MY FAVORITE PARK SLOPE: PLACE TO WORK AT, THEN DRINK AT

Finding the perfect Park Slope coffee shop to work in is work itself.  Upon moving here, I first tried Root Hill, which boasts the best coffee in the Slope (in my haughty opinion). But those cold plastic chairs can really only comfortably sit an elf on the shelf. And so the search continued.

I've since learned  that I'd never find everything I was looking for in one coffee shop: bold coffee, yummy food, ample comfy seating, hot baristas, plentiful sockets... but one place comes close: Tea Lounge. When it comes to coffee shops, I'm a bit of a size queen. I crave anonymity in these settings, and find the intimacy of Cafe Grumpy, De Luxe, Postmark... hell, any other coffee shop except Tea Lounge, to be insufferable.  I want to blend in witha sea of deadpan stares and bloodshot eyes hovering over glowing apples. I want to sink into some big old honkin' couch that is bad for my back, but I don't give a shit because *damn* I could fall asleep right now. I also want a place where I can nibble on more than some gourmet scone (the grub here is pretty good, especially their salads: mix pix with grilled chicken is the way to go.)

READ MORE

THE PEPTO-bismol house has been sold! YUPPIES REJOICE, REBELS CRY.

 Bernie Henry, former owner of the legendary 233 Garfield Place / Photo via NY Daily News

I discovered Park Slope's Pepto-Bismol house while on a tour of the 'hood. I'm not sure how I missed the boldly blush landmark after living here for a year, but I was instantly in awe. Amongst rows and rows of boring brownstones along Garfield, #233 was a bubblegum-wrapped middle finger to tradition and conformity.

Who would dare piss of their prissy neighbors with such a garish paint job, you might ask? Meet Bernie Henry, a 96 year-old retired tailor who has called the four-story townhouse home for 70 years. "It was painted this color accidentally," Henry recently told The Daily News. "They sent me the wrong paint." Judging by his penchant for loud blazers, we ain't buying it. 

READ MORE

COOL BROOKLYN ARTIST ALERT: CRAIG RODRIGUEZ of The End is Near Tattoo Shop

Some of Craig's work (also: I want to meet the man or woman who has Walter White tattooed on his/her body!)

If you’re gonna get inked up in the Slope, The End Is Near is the place to do it. Though my body is a blank canvass, I can tell this place is the real deal. I recently sat down with owner Craig Rodriguez to discuss his vision for the shop, the celebs he's worked on, and the bad-ass guest tattoo artist they've got in the shop through the end of the month.

At forty-six years old, Craig’s been tattooing people for twenty years. His body appears to be enrobed in tats, and he reveals that the very first one was a falcon’s head on his shoulder, and the first tattoo he ever inked on someone else was the Harley Davidson emblem.

READ MORE

WEST NILE VIRUS BUGS PARK SLOPE RESIDENTS; RACE YOU TO THE DEET!

As if you weren't already having a ball buster of a week, now you can add "Death by West Nile Virus" to the list of shit-you-don't-want-to-deal-with. On August 10, the NYC Department of Health found the West Nile virus in mosquitos through out zips covering Prospect Heights, Prospect Park and Park Slope -- just in time for Labor Day barbecues in the park!

Hypochondriacs, stop reading now.

READ MORE

A FiPS Guide to Using AirBNB in Park Slope

While sitting down to write this post, I initially aimed to highlight this hot new(ish) travel trend called airbnb, wherein you can temporarily rent out your house, apartment or room, (hell I've even seen a couch on here) to guests as if your home were a hotel. On the flip side, you can also score some nights as a renter in someone else's crib in 27,879 cities and 192 countries.

I was going to tell you all about how rad this all seems, especially when I found out that upon signing up as a renter, you're enrolled into AirBnb's $1M insurance policy (just in case someone steals all of your shit before burning your house down). But after perusing the nightly asking prices of all 491 Park Slope listings (and a few from surrounding neighborhoods), I've practically been forced to focus on how much our neighbors are out of their ever-loving minds.

Here are some examples of how NOT to list your place on AirBNB:

READ MORE