York City's most desirable neighborhoods. In 2010, it was ranked number 1 in New York by New York Magazine, citing its quality public schools, dining, nightlife, shopping, access to public transit, green space, safety, and creative capital, among other aspects.[108] It was named one of the "Greatest Neighborhoods in America" by the American Planning Association in 2007, "for its architectural and historical features and its diverse mix of residents and businesses, all of which are supported and preserved by its active and involved citizenry."[109] In December 2006, Natural Home magazine named Park Slope one of America's ten best neighborhoods based on criteria including parks, green spaces and neighborhood gathering spaces; farmers' markets and community gardens; public transportation and locally owned businesses; and environmental and social policy.[110]
Institutions
The Park Slope Food Coop, one of the oldest and largest active food co-ops in the United States,[111] is located on Union Street has approximately 17,000 members from Park Slope and other neighborhoods. Only members may shop there, and membership requires a work commitment of 23⁄4 hours every six weeks.[112]
The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, part of the Brooklyn Queens Conservatory of Music, is a community music school, offering music classes, ensembles and choral opportunities, and individual instrumental and vocal lessons to students from 18 months old to adults. It was founded in 1897.
Christian Help, Inc. Park Slope (CHiPS) is a soup kitchen that serves 200-250 men and women daily. Its Frances Residency Program provides shelter and support for young homeless mothers and their infants and toddlers; it was founded in 1971.[114]
LGBT
One of the areas with a significant gay population in NYC, Park Slope hosts the famous Lesbian Herstory Archives that contain the world's largest collection of materials by and about lesbians.[115] Notable LGBT nightlife spaces in Park Slope include the long-operating lesbian bar Ginger's and the queer bar and performance venue Good Judy.[116][117] The neighborhood also hosts the annual Brooklyn Pride Parade and Festival.[118]
Religion
Beth ElohimMelkite Catholic Church of Saint Mary
Park Slope is home to a wide variety of religious institutions, or houses of worship, including many churches and synagogues; most are historic buildings, and date back many decades.[119]
Churches
All Nations Baptist Church (Baptist)
All Saints' Church (Episcopal)
Church of Gethsemane (Presbyterian)
Grace United Methodist Church of Brooklyn (Methodist)
Greenwood Baptist Church (Baptist)
Kingsboro Temple of Seventh-day Adventists (Seventh-day Adventist)
There is a significant Jewish population in Park Slope, allowing for a number of synagogues along the religious spectrum. In addition to a number of synagogues, there is an eruv, sponsored by members of the various communities, that surrounds Park Slope.
Congregation B'nai Jacob (Modern Orthodox),[122] 401 9th Street
Congregation Beth Elohim (Reform),[123] 274 Garfield Place; this is the largest Reform synagogue in Brooklyn, and also the longest-running congregation
Park Slope and Carroll Gardens generally have a much higher ratio of college-educated residents than the rest of the city as of 2018[update]. The majority (74%) of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, while 9% have less than a high school education and 17% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 40% of Brooklynites and 38% of city residents have a college education or higher.[92]:6 The percentage of Park Slope and Carroll Gardens students excelling in reading and math has been increasing, with reading achievement rising from 41 percent in 2000 to 53 percent in 2011, and math achievement rising from 35 percent to 64 percent within the same time period.[125]
Park Slope and Carroll Gardens's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is lower than the rest of New York City. In Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, 11% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year, compared to the citywide average of 20% of students.[92]:6[93]:24 (PDF p. 55) Additionally, 77% of high school students in Park Slope and Carroll Gardens graduate on time, higher than the citywide average of 75% of students.[92]:6
Public schools are operated by the New York City Department of Education. Park Slope is in two different community school districts – district 13 to the north and district 15 to the south. Students are zoned to their nearest elementary school. Both district 13 and district 15 place students in middle school based on the student's ranking of acceptable middle schools; the district 13 portion of Park Slope receives district 15 (not district 13) middle school choice, consistent with the rest of the neighborhood. The former John Jay High School is now the John Jay Educational Campus, housing three high schools and one combination middle/high school.
