[What To Do In Park Slope When...] You Want to Funnel Free Floating Nostalgia

OK, I'll be fair. Park Slope is *not* the Brooklyn epicenter of olde-timey-ness. I'll leave that title for Williamsburg or Cobble Hill/Carrol Gardens to duke it out over. Farmacy and Henry Public give any absinthe-tinged-elixir peddling "public house" north of the BQE a run for their money. That said, we're pretty guilty of that sort of aesthetic, achronological, retro fondness here in the Slope, too.

I've not done the research but I'm willing to bet that the Gimlet-to-Appletini ratio in our hood is about 7:1. Not that it's a bad thing - it's just that you need not limit your appreciation for "simpler" times to cocktails and the occasional blue grass jam at Union Hall. So turn off that Smithsonian Folkways recording, put down that glass of ice cold buttermilk (thanks Boardwalk Empire) and grab some headache powder or tincture or whatever -- we've got a full day or old style activities for you right here in Park Slope!

Buy Some Old Stuff   

Do you need a rusty 19th century contraption (purpose unknown but undoubtedly quirky and antiquated) to compliment your Victorian drawing room/steampunk laboratory /Adirondack Great Camp decor? Good news -- Park Slope has a number of excellent boutiques that traffic solely in old-looking new stuff. But why not buy something actually old? For my money I like Revival Antiques on 5th Avenue. They don't have much in the way of furniture, but if you're looking for an (apparently) curated collection of affordable house wares and costume jewelry in a relatively organized environment, look no further.

Photo via Welsh Quilts

Make Some Old Stuff

Well, more like, learn how to make stuff like they did 'back in the day.' Here's a verb we rarely use - "darn" as in, to darn socks. Or at least I rarely use it. Because I like to buy new socks. But that's neither here nor there. If you want to learn how to sew, or make a quilt, or do anything that people knew how to do before you could just walk into Target and buy disposable socks, then head on over to Brooklyn Mercantile on 5th Ave and 4th Street. The class list isn't totally up to date (and they're closed Monday so when I called for a list for this post I didn't get far) but stop by or send them an email for more information.

Photo via Elisabeth Millay Photography

Eat Some Old Stuff 

Or actually, eat-some-stuff-in-an-old-time-like-situation at - where else - a private club. Private dining clubs used to be a fixture of New York social life. They provided an environment free of riff raff and scamps (are scamps a thing? perhaps 'Dickensian street urchins' would be more appropriate...) in which to conduct political "business" and say and do other things that today would likely be considered a blatant violation of social norms. So if democracy and social mobility really cramp your style, you might consider living out your Tammany Hall fantasies at the Montauk Club. You can join the club or just find a club member to take you as a guest. The food is very good (check out the menu!) and the building itself is beautiful (inside at least - right now the exterior is covered in some scaffolding that, while rickety, does not appear to be from a pre-building code era).