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July 9, 2007
Park Slope Stroller Nazi Story Getting a Little Stale
We're not exactly sure why this was a front-page article the the NY Times Sunday Real Estate section—seems more like City section material to us—but, there it was, another article making light of the number of strollers (and implicit bourgeois existence of their pushers) in Park Slope. The fact that there are a lot of young families (some of whose matriarchs aren't averse to a little public nursing) in Park Slope just ain't news anymore, so let's just settle the fight for the soul of the slope once and for all in the hopes that another article never has to be written on the subject. In the words of The Times article, is Park Slope "Hipster Hell" or "Parent Heaven"? Update: As of 4:30 today, there were 216 votes for Parent Heaven and 158 votes for Hipster Hell.
The Park Slope Parent Trap [NY Times]
Photo by Kansas Liberal
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Comments
Yawn. Yes, this story is stale. And the question is silly. "Hipster haven"? Of course not. Parent heaven? Maybe for some parents, sure. Being neither a hipster nor a stroller nazi, it ain't my trip. PS is a great nabe but one that's overly expensive and overly packed with affluent whities because it's one of the top two of about five Brooklyn areas perceived as being "as good as" Manhattan--safe, convenient, beautiful, clean, and close. Simple as that. Nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. Gimme Fort Greene, please.
Posted by: sigh at July 9, 2007 9:13 AM
1. Nobody has moved to Park Slope to be hip for 15 years.
2. If your biggest worry is whether your neighborhood is too family-friendly and gentrified, you have no real problems.
3. There have been a lot of "young families" in Park Slope for years and years. The difference is, today, they don't move to Montclair once the kids turn two. Again, if this is your biggest worry...
4. Why's it always about "stroller MOMs" and breastfeeding? Why not bash the yuppie DADs for a change? We can take it! Look at me! I wear man-dals! Let me have it!
Posted by: SlopeDad at July 9, 2007 9:16 AM
I have lived in the neighborhood for decades and absolutely love and welcome the presence of young families, strollers and all... all this hoo ha and negative commenting about young families sounds like "sour grapes" to me.... I might add, there's a healthy showing in this area of young singles too and that's just fine...
What next from the disgruntled? will they start bashing the elderly as well... "their obnoxious canes, they walk too slowly, get in the way..."
Get over yourselves and be joyous that
this is your biggest complaint in your spoiled lives... if it is, you live a blessed existence and are too shallow to appreciate the fact.
Posted by: bren at July 9, 2007 9:22 AM
Neither hipster hell (anymore) OR is it Parent haven. I for one am sick of PS. I have lived here for a while and now I want out. I will be moving shortly because I can't take the kids yelling running around and proving that they have not been taught courtesy or manors. I don't care if you have to breast feed, I'm talking about the inconsiderate parents who let their kids scream and run around restaurants and even block the sidewalks with your strollers and bodies while you stand around talking. Others live here...you act like you own the world and you certainly behave like you are about to take over. All I see are future Paris Hiltons in the making.
The dads have less control over their kids because they spend less time with them so when they are with them they want them to express themselves and they think it's cute. Please move to Montclair and put up your picket fences. Stop trying to raise a family like you were raised on LI here in Park Slope. It's not the same.
Posted by: I'm outta here.. at July 9, 2007 9:28 AM
It does not sound like any of you have actually bothered to read the article.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 9:29 AM
Wow that picture is wild! Is that the typcial scene at the Tea Lounge? Asking as a childess Fort Greener, is that a rule of the lounge to park strollers outside or it is a common courtesy in the stroller culture? Just asking!
Posted by: rosie at July 9, 2007 9:29 AM
Sorry for the typos!! Haven't had my coffee...
Posted by: Rosie at July 9, 2007 9:31 AM
Don't let my kids toy fire truck hit you in the ass on the way out.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 9:32 AM
No it isn't typical of course. Tea lounge have "sing a long" events which are pretty well patronized (if not entirely by moms, about 50% by their nannies). During one of these it is difficult to get in to get a coffee but as a new father myself I don't care what tiny little inconvenience that ONE mid morning might be to the partially employed laptop toting 20 somethings who love to camp out in found furniture all day while making eyes at each other over their screens (probably just to post missed connections ads anyway).
For once, go get your coffee for 1/3rd the cost at the nearest deli, and go home to do your "work".
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 9:35 AM
Park Slope is one of the best neighborhoods in New York City and boasts one of the finest concentrations of nineteenth century residential architecture in the entire country.
The only other comperable areas in Brooklyn are the Heights/Cobble Hill. And the stroller quotient there is just as high as in the Slope. Affluent parents move to areas with safe streets and good private and public schools.
It doesn't take a genius to figure it out.
Posted by: Sam at July 9, 2007 9:35 AM
"Stop trying to raise a family like you were raised on LI here in Park Slope. It's not the same."
I will bet five zillion dollars you did not grow up in New York City.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 9:36 AM
I read the article, and it kinda sucked: one mom singing the praises of tea shops where breastfeeders can whip it out without fear of (or concern for) disapproval. Great: La Leche Land.
By the way, good point about how annoying old people are. Also fatties. Where's Randy Newman when ya need him?
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 9:36 AM
SlopeDad you're hilarious. I agree with every point, and would let you have it if only because it would make for some good public display of aggression (something else for everyone to whine about, other than breeding).
I do have a problem with strollers in general, however. I have a theory that: If the kid is small enough to carry, carry it. If it's too big to carry, it should be walking.