PS 10, Magnet School of Math, Science, and Design Technology (grades K–5, dist. 15)[126]
Beth Elohim Day School (preK–K) on Eighth Avenue and Garfield Place.
Berkeley Carroll School (preK–12) on Lincoln Place, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues; Carroll Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues; and President Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues.
Brooklyn Free School (ages 5–15) on Sixteenth Street, between Fourth and Fifth Avenues. See democratic education.
Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School (9–12) 500 19th St.
Chai Tots Preschool Corner of Prospect Park West and 3rd St.
Montessori School of New York (ages 2–13) on Eighth Avenue between Carroll and President Streets. See Montessori.
Old First Nursery School (pre-K) the oldest cooperative nursery school in New York City located on Carroll Street at Seventh Avenue. The school has rented space from Old First for over forty years but is independent and not religiously affiliated with the church.
Poly Prep's Lower School (part of Poly Prep Country Day School) (PreK–4) on Prospect Park West between First and Second Streets.
St. Francis Xavier (Catholic School) (K–8). 763 President St. between 6th & 7th Avenue.
St. Saviour Elementary School (Catholic School) (preK–8) 8th Ave between 7th and 8th Street
St. Saviour High School (all-girls Catholic School) (9–12) 6th Street between 8th Avenue and Prospect Park West
St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Academy 241 Prospect Park West (preK (age 3–8)
Alex Skolnick (born 1968), guitarist, composer and podcaster; lead guitarist of the band Testament, founder of Alex Skolnick trio jazz and member of the band PAKT[179]
Park Slope neighborhood profileArchived March 1, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, New York, extracted from a March 10, 2003 article. Accessed September 25, 2007. "Boundaries: Stretching from Prospect Park West to Fourth Avenue, Park Place to Prospect Expressway."
Oser, Alan N. "Rezoning, and Redefining, Park Slope"Archived February 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, December 28, 2003. Accessed September 25, 2007. "As broadly defined by brokers marketing real estate there, Park Slope is bordered by Flatbush Avenue to the north, the Prospect Expressway to the south, Prospect Park and Prospect Park West to the east, and Fourth Avenue to the west. The April rezoning actually extends west as far as Third Avenue on some blocks, and only as far as 15th Street to the south."
Ment, David (1980). The people of Brooklyn: a history of two neighborhoods. Brooklyn: Brooklyn Educational & Cultural Alliance. p.15. ISBN978-0-933250-04-8. OCLC7444528.
"Litchfield Villa". Prospect Park Alliance: Official WebSite of Prospect Park. Prospect Park Alliance. 2008. Archived from the original on October 29, 2008.
Bluestone, Daniel M. (1987). "From Promenade to Park: The Gregarious Origins of Brooklyn's Park Movement". American Quarterly. 39 (4). JSTOR: 529–550. doi:10.2307/2713123. ISSN0003-0678. JSTOR2713123.
"Brooklyn's Park Slope: A Place of Fine Homes and Beautiful Surroundings Where Wealth and Taste have Combined to Aid Nature in Making a Dwelling Place of the Highest Class". New York Tribune. June 4, 1899.
Yakas, Ben. "Preservation hopes fade as Grand Prospect Hall facade is demolished", Gothamist, March 3, 2022. Accessed August 6, 2023. "After months in stasis, the facade of beloved Park Slope institution Grand Prospect Hall was finally demolished this week, marking the likely end of the quest to preserve the historic venue."
Tucker, Reed. "All about Steve Buscemi"Archived September 20, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, New York Post, January 24, 2010. Accessed August 15, 2016. "As anyone who's seen Steve Buscemi casually riding the F train knows, this guy's one of us. He was born in this city, has fought fires in this city and, despite his success, has resisted the urge go all Hollywood on us. He still lives in a brownstone off Seventh Avenue in Park Slope and says he never wanted to relocate to LA."
