Here's Park Slope: Butter Lane and Pete Hamill

On Monday, a new outdoor outfitters called Gear to Go opened on Garfield between Seventh and Eighth. The owner's a former Naval officer, and he's stocked the place with everything you'll need next time you feel like venturing out into the wilderness (or to that Phish festival). He also organizes jaunts up to campsites all over, and will host lectures and classes.

Tuesday I brought you all a couple peeks into under-construction storefronts, namely Unleashed by Petco on Seventh and the organic grocery opening up on Fourth and President.

Wednesday brought news that an outpost of Butter Lane Cupcakes, based in the East Village, had opened in the space last occupied by the bedeviled King of Cupcakes, on Seventh between Fourth and Fifth, and this looks like the real deal, my friends. They're giving it a test run until the end of the month, so give them some business if you want them to stick around longer! Also, I got confirmation that the massive space that was home to Jeans Express, on Fifth between Tenth and Eleventh, will be a bike shop.

On Thursday the old-timey facade of Blueprint, the cocktail bar going into the old Long Tan space on Fifth near Union, was revealed, and it's looking pretty good. I also put together a little walking tour of journalist Pete Hamill's childhood in the Slope, taken from his must-read memoir, A Drinking Life. Seriously, if you live in Park Slope, you will like this book.

The big news of the day on Friday was that a steampunk inspired bar is coming to the space formerly occupied by Total Wine Bar, on Fifth between St. Marks and Prospect. It's from the same owner as Miriam a block away, and looks pretty damn awesome. R&A Discount finally got around to replacing the sign that was knocked down by last year's tornado, and up on Ninth Street, a salon is replacing a salon.