I also have an extended theory: a lot of the A.D.D. and other psychological issues you see in kids these days stem from the fact that they aren't carried enough -- that there's something in the motion, the rocking back and forth, that is necessary for children's peace of mind, and if you deprive them of that (by rolling them around passively all day, then sitting them in a crib or car seat or infront of the TV), their bodies become anxious.
Anyway, just some random thoughts. Can't wait to have kids and realize how moronic my theories were all along!
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 9:36 AM
I agree that it is a health sign for the community that it is now accepted and even "hip" to raise a family in Brooklyn. This reduction in the transient nature of city living is great, with more and more realizing they do not need to move to the burbs of long island and new jersey. All the greensters should look at this as healthy for the envirnonment as well with less/shorter commuting by the "bourgeois"
Posted by: local at July 9, 2007 9:38 AM
Actually the architecture in Clinton Hill is beyond comparable to Park Slope-- it's superior. The HIll and Brooklyn Heights were Brooklyn's premier hoods back in the day. That said, the Slope has gorgeous buildings, and they're worth more than CH, obviously, because the hood has been better cared for over the years.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 9:39 AM
It's obviously NOT stale since it's getting such a reaction from everyone (myself included).
PS is NOT hipster anything (that would be Williamsburg or Greenpoint) and definitely NOT parent heaven. Never was.
As with all stereotypes, there's a kernel of truth here. I hate going to PS and having to navigate all the strollers blocking everything and hearing all the self-righteous comments from the parents there, as if THEY ALONE know the BEST way to raise a kid.
Why the hell do all these moms (and dads, but mostly moms) have to drive around their $800 bugaboos (or whatever the latest trendy overpriced stroller is)?
Hasn't anyone heard of a baby bjorn or a sling mei tai or a snugli or anything? Or are they just too lazy to carry their kids (or if they're too big to carry, are their kids too lazy and overempowered to walk)????
I'm glad I'm NOT raising my kid in PS. I sure don't share the values of the neighborhood.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 9:39 AM
Just one more thought.
It says a lot about a community when parents can leave their expensive strollers out on the sidewalk while they are inside a restaurant.
Posted by: Sam at July 9, 2007 9:41 AM
Strollers are indulgent--you can carry a baby and let a toddler walk.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 9:44 AM
Story is old and boring; anecdotes that seem more like urban legend than truth (lets see some photos - you carry a cell phone dont you) are also boring.
Look I hate all the dumb bumper stickers & anti-Bush flags in the windows of many PS Brownstones and I definitely hate all the (fake) anti-establishment ethos that many PS (and many NY'ers in general) love to promote - the way I see it is - we're not in HS anymore, you don't have dress a certain way or believe certain things to 'belong' - try actually being independent and dress, think, eat, etc... based on your own thoughts not some PC B.S.
That being said I did see something in PS the other day that sent douche chills up my spine - a guy driving up Union St (@ 5th) in a Silver Porsche Boxter Convertible - top down - with vanity plates that read - "THE SLOPE" - (I so wanted to take a picture but unfortunately the light was green and I couldn't get my camera out fast enough.)
Posted by: David at July 9, 2007 9:46 AM
Um, 9:46, what do you call that thing at the top of the post depicting all the strollers parked in front of Tea Lounge? Is that not a picture?
Urban legend my tuchus.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 9:48 AM
"Hasn't anyone heard of a baby bjorn or a sling mei tai or a snugli or anything? Or are they just too lazy to carry their kids (or if they're too big to carry, are their kids too lazy and overempowered to walk)????"
Slings, Bjorns: give me a break. Park Slope is sling central. Boing Boing sells more of them in a year than the GDP of most Third World countries.
What, do you think in every other neighborhood of NYC, parents say, "Gee, honey, I'd really like to push Junior in a stroller--but it wouldn't be considerate of our neighbors. We must carry our child, for it is right for the community!"?
There are more strollers in Park Slope -- and slings, and bjorns, etc. -- because there are more kids. You may find that annoying, and I don't blame you, but the idea that parents here use strollers any more than anywhere else in the city is BS.
Oh, by the way, glad to hear that YOU clearly don't believe that "YOU ALONE know the BEST way to raise a kid."
Posted by: SlopeDad at July 9, 2007 9:49 AM
I agree that the architecture in Clinton Hill is wonderful, but it's not totally intact as in Park Slope. Many of the houses were torn down in the 1940's and 50's and replaced with unattrative high-rises. Every block still has a handfull of decrepit and tumble-down facades. I was in Clinton Hill over the weekend and was surprised to see that it has not changed much over the past several years. there are still neglected houses everywhere, even on Clinton Avenue. So the potential is there in Clinton Hill, but to the unbiased eye, it still looks a little rough around the edges -I'm not saying that to disparage the area in any way- I really love it, but it still has a little ways to go to reach tripe-A status like Park Slope. That said, a lot of people like that - a touch of scruffiness. I was a little surprised because the RE prices are through the roof, and yet the visual aspect of the area is still kind of the way it was back when it was a bargan. so the reality has to catch up with the hype. I think that happens in many neighborhoods.
Posted by: Sam at July 9, 2007 9:50 AM
Re carrying kids vs. strollers: Bjorns etc. are great until the baby gets too tall (about 25" depending on mom/dad) or too heavy (about 25 lbs). At that point, if they can walk, they can't go more than a block or 2, plus anyone who's ever had babies knows that toddlers have no fear or common sense, so you got to keep them confined. In the burbs, it's car seats and shopping carts. here in the city, it's strollers. Now, we try to practice courtesy with our stroller, but just like anything, some people are a bit oblivious.
Besides, having a lot of parents/kids out on the street is a good thing...the same people complaining about that are probably the same ones complaining that "Olde Tyme Breukelyn" where the kids used to play stoopball as the ginger ale man made his deliveries are long gone...