Mompanek, Christopher. "Cobble thrill"Archived January 20, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, New York Post, December 13, 2012. Accessed August 15, 2016. "Previously, she lived in a Park Slope townhouse with her ex-husband, actor/director Terry Kinney. She'd wanted to stay in the neighborhood, but 'finding a three-bedroom that was affordable, relatively speaking, in that neighborhood was very difficult,' she says."
Pincus-Roth, Zachary. "Next on His Docket: A Supreme Challenge"Archived October 17, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, April 27, 2008. Accessed August 15, 2016. "Mr. Fishburne had little experience with segregation. Though he was born in Augusta, Ga., in 1961, at about 4 he moved to Park Slope, Brooklyn, a melting-pot neighborhood where he played with children from many backgrounds."
Bergin, Brigid. "John Hodgman to de Blasios: You'll Miss Us in Park Slope"Archived September 21, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, WNYC, December 11, 2013. Accessed August 15, 2016. "To find out what's behind this mysterious magnetism, specifically in Park Slope, WNYC spoke to another well-known resident, the writer, comedian and, by his own description, minor television star John Hodgman."
Home PageArchived November 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, RobinJohnson.net. Accessed January 25, 2017. "Robin Johnson was born May 29, 1964, and grew up in Park Slope, Brooklyn."
Paumgarten, Nick. "The Race Card"Archived July 14, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, The New Yorker, November 10, 2003. Accessed August 15, 2016. "'To be perfectly clear, passing'—that is, trying to pass oneself off as white, as Silk does—'is something that has never crossed my mind,' Miller, who was brought up in Park Slope, said last week, over breakfast."
Itzkoff, Dave. "Together Off Broadway and Elsewhere"Archived April 23, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, February 4, 2009. Accessed August 15, 2016. "Over lunch at a trattoria near their Park Slope home, Ms. Gyllenhaal and Mr. Sarsgaard come across like a shinier version of That Brooklyn Couple who gave up the hubbub of Manhattan to raise their child in a quieter, tree-lined borough."
Miller, Rachel. "Brooklyn's 50 Funniest People: Streeter Seidell"Archived February 13, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, Brooklyn Magazine, June 3, 2016. Accessed August 15, 2016. "Seidell was born in Connecticut, and yes, there is a picture of baby Seidell on the beach wearing a pink polo with a popped collar posted on his Instagram. Now he lives in Park Slope, and yes, there is also a picture of Seidell and his wife with their brand new, beautiful baby boy."
Christian, Scott. "Patrick Stewart Moves To Brooklyn, Becomes Coolest Guy Ever"Archived September 20, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, GQ, August 28, 2013. Accessed August 15, 2016. "Further proof that Brooklyn really is the coolest city in the U.S., Dr. Charles Xavier himself, Sir Patrick Stewart, recently moved the Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope and has quickly become one of the best things to watch on the Internet."
Koblin, John. "In The Night Of, John Turturro Picks Up Where James Gandolfini Left Off"Archived October 17, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, July 1, 2016. Accessed August 15, 2016. "Over a recent lunch at Bar Pitti in the West Village, Mr. Turturro's trademark Queens accent was on display as he chatted breezily with the wait staff and took a reporter through the menu item by item, translating from Italian. Dressed in a fitted gray T-shirt, he had taken the subway there from his home in Park Slope."
Martinez, Erika. "'Artie's' Goose is 'Coked' – Sopranos Chef in Drug & DWI Bust"Archived September 20, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, New York Post, May 2, 2006. Accessed August 15, 2016. "Sources said Ventimiglia later maintained he had a couple of glasses of wine at a Long Island City art gallery opening. The actor claimed he had found a parking spot near his Park Slope apartment and had turned off his lights as he tried to pull in."
Krell, David. Joe Pepitone, Society for American Baseball Research. Accessed March 13, 2023. "Decades before gentrification began in the 1990s, the Pepitones lived in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood."
