Notting Hill: The Park Slope of London

A gaggle of children -- and look! One is on a scooter.

While traveling abroad, have you ever found yourself in a small city or neighborhood and thought, Whoa. Why do I feel like I'm in (insert NYC neighborhood) right now? 

“International Sister Cities” is a program meant to promote dialogue, travel and understanding between similar cities around the world. Apparently, Brooklyn has 6 such relationships with cities in Poland, Italy, Turkey, Israel, Austria and Britain. Here's the thing, though: Brooklyn is huge.  For example, how does the whole borough of 2.5 million relate to Anzio, Italy, for with a population of 58,000?  That’s how many people are in line at any given Rite Aid in Brooklyn.

So I've gone on a personal mission to seek out sister cities for Park Slope instead of all of Brooklyn.  Yeah, we aren’t technically a city, but the point is that I'm looking for better matching communities. 

First up: London.

Something else Park Slope and Notting Hill have in common: Baby stores with nauseating names...

I have found Park Slope's sister nabe in Notting Hill, an area of London made famous by that somewhat annoying Hugh Grant film. I know this because I'm currently visiting, and have found the following striking similarities:

• Beautiful, dense residential buildings which fell in disrepair due to white flight, but were rediscovered in the past few decades.
• Prior to gentrification, heavily populated by Caribbean emigrants. 
• Artsy coffee and tea shops marred by a Starbucks.
• Cool cafes and local eateries marred by a Subway sandwich shop.
• Food fair/antique shows on the weekends (though Portobello handily beats PS 321).
• Bad Mexican food.
• Home to somewhat famous musicians, models, actors and authors.
• Notting Hill was once called “the piggery,” with 3 hogs for every human.  We’ve got Pork Slope.
• Sidewalks full of strollers and kids.  Though their kids have much cooler British uniforms.
• Both have names indicating a change in elevation.
• Bike shops and boutiques

I’ll try and find some local officials so I can present them with a key to Park Slope.  Or an MTA card.  In the meantime, have you ever traveled to a city or neighborhood outside of the US that felt way the hell too much like Park Slope?