Posted by: Pete at July 9, 2007 9:52 AM
All these morons who say if a kid can walk they shouldnt be in a stroller clearly know nothing about what they say a clearly demonstrate how illogical their outrage is -
Little kids/toddlers ARE smaller then adults - they have SHORT legs - hence they walk slow and can tire more easily. If you idiots got your wish instead of being slowed behind a 2ft wide mom and her stroller - you'd be REALLY slowed behind a 4ft wide Mommy - holding the hand of her child as they slowly make their way up the street.
Posted by: David at July 9, 2007 9:55 AM
Why on earth the NY Times would feel that one mother's first-person concerns about her own neighborhood is part of their credo, "all the news that's fit to print." They should set that gal-writer up with a blog and be done with it. If this is where the Times is heading then they are really, really in trouble. It's ironic to me because often when they deal with national stories or international stories the Times feels that it isn't necessary to stoop so low as to bring it to the local level of understanding since they are the paper of record for the nation. So if they are talking food stamps or emissions or whatever we never get even one or two paragraphs in the story about how the national/international issue faces this city and its residents at all. So now they think they should keep that distant above-it-all tone overall and then pander to the masses by bashing mothers in one neighborhood as brought to you by a mother in that very neighborhood. How very small for such a high-minded paper.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 9:56 AM
David that was some sighting! oh lord!
too funny... and obnoxious..., but then funny takes over again! :)
Whatever happened to those convenient little "umbrella" strollers? saved my back when I lived in Manhattan, and was
very useful when I moved to Park Slope
and walked everywhere with my two year old... could fold it up easily just like an umbrella... great for city living... made for easy street navigation for all...
Posted by: bren at July 9, 2007 9:59 AM
Re: Sam
Tripe-A status? One could have a lot of fun with that little slip ...
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 10:00 AM
Regarding Tea Lounge: "One mid morning"? No way! It is baby and toddler packed every day, all day. And I am NOT partially employed...I FREELANCE! Not twenty-something anymore either...damn...
Posted by: Carol Gardens at July 9, 2007 10:03 AM
Park Slope is what Brooklyn used to be before the drugs, so I don't get these "realness" posts. Wow, a healthy thriving family-orientied community? Call the fire department. I hope this spreads to all of Brooklyn.
Posted by: Common Sense at July 9, 2007 10:04 AM
Pure nonsense to suggest that a parent doesn't need a stroller of some type with small kids... you absolutely do...
by four if the kid's healthy they usually don't want to be in a "baby"
stroller... of course there are exceptions.
Posted by: bren at July 9, 2007 10:05 AM
Sorry but for those of us that have to go to a real job all day, with a real office and a real boss know that Freelance=Partially employed
Posted by: Anon at July 9, 2007 10:06 AM
Give me a break. I do so much more work as a freelancer than I ever did when I worked in a "real office" with a "real boss." Look at Brownstoner himself who had the time to put together a labor intensive daily blog while he juggled his "real job" on wall street.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 10:13 AM
Wow, I can't believe someone would actually drive a sports car (and a Boxter, no less - what, he couldn't afford a 911?) down a street, with a personalized license plate. What's this world coming to?
In other news, walk your darned baby already! If most of my friends can do it (and I wd love to share pictures from this weekend at Brooklyn Bridge park of numerous toddlers walking around), then you can too. Don't be so damned convenient.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 10:13 AM
After 15 years in different parts of Brooklyn I moved to the slope early last year - and happen to live right around the corner from the tea lounge. It's very rarely as packed with strollers as the pic above shows. Usually it's full of hipsters - and aging hipsters like me ;-)
I think the stroller nazis and their offspring are no worse here than anywhere else in Brownstone Brooklyn. Maybe there's slightly more strollers per capita and, sure there's the occasional brat acting up while mommy and daddy ignore the tantrum, but that's a rarity - and behavior that's certainly just as common outside the Slope.
Me, even as a single person who's tolerance for bratty children and Dr. Spock-driven parents isn't what it could be, I love it here. Granted, there are more diverse neighborhoods, but could be a helluva lot worse.
Posted by: John at July 9, 2007 10:14 AM
10:06 am You know nothing.
Next . . .
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 10:14 AM
I would love to see someone either walk or carry my one year old to Key Food, buy groceries, and carry it all home.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 10:19 AM
What a false dichotemy. Was Park Slope ever cool? Awesome park, Great place to raise a family, But I don't think a hipster has set foot there since the late 80s -- or maybe ever.
Posted by: clinton hillbilly at July 9, 2007 10:23 AM
Hey, in the burbs kids get carried around in an SUV, in the city you need a stroller. It's nicer than sticking the kid in a wheel barrow. Y'know?
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 10:24 AM
I gotta say, the number of strollers in the picture isn't even that great. And not a single bugaboo! So much for that gripe. Would you all rather if every parent brought the stroller inside with them?! Probably because then you could complain even more. And using a baby bjorn or snugli instead? Gimme a break. Try walking around for a couple hours on a hot summer day with your kid in one of those, your purse or other bag and whatever you might be out to get, like groceries. Let's face it, you all love the stroller issue because it allows you to complain endlessly about a minor issue. As an earlier poster said, you'd be even more annoyed by a parent walking at a snail's pace down the sidewalk with a two-year old. Plus, I guarantee that with the attitude most of you have, the kid would get knocked into constantly.
