Park Slope Border Argument Totally Solved; AND Introducing the BLOCK-OFF
parowpyro | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 12:42AM 
The borders of Brooklyn neighborhoods possess the fluidity of a drunken octopus (Eastwilliamgreenbushwickpointbedstuyburg, anyone?).
Where the hell Park Slope begins and ends is anyone's guess: the borders often spill into Prospect Heights to the east, Gowanus to the west, Boerum Hill to the north and Sunset Park and Windsor Terrace to the south.
The obvious choice would be to just blame this expansive phenomenon on the realtors, but I also place some blame on those who blur the lines by incorrectly claiming Park Slope as their hood, those who frame Sunset Park as “South Slope,” those who just don’t know any better and have turned Park Slope into a brand.
In short, I choose to blame everyone.
I first moved to Brooklyn back in April of 2001, into a basement-level apartment in a largely Hasidic Jewish swath of Midwood on Avenue N & East 3rd St, near the Bensonhurst border. If I wanted to interact with other twentysomethings, I left the neighborhood. In my first six months there, I twice found, abandoned on the sidewalks of the neighborhood, fake beards. It made me wonder just how many Hasidic men were faking it…this was not Park Slope.
After two years living there, I moved up the F line to the fancily-named Kensington neighborhood. The park was now a quick walk away & the police station was blocks away (key for when I got mugged at the front door to my building!) and I lived on the same street as the Kensington Stables. Having the stables right down the street meant both increased interaction with horses (awesome) & increased interaction with horse poop (anti-awesome)...this was more Park Slope, but still not Park Slope.
Now I’ve moved up to 4th Ave and 21st St.
When I originally found my current apartment on craigslist, it was advertised as being in “Park Slope/Greenwood.” I have to give my landlord some credit: most real estate listings aren’t even frank enough to include the “Greenwood” designation. In the two years I’ve lived here, new bars & new restaurants & new coffee shops & new wine stores & new Park Slopey establishments have made their way down 5th ave all the way to my street. When I tell people where I live, they often say “oh, Park Slope” & I nod & smile because it’s just easier that way…but I know it’s technically not Park Slope & by technically, I mean that Wikipedia defines Park Slope’s borders as:
“…roughly bounded by Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Park Place to the north and 15th Street to the south, though other definitions are sometimes offered.”
…closer still but still not Park Slope.
Why does this matter to me or more importantly, to you? Actually, no…more importantly to me…but you’re still important in other ways. Over the coming weeks, I will be spouting out block-by-block rundowns of every single business in Park Slope, in two block chunks. Each rundown will pit two blocks against each other (12th to 11th vs 11th to 10th, for example) & through the use of a vague & complicated rating system based on qualities such as…
- name hilarity
- usefulness to a male in his mid-thirties
- conduciveness to hanging out
- storefront awesomeness
- clusterfuckness
- misspellings
- empty storefronts
…each time I will declare one of the two blocks the winner, honoring it with a coveted BEST DAMN SLOPE BLOCK ON THE BLOCK award…so clearly, I needed to establish some borders.
Beyond Park Slope
With my borders now clearly defined & the Celtics-Mavericks game now long over (although it was clearly over early in the 1st half), I got bored & decided to go to my most frequented bar-of-the-moment, Buttermilk, located on 5th Ave just outside the clearly defined Park Slope border, for an early Sunday evening pint of Brooklyn Lager.
While there, I asked the bartender if she felt we were in Park Slope.
Her initial answer spoke to the general uncertainty surrounding the Park Slope borders—“well yeah…South Slope.” We chatted briefly beyond that & when I explained to her my reason for defining the borders & that Buttermilk fell just outside those borders, she questioned my methods with something that amounted to “so you’re going to talk about Blockbuster but not us? Blockbuster but not Sidecar?”…& she has a point on some level. I feel like this is how a lot of people determine what is Park Slope & what isn’t. If it feels like Park Slope, it’s Park Slope.
Of course, Blockbuster doesn’t actually feel like anything, but sitting beneath the low lights of Buttermilk with seven or so people, it felt like Park Slope, even though it technically isn’t within the boundaries…unless somebody goes onto Wikipedia & pulls some Ted Kennedy/Robert Byrd shizz...which I, for legal purposes, totally don’t endorse.
