Vexed in Park Slope: The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same Edition

New York Public Library

Welcome to Vexed in Park Slope -- a new 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. 

The object of today’s edition of Vexed in Park Slope (or VIPS) is straightforward – rid the reader of any notion that our current favorite things to complain about are somehow particular to the present era. Lest anyone think that dating horror stories, real estate envy and stroller-clogged streets will pass, ushering us into a golden age of total Brooklyn awesomeness, think again.

We’ll always have stuff to whine about. The same stuff we did in "ye olde times," as it turns out.

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Vexed in Park Slope: 1904 Firebug Edition

Grand Army Plaza, 1904

Welcome to Vexed in Park Slope -- a new 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 1904, and Park Slope is looking great. You've just shelled out your life's savings for that beautiful brownstone on 6th Ave and 2nd Street (approximate cost: $11K). You're eating locally-sourced produce at the Montauk Club every night, and there's nary a stroller to be seen (though maybe a baby carriage or two). Better still, that cockfighting scandal blew over months ago (future column teaser!). Things are good, right? Not so fast. A rogue "firebug" (early 20th century parlance for arsonist and - I hope - future cocktail namesake at a nostalgia-laden BK bar) with a penchant for setting fires in coal bins near dumbwaiter shafts is on the loose! In a matter of weeks the guy has set dozens of fires in central Slope -- all within a two block radius of your new brownstone.   

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