Posted by: lemlar at July 9, 2007 10:24 AM
This is a tangental question but when did it become socially acceptable to allow infants into real restaurants? I can't take going to the slope for dinner out anymore. Everytime i go there is always at least one parent with a screaming infant in the restaurant, who btw refuses to go outside to quiet there kid. The best was the last time i went out and one family had a screaming infant and a toddler who just had to bring their noisiest toy to dinner. When i was a child these type of things were a major social faux pas that would get you booted from restuarants, now no one blicks an eye. Why is that?
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 10:26 AM
p.s. I don't even live in PS, but the stroller complaints are ridiculous.
Posted by: lemlar at July 9, 2007 10:27 AM
I'm a total Park Slope hipster, sun glasses, funky record collection, bed head and all.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 10:27 AM
I have lived in Park Slope for years and my children are now in High School. I have had a love/ hate with the neighborhood and understand all the comments. Yes there are many parents and childrena and I can see how the acceptance or understanding of kids that are louder than they should be or restless in a restaurant is a blessing to a parent who has been workingtheir butt off all day taking their child to classes and the park and playdates and just wants one moment of "I have an adult life" that is provided by diners/parents that are in the same boat. I can see how this would really suck for people without kids who are trying to have a nice time. In the same way that parents learn the child friendly places I would think that childless people would learn as well. Then there is the occasssional parent who oversteps by bringing their child to a "grown-up" place and letting their child run like it's Two Boots. It's not all that often, though.
I have this theory that young parents model people older than them because the whole parentingthing is new and this is what people do when they are trying to learn, right. It seems that in trying to find their place in this new role they become really tight and judgemental for a couple of years. Maybe it's that before children you have these interests that guide you into new friendships but suddenly you have friends because your kids were born a week apart. It's an awkward time. So all these people are now part of "your group" and you have to figure out how to sort through it. As lame as it may seem later, opinions about nursing and diapers and pacifiers become a way of findind common ground. And yes they become a way of excluding.
I will say that although I joked about this judgemental new parent, it didn't bother me much until I had "grown" out of it.
By the first grade I saw the field level and all the kids that couldn't read at three were reading right along with the baby geniuses. This is when the parents started to really get over themselves and the lessons of humility that they learned in their journey through toddlerdom started to become lessons that they not only recognized but wanted to impart to their children.
As I said, my kids are getting older and while they do not go to school in Park Slope, they are friends with many Berkeley Carroll kids. I would have predicted at the onset of my "getting over myself" that these kids were headed for Paris Hiltonism, but I was wrong. The same parents that talked and talked and gave time outs and sometimes got too tired to do this style of parenting in the end did not let the kids walk all over them and while their teenagers are teenagers they are not rude or badly behaved. They are from my experience shockingly kind to one another and incredibly open-minded.
This all brings me to the point that I always hear about young parents and babies in Park Slope but I have never heard about the loud and awful teenagers. Something good must be happening.
I am proud of all the amazing kids that I have watched grow in Park Slope. I have seen the very worst toddlers grow into young people that would warm anyone's heart. And I have seen young parents make incredible journeys through lives with all the obstacles and pain that come with the job of raising children and must say firstly that I am sorry for my own judgemental nature when I was starting out and lastly that I am amazed and proud of the young adults that Park Slope has produced for the world.
Please let me say that my admiration for other parents is not confined to Park Slope.
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 10:28 AM
What's wrong with tripe A?
Its very French.
Posted by: Sam at July 9, 2007 10:28 AM
Prior to having a child I thought that as soon as a kid could walk they should no longer be in a stroller. I was wrong. All the previous posts here explain it well. My 2 year old walks very slowly & wants to explore everything. There's a time for that but not on a busy sidewalk. Also I work full time in the city, take my son to & from his school/daycare in Manhattan in his stroller as well as to run short errands with him. No way I could keep my son safe without his stroller & carry anything. I personally can't stand Park Slope but only because it's so densely populated; strollers add to that but really what do you stroller haters want us to do stop breeding? To each their own; I'll enjoy my Ditmas Park gas guzzling ancient home on a wide idyllic street even if it means driving to Boerum Hill for great bagels. Anyhoo... carry on
Posted by: tag482 at July 9, 2007 10:31 AM
Just a bit of history. I have several friends who are in their 40s and 50s and grew up in Park Slope. When people discuss/complain about how it's full of kids now they laugh and tell stories about their childhood days when there were way, way more children in Park Slope because many familes had 5, 6, 8, 10 children! And they all played stickball in the middle of the street! Imagine the outrage now if this were the case. In the minds of these real park slopers, there are very few kids in the neighborhood these days!
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 10:36 AM
10:26's anecdote is exactly what I am talking about -
I eat out at restaurants in PS, greater Brooklyn and Manhattan all the time (probably 4 nites a week)- I go to 'adult restaurants' all the time (Blue Ribbon, Al Di La, Stone Park, etc, etc, etc) and the notion that "Everytime" you go to these restaurants you have to deal with a "screaming infant" or unruly toddler is just a total lie.
I would venture that I have to "deal with" annoying/loud/obnoxious adults far more often then children (both in PS and everywhere else).
I hereby challenge anyone to video (use your crappy camera phone) even one single obvious example of this 'horrible parenting' and post it on You Tube.
I'm not saying kids never yell or cry - but sometimes adults get drunk, laugh really loud or shout over each other to make a point also - so what - if you dont want to hear anyone else - eat at home.
Posted by: David at July 9, 2007 10:41 AM
this thread is pathetic.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 10:43 AM
9.44am, blog posting is indulgent. You can write a letter and mail it.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 10:46 AM
Thank you anon 10:28. I grew up in the slope in the 70's and 80's, and many of my classmates have returned to the Slope to raise their own kids. None of them fit the streotype Type-A parent, most are in a public-service related career, and most are just overwhelmed along with all of us, of the challenges of raising young children.