Buttermilk, 577 5th Ave (corner of 16th), 718-788-6297
Sidecar, 566 5th Ave (btwn 15th & 16th), 718-369-0077, sidecarbrooklyn.com
(Stay tuned for our first official Block-Off...it drops tomorrow)
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Reader Comments (15)
Interesting first choice of blocks - it is near where I live. That area has Sidecar and Buttermilk, which are definitely Park Slope-y. On the other hand, the blocks are home to numerous dollar stores, cheap laundromats and abandoned buildings. In my opinion, while some aspects of PS trickle past 15th street, the notion that PS ends around that street is correct.
Walking past 16th street is kind of like coming out of Narnia. Eventually, the magical forest ends and the coats begin.
I know this is not in your competition, but the best block as far as I know is 2nd street between 6th and 7th. How do I know this? Because I'm part of the block association and a couple who live on my street have decided to turn our annual block party in to
THEIR WEDDING
Not kidding. Sept 12th. I suppose cake provided by sweet melissa... dancing on the PS321 basketball courts... etc etc
hmm, pierogies in corner stores, okocim on tap, and blood sausage... i wonder which neighborhood is that... sosloset?
"...largely Hasidic Jewish swath of Midwood on Avenue N & East 3rd St."
Not to nitpick, but does that even count as Midwood? I thought once you crossed Coney Island Ave (heading west) or lived south of Kings Highway, you were in a dark place known as limbo. Not that Midwood isn't limbo (I currently call it home myself).
nah have to say park slope expands to prospect expressway
Borders are hard. I say lower down the border is at the Prospect Expressway (like at 5th and 6th) and ends at 15th at 7th and 8th.
I live on Prospect and 8th and I always say I live in Windsor Terrace (even when folks don't know where that is) but I'm the 4th generation to live in the same 5 block radius so I'm repping some pride.
What I think is interesting (and I hope you blog more about this) is what do you call 5th and 6th from Prospect to the cemetery? I consider those stretches of 5th and 6th to be even more gentrified than 5th and 6th from 9th to Prospect. Is it South Slope? Greenwood Heights? It's not Sunset Park so what is it?
AUAUAUAUGHHGHGHGH.
This is the most tired argument. EVER. I won't even bother linking to all the sad stories that have covered this topic, because
a.) I don't need them to prove my point
and
b.) I'm lazy.
Park Slope is popularly conceived as:
Bordered by Prospect Avenue
4th avenue
Prospect Park fucking West. Because it's right next to the PARK.
and Park Place to the North.
South Slope = south of 9th St.
"da Slope" = numbered streets 9-1
North Slope = Union to Park Pl.
Arbitrary? Real estate conspiracy? No - Department of City Planning, motherfuckers.
End rant.
@bloomie: That area was called Greenwood Heights before college grads started moving in and calling it South Slope. "South Slope" ends at Prospect Ave., as far as I'm concerned.
i consider living in slope prospect park west and windsor, a little up the block from 10th ave, Holy Name considers them Park Slope, or Windsor Terrace in Park Slope
i'm on 18th street and i call it outside park slope. it's still in the 11215 zip code, even though the prospect expressway runs through my backyard. we've got southside, kitchen bar (for sale), toby's, roots cafe, mad art, and the new gallery, under minerva representing the gentrification. ms443, new voices is creeping up in reputation, giving ms51 a run for the money. i like it there, but will probably be forced to move further south soon.
Anon 10:21 I would never, ever, EVER say that 10th ave is Park Slope. That is so Windsor Terrace it's not even worth discussing. I mean it's past the main Windsor Terrace shopping strip of Prospect Park West when it comes in from the park. No way in hell it's PS.
was this post just a ploy for comments? i guess it worked...
"South Slope = south of 9th St.
"da Slope" = numbered streets 9-1
North Slope = Union to Park Pl."
I think you missed a key area; "The Guiteau Zone" = President to Garfield
North border is Park Place? Really?
And I thought I had been living in PS for the last 15 years.
Yay!! i'm so relieved.
holy name considers it self slope, even though its on prospect park west between howard pl, so anon at who said he considers it slope i would have to agree,