Milkowski, Bill. "Before & After with Drummer Jim Black; Between Motian and J Mood"Archived September 10, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, JazzTimes, November 23, 2012. Accessed August 15, 2016. "Currently a resident of Park Slope, Brooklyn, Black had just returned from a tour of Italy with guitarist Walter Beltrami's Postural Vertigo Quintet when we sat down for his first Before & After session in August."
Velsey, Kim. "Dépêche-toi! '80s Band Leader Buys Beautiful J.Crew House"Archived August 6, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, New York Observer, March 29, 2012. Accessed April 18, 2020. "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."
Chinen, Nate. "Ravi Coltrane"Archived November 26, 2022, at the Wayback Machine, JazzTimes, March 1, 2005. Accessed January 25, 2017. "'I'm sorry about the mess,' Ravi Coltrane says at the front door of his brownstone, on a picturesque residential street in Brooklyn's Park Slope."
Robbins, Liz. "Music Upstairs and Downstairs"Archived February 2, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, March 15, 2013. Accessed January 25, 2017. "The classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein, 40, has a hectic international performance schedule, but in Park Slope her husband, Jeremy Greensmith, 46, and their son, Adrian Greensmith, 11, keep her grounded. ... I'm very happy not to leave Park Slope. I grew up in Park Slope on First Street."
Porter, Christopher. "Dave Douglas"[permanent dead link], JazzTimes, September 1, 2002. Accessed January 25, 2017. "Brooklyn's Park Slope region is as laid-back as its name, befitting the serene demeanor of one of its residents, trumpeter Dave Douglas.... Douglas has lived in Park Slope for 10 years, seeing it transform from an artists' community to one of the hottest real estate areas in New York City."
Wise, Brian. "Jangled by a Jingle, He Writes His Own ..."Archived February 2, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, May 20, 2007. Accessed January 25, 2017. "Mr. Hearst produced the album in a tiny bedroom converted into a recording studio in his third-floor walk-up in Park Slope, where several Mister Softee trucks can be seen lumbering by his window on any given day."
Kompanek, Christopher. "Giant-sized pad"Archived February 2, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, New York Post, July 21, 2011. Accessed January 25, 2017. "Linnell, 52, is half of veteran alt-pop duo They Might Be Giants. He's also a longtime Brooklyn resident. He and his family lived a neighborhood away in Park Slope for 10 years prior to buying the two-story, 1,500-square-foot house."
Kaufman, Joanne. "Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Frozen Songwriter, at Home"Archived November 26, 2022, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, November 4, 2016. Accessed January 25, 2017. "Before finding happiness in a century-old townhouse in Park Slope, the songwriter Kristen Anderson-Lopez had what her husband and frequent collaborator, Robert Lopez, described as a 'real estate porn' habit."
Albrecht, Leslie. "Fans Want to Rename Park Slope Street for Rapper Pumpkinhead"Archived February 2, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, DNAinfo.com, August 13, 2015. Accessed January 25, 2017. "People sometimes laughed when the rapper Pumpkinhead boasted about his Park Slope roots, but now he could get his old block named after him.... Friends and fans of Robert Diaz — the underground rapper known as Pumpkinhead who died suddenly in June at the age of 39 — hope to convince city officials to rename Degraw Street and Fifth Avenue in his honor."
Shinefield, Mordechai. "Interview: Thursday Frontman Geoff Rickly"Archived February 3, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The Village Voice, February 19, 2009. Accessed January 25, 2017. "Once very much from New Brunswick, Jersey—they've cited fellow locals Lifetime as an important influence—frontman Geoff Rickly now lives in Park Slope."
Wilson, Michael. "A Fancy Guitar to Sell, but Hard to Play in Handcuffs", The New York Times, December 25, 2016. Accessed May 20, 2024. "Alex Skolnick, the guitarist for the thrash metal band Testament, with the prototype of his signature guitar from Heritage Guitars, which was once stolen from him, at his home in Park Slope, Brooklyn, on Friday."