Posted by: park slope grown up at July 9, 2007 10:48 AM
I go out almost every night. I have never seen a kid at Applewood, Stone Park, Al di la, or Rosewater. I have been to Blue Ribbon and Tempo hundreds of times and have never seen a child that was badly behaved. I have lived in the neighborhood for 15 years. I saw parents last week let their child run around the garden at Little D on a Friday at 8. It struck me as strange. Lats time I went out there was a really loud guy with an empty bottle of wine shouting about how much money he makes. As it turned out he wasn't from the Slope. Not even from New York. It does get insane at Two Boots but that is the deal.
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 10:52 AM
The public breastfeeding is beyond the beyond. Get thee to a private place! I also wish I could stomp the wheels on all the carriages blocking my way at cafes.Most of these women are older post-career chicks who took fertility drugs, so it's inbred twins they're pushing along, insisting others get out of the way. I wish some teen age boy would just stand over one of these flop-boobed moms and abuse himself on them as they feed junior.
Posted by: Icarus at July 9, 2007 10:52 AM
I have been hoping for that.
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 10:55 AM
as a breastfeeding mom, that is.
And what is it about breastfeeding that stresses you so much? You must be very dirty and just not able to take the little glimpse.
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 10:58 AM
WOW 10:52, step away from the keyboard. Way too over the top to be even remotely funny.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 10:59 AM
Just look at that ridiculous photo! Goddamned PS stroller moms.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 10:59 AM
ridiculous- people having babies in the city. trying to get them from a-b. sure it's not like the burbs where you throw them all in the suv. what do you propose? stop having kids, stop taking them out of the house? seriously!
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 11:06 AM
thank god i do not have kids or live in park slope
what a bunch of self absorbed whiners
that is hell on earth
Posted by: married guy in his 30's at July 9, 2007 11:08 AM
Isn't it great there is a whole neighborhood full of kids/strollers/breastfeeding moms? And if you don't like it, you can go elsewhere?
Why complain about a neighborhood you hate? I don't get it.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 11:14 AM
"Most of these women are older post-career chicks who took fertility drugs, so it's inbred twins they're pushing along, insisting others get out of the way."
F*ck you A$$Hole. i would kick the sh*t out of you if i ever met you.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 11:15 AM
Don't take the bait of Icarus's post . . .
Posted by: lemlar at July 9, 2007 11:18 AM
stack it up point by point. it's the best neighborhood in brooklyn. that's why it gets so much hate. can you imagine a conversation about hating, say bed-stuy with criticism of the parenting style. what other place could you have this kind of converstaion about? hilarious!
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 11:19 AM
Geez, why are so many blog comment posters so disaffected, cynical and holier than thou. No, not everyone who wants to live in New York desires the urban desolate industrial wasteland look of Williamsburg-Bushwick. Some, like myself, (I live in the South Slope right off of 7th avenue) want a tree lined street, nearby amenities, a diverse community (diverse not only along racial lines, but also economic status, family status, etc).
Yes, there are kids running around, yes, there are lots of families and strollers, but as a late 20-something holding down a job and trying to enjoy life in the city, those are aspects of my neighborhood life I'd much rather deal with than many other unsavory conditions I can think of in city living.
You know what, the neighborhood I live in is generally safe, I have nearby amenities, and it's a nice place to live. The fact that families are choosing to live in a City neighborhood means to me that the City government's tax base isn't drying up anytime soon due to outmigration.
All of the disaffected and pretentious hipsters and hipster wannabees need to get over themselves - they're just as oppressive and self-righteous as the bugaboo crowd they're complaining about.
Posted by: SouthSlope at July 9, 2007 11:20 AM
so breastfeeding is cool if the chicks are hot? sorry it's been so long since you've been laid.
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 11:23 AM
Hey SlopeDad,
Under no circumstances do sandals ever look good on a man. Flip flops are okay. That's the real conversation that all of y'all are scared to address.
Posted by: the chime at July 9, 2007 11:29 AM
Anon 11:15..why did that comment bother you so much? I am a woman and I used fertility drugs and I thought it was hysterical. Now that I my "test tube" babies are much older I do realise just how compeltely ridiculous and over the top I was. Since I have been the hipster, the careerist and the "too old for this" mommy I find this string beyond funny because everyone is right.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 11:30 AM
11:19 you are SOO right - but to test your theory, I'm going to try it:
God I hate Bed Stuy - they got these fat overweight moms with 4 kids, who constantly interrupt my reasonably peaceable day by yelling, cursing and slapping the crap out of their kids while I am just trying to buy some stuff at Target; plus I can't go into any of the fast food restaurants around Bed Stuy, cause these Mom's are fighting with everyone and their kids run around wildly bumping into everyone and everything- what a bunch of self-absorbed overweight slobs.
See 11:19 maybe your wrong, maybe the NY Times will run a piece like this next week.....
Posted by: David at July 9, 2007 11:37 AM
Anon 10:28, thanks so much for your insightful post. My Clinton Hill kid is also a teen who's attended NYC public schools since day one, and I have to say her friends constantly amaze me. She still sees and socializes with a bunch of kids she's known since she was a baby and they're a brilliant, interested and diverse crew.
But the real reason I am posting is the following TRUE story:
I ran into one of my baby-playground mom friends (who'd decamped for Montclair when her first was 3 and her second was newborn) at the Bklyn Museum about 6 years ago and asked "What are you doing back here?". She answered "We moved back to get the kids into a decent public school!" I just about flipped!
