Vexed in Park Slope: Summer Spectacular!

Welcome to Vexed in Park Slope -- a column about every day things that FIPS would have reported on had FIPS existed in the 19th and early 20th centuries. All stories come from the NYTimes online archives, so if you don't believe one, look it up. 

It's been a while, VIPS readers, but as you know summer is here and (if you're like me and hate hot weather) the time is right for ... staying inside and reading history of Brooklyn summers past.

It seems only right to start with the heart of Brooklyn in the summer: Prospect Park. The next time you're there, offer thanks to our Slope forebearers who, in 1866, fought to establish (in the words of the New York Times in July of that year) Brooklyn's "magnificent enterprise." According to the paper, our park would be "what Central Park is to us, this will be to our sister city" and offered the following support for the project:

READ MORE

FIPS Gets Crafty with CourseHorse

ta da!

Like so many other Brooklyn girls, I really like crafts. That said, my affinity for all things crafty is limited by one, my total lack of talent (behold: my greatest achievement to date) and  two, my fear of sharp things, pointy things and flaming things. Taken together, these characteristics have led me to become a serial craft class taker -- but generally only for one session classes that deal with soft, non-threatening materials.

So of course as you'd imagine, I was thrilled when our Managing Editor Kerri asked if I wanted to take a class through the new(ish) website CourseHorse and then review it for FIPS. CourseHorse is essentially one stop shopping for all your NYC class taking needs (crafts, food, career development, health and fitness, and language, to name a few). There are about 14,000 classes listed on the site at any given time, and the average course cost is $55 (though they just added free classes). You'll find classes at places like the Brooklyn Artists Gym or the 92Y, but also lesser known venues like a wood carving school in Forest Hillls. Better still, you can search classes by location, time, date and topic. So if you've ever spent two hours trying to find a class in which to crochet a chicken poncho somewhere in the 5 boroughs that was reasonably accessible, affordable and at a workable time, then you'll appreciate this -- but I digress.

READ MORE

FIPS Visits Keith Haring at the Brooklyn Museum

When our Managing Editor Kerri asked me to check out the Keith Haring exhibit at the BK museum last week, my first thought was "I have no idea how to write about visual art." I mean, I like museums and I like art -- I just don't know how to actually convey the experience of art in writing. Basically, I'm pretty sure that any review I wrote of the exhibit would be the art world equivalent of the much-blogged-about Olive Garden review by that old lady in North Dakota. Luckily for me though, the exhibit turned out to be awesome and offers sufficient context, analysis and criticism that even someone as retartded (ha!) as me will still have something to say.

READ MORE

Vexed in Park Slope: Valentine's Edition!

 

Happy (almost) Valentine’s Day, VIPSters!  In the holiday spirit I’ve rounded up some stories of love from long ago in Park Slope. If these historical anecdotes don’t get you in the mood for romance, or at least melt a few cynical hipster hearts of ice, I don’t know what will. xoxoxo

You know those Park Slope dates where you wander around the hood, popping into one café or bar, having a drink or five, and then moving to the next locale? And you know how sometimes one person gets so drunk that they dare the other person to marry them that same night, and then they do?  Because that’s exactly what transpired one night in February1907, when Eleanor Campbell (of 823 President Street) dared a very drunk Walter Stevenson (408 6^th Street) to marry her – and he did!

READ MORE

Meet Sidney Frumkin: The Matador of Park Slope

Dear HBO,

Hi! Hope you’re well.

I have a great idea for a new show and I know you’re going to love it. How do I know? Because it’s a period piece centered in glamorous but gritty locations with a hyper masculine sport at its core. Not only that, but it’s a true story with lots of opportunities for boobs and blood. You know how people always say “It’s not boobs and blood, it’s HBO?" That’s how I know you’ll like it!

First, we’re going to need someone to play 19 year-old Sidney Frumkin. He should be ethnic, but handsome. You know, HBO-unique-looking-but-handsome-ethnic-handsome. It’s 1903, and he lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn (right off 16^th St near 7^th Avenue -- if accuracy’s your thing) with his harsh but loving mother and police office father (I’m thinking Michael Stuhlbarg!). He’s a dropout, a do nothing, a roustabout (in the parlance of the time, I’m sure) and his dad can’t take his sloth any more. One day they have a big fight and Sidney runs away from home. Far away. Not Queens far, MEXICO far! But what does he do when he gets to Mexico, right?? Does he start a Yiddish school? Nope. Does he open a tortilla factory? Nope. I’ll tell you what he does -- he apprentices himself to a world famous bull fighter and becomes one of the greatest matadors the world has ever seen!

READ MORE