Punjabi, Rajul. "French Jazz Violinist Scott Tixier on His 'Sleep No More' Debut"Archived January 12, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The Village Voice, September 21, 2016. Accessed February 3, 2017. "Tixier composed ten of the twelve tracks in a swift whirlwind of inspiration, and even the cover image came together in a day, his wife and neighbors (designers and photographers) adorning his Park Slope apartment with lush fabrics and odd tchotchkes — improvisation at its best."
Walsh, Brienne. "'Crossing Brooklyn' Showcases Artistic, Demographic Diversity"Archived February 4, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, Art in America, October 3, 2014. Accessed February 3, 2017. "Yours truly (2nd correspondence), 2010–14, by Bahamian-born, Park Slope-based Janine Antoni, is a series of love letters written from the perspective of an artwork and slipped into visitors' belongings at the coat check-art that continues to speak to the viewer after the museum visit."
Leland, John. "AT HOME WITH: ALEX AND ALLYSON GREY; Tuition and Other Head Trips"Archived February 4, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, January 3, 2002. Accessed February 3, 2017. "For the last 17 years, they have painted in the front room of their loft in Park Slope, creating elaborate, brightly colored canvases: his massive, anatomically detailed portraits of translucent bodies; her smaller kaleidoscopic grids, dotted with invented alphabets."
Glueck, Grace. "Art in Review; Byron Kim"Archived February 4, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, December 9, 2005. Accessed February 3, 2017. "The most interesting works are photographic assemblages under the rubric What I See. These specific impressions of important places in his life, like the one of his backyard in Park Slope, Brooklyn, have a sweet, nostalgic poignancy."
Scheck, Olivia. "Sand Painter Uses Manhattan Sidewalks as His Canvas"Archived February 4, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, DNAinfo.com, November 1, 2010. Accessed February 3, 2017. "A graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, Mangrum has showed his art around the globe and received numerous awards for his work, but the Park Slope resident says the donations are his primary source of income."
"David Rees, Cartoonist"Archived April 22, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, Gothamist, March 1, 2004. Accessed February 3, 2017. "I am a 31-year-old cartoonist. I live in Sunset Park, Brooklyn with my wife. Before Sunset Park we lived in Park Slope for two years."
Rosenblum, Constance. "A Brooklyn House With Country Roots"Archived February 4, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, May 14, 2010. Accessed February 3, 2017. "If ever a place fulfilled such a fantasy, it is the century-old robin's-egg blue house on 11th Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where Ms. Snyder and Ms. Cammer have lived for the past decade."
Staff. "Artnet News: Starbucks Gets Artistic"Archived February 3, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, Artnet, January 12, 2006. Accessed February 3, 2017. "Twitchell, who lives in Park Slope with his wife and young son and shows his elaborately patterned, stencil-cut artworks at Greenberg Van Doren Gallery on Fifth Avenue, has designed the packaging for four different varieties of premium coffee, which Starbucks plans to introduce every three months (the next coffee is due Mar. 14, 2006)."
Hamill, Denis. "He Wrote the Book on City Paranoia"Archived March 14, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, New York Daily News, June 23, 1996. Accessed March 13, 2017. "Blauner, now a Park Slope resident, is a former New York magazine writer and winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for his first novel, Slow Motion Riot, set in the world of probation officers."
Kleinman, Jacob. "The Park Slope man who saved Purple Rain!"Archived September 8, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The Brooklyn Paper, July 28, 2009. Accessed March 13, 2017. "One of the most exciting events of the summer is a participatory screening of Prince's classic film Purple Rain in Prospect Park — but it never could have happened without one Park Slope man. Howard Bloom saved Prince's self-produced, 1984 film from the dustbin of history with an unprecedented one-man crusade that comes into full fruition with the sing-along presentation at Celebrate Brooklyn on Aug. 6."