They were the sweetest words I ever heard...
If the sole result of my long stay in Clinton Hill is that a clueless young hipster can feel safe walking home drunk at 3 am wearing high heels and listening to her ipod, I can be proud.
Brooklyn is better for all of us.
Posted by: Embrace Your Inner Stroller Nazi at July 9, 2007 11:42 AM
Sandals on guys can be very cool.
Especially if they have nice feet, some do some don't.
Just leave the black socks home.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 11:43 AM
also, people without kids get all snarky and preachy cause they're jealous that they're alone and don't have the presumed security of marriage and family and they're scared they're gonna die all shriveled and alone. people with kids get all snarky and preachy cause they're jealous they're not single anymore and they can't have a hot shag with an anonymous guy/gal they met in a bar and the sex they're having with their mates is boring and predictable and they wonder if it's gonna be this way until they get all shriveled up and die. that's what this debate is really about. some boredom and some fear gives a thread a lot of sweet mileage.
Posted by: the chime at July 9, 2007 11:44 AM
no matter how many posts and rants this topic generates, the bottom line is not gonna change - PARK SLOPE IS NOTHING BUT A SUBSTITUTE FOR WANNA-BE MANHATTANITES.
in fact, I've started using PS as an adjective as in "let's not meet at so-and-so resto, it's seriously looking Park Slope-y"
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 11:44 AM
Hey 11:43, sandals on a guy NEVER look good. It doesn't matter if he has nice feet or not. They NEVER look good and I wish the people of PS would stop lying to themselves about this.
Posted by: the chime at July 9, 2007 11:47 AM
Chime - you are right on. Please gentlemen, keep the sandals in the closet or just wear them around the back yard of your brownstone. They should not be seen on the street.
Signed an already starting to shrivel mommy type with a semi-boring sex life and too much time on my hands at work today.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 11:52 AM
Anyone who has ever driven a 2002 Bugaboo Frog knows why nothing else compares. I got my two 1/2 year old this retro rubber bike horn and have taught him to blast his way through side walk traffic. Sunday morning brunch crowds, loitering half asleep nonbreeder hipsters... move it or lose it!
Posted by: Mr. Mom at July 9, 2007 11:52 AM
11:47
Were you frightened by someone's ugly feet as a child?
Sandals are so cool they're hot.
You are so misguided.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 11:55 AM
Post 11:52, when was the last time you checked YOUR diapers? Could explain why the smell follows you.
Posted by: Mr. Mom at July 9, 2007 11:56 AM
But sandals make my feet feel cool.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 12:01 PM
12:02: it seems to me your complaint applies to almost all people or groups these days, not just parents with kids. how about the way people with dogs hog the whole sidewalk. my favorite is how two strangers with dogs take up the whole sidewalk complimenting each other's dogs and asking various questions about them while their dogs sniff each other. they never seem to notice or care that other people are trying to get by. or how about people who blast music in public places just because they want to. there are countless other examples. i think it's a general trait of society these days that people simply don't get or don't care about anyone else. i don't think it's particular to parents with kids.
Posted by: lemlar at July 9, 2007 12:10 PM
Why does everyone have to resort to early child psychology when something bumps up against their belief system? Yes, I agree, sandals feel cool on the toes, but that's not the point. If I could wear a skirt I would cause I imagine it would feel great to have a cool breeze getting all up in there - but I'm a fella, so it wouldn't look good. The point is all sandals make all men look ultra silly! (flip flops are cool)
Posted by: the chime at July 9, 2007 12:11 PM
I am bored and it is really hot outside and I am thirteen years old. My dad sometimes reads this site and sometimes so do I and I love how easily manipulated adults are on this site. Hi dad.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 12:15 PM
Wow David-
I understand the theoretical exercise value of your 11:37 post, but it really reveals a whole SLEW of class issues on your part doesn't it? I won't get into any sort of race issues since you didn't mention race explicitly, but I can see how someone would make that assumption as well.
...not to mention Target is in FG (a lot closer to PS than BS).
I'm happy you are above all this "HS" stuff. You must be the one true individual here. You must be above ALL marketing and only look at cold hard facts. Ha.
And someone else mentioned Boing Boing earlier - don't get me started about a pro-breastfeeding store that sells pumps but no bottles, and whose owners, when asked, will tell you so with a condescending, admonishing tone. But they do have onsies with stupid PC slogans.
I'd rather go to Ft. Greene and give my money to Target than that place. At least they stock the pump parts my wife needs AND the bottles to feed my kid when she's not able to.
Posted by: PS Curmudgeon at July 9, 2007 12:16 PM
12:11
I see the problem now.
let you inner self go and buy a pretty skirt and matching pumps and sally forth! throw caution to the wind and throw your doo-dahs to the breeze!
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 12:18 PM
a lot of hatred in this topic!
1. Those insecure about living in soulless, treeless, and overpriced manhattan are using this as a wedge issue against the slope. (and add to that anyone who wanted to live in the slope but settled for more space for less money in a more ghetto suburb).
2. Angry "freelancers" who probably couldn't afford enough space to raise kids in the slope, even if they could stop serial dating, using it to vent at their situation. I work from coffee shops too and understand the compromise. I'm basically glad they exist and have aircon, everything else is a bonus.
3. Angry moms who probably outsource their daycare needs anyway, hitting back at being turned into a scapegoat.
Its really too funny. Tribe against Tribe, tribe nested within tribe..
The slope is great. I wish I lived there. Kids are great. Strollers are in 99% of cases I see absolutely necessary for modern life in the city. Manhattan sucks, why do you read this blog if you think the slope is full of "wannabe manhattanites"? In my experience the reverse is true: The slope is full of people who see the light (and the trees, and the peace, and the lack of tourists) and opted out of manhattan knowing exactly what they were doing.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 12:20 PM
Flip flops are only cool if you're French (which is to say smoking) and wearing a just-so stretched out v-neck, just-so worn APC jeans and looking appropriately (Frenchly) aloof.
And you must have well groomed toes or it's just nasty.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 12:20 PM
I hate people with iPods. I hate people talking on cellphones. I hate people with big umbrellas.
Just because they own 1 or all three of these things.. what right does that give them to be inconsiderate and think everyone should move for them 'cause they are in their own selfish self-indulgent world
I gotta listen to them chatter or hear their music, etc, etc. Move or lose my eye from their umbrella.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 12:24 PM
12:18, no! That's not it! I don't want to wear pumps. 12:20, you're going a little over my head right now, and I respect that.
Posted by: the chime at July 9, 2007 12:25 PM
12:11 -
Whadda ya think they do in Scotland?
And it's not even hot there.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 12:28 PM
Seems like this "boring" story has more than a bit of life left in it.
I always find it a little scary when people (like the Times author) talk about moving to someplace (the Slope, the 'burbs, wherever) to "breed." They used to call it "raising a family," and it was pretty much what humans did. Now the "choice" (ah, that word) seems to have turned into a polarizing and self-conscious act of urban geopolitics, at least for our more blessed-with-affluence crowd. Kind of sad.
Oh, and did anyone notice the huge missing piece in the Times article? The preponderance, not of these much-maligned moms, but of nannies! I often go blocks without seeing a single stroller pushed by an actual mom; the nannies appear to have their own cliques and hierarchies, too. Guess that's a whole 'nother can of worms. Prepare for another 84 posts.
Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at July 9, 2007 12:29 PM
"I understand the theoretical exercise value of your 11:37 post, but it really reveals a whole SLEW of class issues on your part doesn't it?" - PS Curmudgeon
Actually no and if you actually did understand the THEORETICAL exercise of my post then you wouldn't make two contradictory conclusions within 1 sentence.
Posted by: David at July 9, 2007 12:31 PM
Brenda: how do you know who is an "actual mom"?
Posted by: lemlar at July 9, 2007 12:32 PM
I hate everybody.
Why is everybody against ME?
ME ME ME.
They don't understand me because I am a misunderstood genius and way more enlightened than everybody else?
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 12:32 PM
This is great. I have been lurking all morning but had to put my two cents in. SOMETIMES stroller pushing mommys piss me off. Sometimes they have a nice smile and they realize that they are sharing the sidewalk with me. SOMETIMES I hate W-Burg hipsters with their skinny jeans and aversion to admitting that anything is worth their interest. Sometimes I like talking to hipster guy at the Gowanus Yacht Club about how Doug Martsch is God-Like. SOMETIMES i hate myself for getting too drunk and falling asleep in my clothes. Mostly Im pretty happy that I live in Brooklyn....
Posted by: Childless_Brooklyn at July 9, 2007 12:38 PM
haters go home!
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 12:39 PM
David-
You could have easily chosen Clinton Hill or Ft. Greene or Brooklyn Heights or Greenpoint or Sunset Park or Bay Ridge or any other neighborhood, but you chose to specifically (not theoretically) use Bed Stuy as the testbed for your exercise and you come across as classist and racist by choosing a neighborhood that is A) primarily African American and B) historically poor and then illustrating it with racial/class stereotypes and geographical inaccuracies which give me the impression you don't even know where Bed Stuy begins and ends.
I'm not saying you ARE racist or classist, since I don't know you. I'm just saying it's how you come across and it doesn't do justice to the good people of Park Slope.
Posted by: PS Curmudgeon at July 9, 2007 12:43 PM
you people are so grossly american, it makes me sick. have ANY of you park slope haters ever been outside the U.S.???
to be digusted by seeing a woman's breast, by living amongst social minded people with a penchant for living green, raising their children in one of the most cultured centers in the world, for living in homes constructed with care over a hundred years ago instead of slapped up with cardboard....these are the things you choose to attack people for???
in my opinion, people who do not find value in what park slope has to offer (whether you'd like to live there or not) are simply not very evolved.
having just come back from a holiday abroad, this conversation is even more sickening than usual...
Posted by: jm at July 9, 2007 12:45 PM
PS Curmedgeon: the post that David was responding to mentioned Bed Stuy (and only Bed Stuy), that's why David used that neighborhood in his post. And I assume it was intentionally stereotypical as have been many of the posts regarding PS.
Posted by: lemlar at July 9, 2007 12:47 PM
I live in BH and I wear sandals, weather permitting. If you don't like it, please go have sexual relations with yourself. Thanks!
Posted by: GB at July 9, 2007 12:48 PM
i also agree with the commenter who says most people on this thread use convenience to make a point like nobody's business.
i don't care either way because i think the term hipster is absolutely asinine, but in most conversations, isn't this term a derogatory one used for people who are unable to decide what's cool for themselves but choose to go by what the crowd does?
in that case, why is it so bad that park slope isn't a hipster heaven? according to most accounts, this should be a good thing, but so many of you now use it in your own defense to say that hipsters would never dare live in park slope.
it's ridiculous.
Posted by: jm at July 9, 2007 12:50 PM
Why do you people live in the city if you can't embrace diversity, and live and let live? If you don't want to deal with the "spillover" of other people's lives into your own, why don't you go live in the suburbs, put a fence around your house, and travel by car? I don't get it.