"Q&A with Charles Blow"Archived September 15, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, C-SPAN, March 15, 2011. Accessed March 13, 2017. "Brian Lamb: What part of this area do you live in? Charles M. Blow: In Brooklyn – Park Slope, Brooklyn."
Eggers, Dave "My wish: Once Upon a School"Archived September 20, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, TED (conference), March 2008. Accessed September 10, 2016. "In the Brooklyn neighborhood that I lived in, Park Slope, there are a lot of writers – it's like a very high per capita ratio of writers to normal people."
Scott, Janny. "The Brownstone Storytellers; A Colony of Writers Is Growing in Park Slope"Archived March 14, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, May 15, 1995. Accessed March 13, 2017. "Colin Harrison, author and editor, lives with his wife, Kathryn Harrison, novelist, in a brownstone a block from Thomas Boyle, writer of thrillers, who lives in a brownstone a block from Luc Sante, writer, and his wife, Melissa Holbrook Pierson, the same.... Jennie Fields's block in Park Slope is the hero of her new novel."
Morris, Bob. "No Sleep Till Brooklyn"Archived January 1, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, April 24, 2005. Accessed March 13, 2017. "A few weeks ago the news broke that Jonathan Safran Foer, the young novelist, was trading up in Park Slope, selling one home for more than $3 million and buying another for $6.75 million."
Wilson, Michael. "Eggs, Bacon and a Baseball Cap"Archived January 27, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, August 14, 2009. Accessed March 13, 2017. "Colin Harrison, 48, is a crime novelist and an editor at Simon & Schuster. His latest book, The Finder, was published last year. He lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with his wife, the writer Kathryn Harrison, and their three children, Sarah, 19; Walker, 17; and Julia, 9."
Smith, Dinitia. "Literary Voice, Brooklyn Accent"Archived March 14, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, September 15, 2006. Accessed March 13, 2017. "Perhaps the end really began when Jonathan Safran Foer (Everything Is Illuminated) and his wife, Nicole Krauss (The History of Love), bought their house in Park Slope last year for $6.7 million."
Vitale, Tom. "Transplanted Author Finds Roots in Writing"Archived August 9, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, All Things Considered April 8, 2008. Acceessed March 13, 2017. "In all her work, acclaimed author Jhumpa Lahiri has focused on the lives and struggles of Bengali-Americans.... In New York, after Akash was born, she'd negotiated a part-time schedule at her law firm, spending Thursdays and Fridays at home in Park Slope, and this had seemed like the perfect balance."
Richardson, Lynda. "A Forceful Voice for the Children of the Tsunami"Archived January 3, 2022, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, January 14, 2005. Accessed January 3, 2022. "It is just after 7 a.m. and Carol Bellamy has been at work for more than two hours.... For someone who arrives at work every day before 5 a.m. from her home in Park Slope, Brooklyn, she does not seem in the least worn out by her rigorous schedule."
Glueck, Katie. "Park Slope and Staten Island: An Unlikely Political Marriage", The New York Times, February 21, 2022. Accessed May 20, 2024. "Mr. Rose, who grew up in Park Slope, had cast himself as more of a Staten Island Democrat with a brash personal style and relatively centrist politics, and some party officials see him as a strong general election fit in the new district."
Gootman, Elissa. "A Day Without a Train", The New York Times, October 22, 2010. Accessed May 20, 2024. "But on Sundays, Mr. Russianoff, 57, Ms. Toole, 54, and their daughters, Jennie, 14, and Natalie, 11, who all live in Park Slope, dash around Brooklyn on foot, by bus and, if they are late to a soccer game, by car service."
"Henry Petroski, ‘Poet Laureate of Technology’ and Professor of Engineering and History, Dies", Duke Today, June 14, 2023. Accessed May 20, 2024. "Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Park Slope and Cambria Heights, Queens, Petroski turned his curiosity about the origins of the structures and objects around him into a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Manhattan College in 1963."
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