Posted by: Simpson at July 9, 2007 12:52 PM
PS Curmudgeon - are you this clueless??? - Where do you think most of this anti-PS stuff comes from, if not class and race? Do you not notice that Park Slope is A) primarily white and B)historically upper middle class - and that the anti-PS sentiments are filled with racial/class stereotypes?
And I am not posting as a representative of "the good people of Park Slope" - I am posting as one individual viewpoint that can see that racial/class stereotypes and hostility are offensive and often illogical, no matter which direction they are being thrown.
Posted by: David at July 9, 2007 12:53 PM
Not to sound too McCarthyist, but love it or leave it JM.
If you don't like things that are grossly American why do you live here?
I wouldn't move to France if I hated people who smoke and speak French and I wouldn't move to England if I hated people who swallow consonants and drink.
America is full of "grossly" American people who live green, take care of their 200+ year old houses, live with a high level of culture (albeit perhaps not the European definition of "Culture" with a capital C).
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 12:54 PM
Poor white, upper middle class people are misunderstood. Boo hoo.
Cry me a river.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 12:56 PM
i have sex with myself all the time! but that too, is beside the point! the point is, well, you know what the point is. also, who amongst us isn't racist and classist? the ones who don't admit that they are filled with nasty, shadowy, ingrained, prejudicial tendencies, they're the ones who scare me. also, men, stop wearing sandals!
Posted by: the chime at July 9, 2007 1:01 PM
Tired of this subject?
I'm just tired of the word "hipster"
Hipster doesn't even have the same meaning as it used to.
Posted by: Jigman at July 9, 2007 1:04 PM
I think Brownstoner should go into business with the Tea Lounge, start a friday night Hipster vs. Breast Feeding/Stroller Nazi mud wrestling match and charge a $10 cover. Saturdays could be Park Sloper vs. Victorian Flatbusher night. Some one should profit from all of the animosity/rivalry this board exposes.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 1:09 PM
Oh lord!as long as your feet are clean,
for gods sake wear your sandals boys and girls it's SUMMER! enjoy! soon enough we'll all be back in heavy coats, woolen socks and Winter shoes...
sandals are cool on all levels...
So many folks out there with strange psyches... the sight of men's feet, breasts, strollers, babies, sends them into a lather... hmmm, maybe a new
psychological disorder being Bjorn...
oops! :)
Posted by: bren at July 9, 2007 1:10 PM
Goddamned Park Slope moms. To hell with 'em.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 1:10 PM
When I take the D train, I get annoyed by loud, poorly disciplined kids and oblivious or obnoxious parents of all ethnicities. White, black, Hispanic, Chinese, South Asian--toddlers and young kids screaming and elbowing and getting into other people's personal space, parents pretending not to see it. The idea that one group has a monopoly on unruly kids is bogus.
It's annoying, but it happens. And most kids and parents are just fine. That's living in the city--we're close together, and sometimes you're going to be inconvenienced by another person.
But it's only upper-middle-class white men who rock the man-dals. Don't oppress us! It is our culture!
Posted by: SlopeDad at July 9, 2007 1:11 PM
The only consensus I gather from this thread is that Mandals are bad.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 1:12 PM
'no matter how many posts and rants this topic generates, the bottom line is not gonna change - PARK SLOPE IS NOTHING BUT A SUBSTITUTE FOR WANNA-BE MANHATTANITES.'
Wake-up buddy, Manhattan is just about over. It’s Disneyland.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 1:12 PM
I just want to shake my fist at everyone!!!!
ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 1:13 PM
You're all racists and elitist.... hence your desire to stick to this stupid topic. People always want to show how much smarter they are, how much cooler they are... when in fact, they are indeed the dumber, geeker ones in the first place.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 1:19 PM
Chime,
I disagree with you about sandals but agree with everything else you said.
We deal with prejudice and racism the way the Victorians dealt with sex, a taboo subject never to be spoken about.
Everybody's racist and prejudiced to some degree. I think we are hard-wired for it. But we are evolved people and we interact socially and professionally and hopefully are nice to each other and tolerant of each other's faults.
Posted by: Sam at July 9, 2007 1:21 PM
Park Slope moms stink. Their bodies have gone totally to seed. Their kids are spoiled rotten. Their sense of entitlement is suffocating. God spare us...
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 1:26 PM
I was bitching about park slope kids the other day to a co-worker who lives in Bushwick. He looked at me and said "At least the kids are in strollers and not running through the streets throwing baseballs at you."
So obviously no one has been in the poorer areas of brooklyn because guess what, poor people have kids too. They just cant afford strollers.
Posted by: nick at July 9, 2007 1:28 PM
i just want to know how park slope moms differ from those on the upper west side? or the ones on the upper east? or in the west village.
please cite specific examples with photographic evidence of why these moms are singled out as being worse than others.
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 1:30 PM
jeez louise, people, why so angry? life is too short. do what you like, live where you like, how you like, and let others do the same. i'm not from nyc, and i've never understood the outdated, nativist, elitist wrong/right side of the river/avenue mentality that is on display here.
as for PS, i'll say the same thing to the times that i say to that obnoxious virgin mobile billboard so grossly misplaced at the corner of union and 4th (in the heart of the heavily latino west slope): "park slope" is not a singular neighborhood, with a singular type of stereotypical resident.
part of park slope's appeal is that it is so diverse and spacious enough to accomodate it.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 1:37 PM
NY times reporters cannot afford to live in the UWS, so their Moms comings and goings go unreported.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 1:37 PM
Anyone else noticing a whiff of misogyny throughout this thread?
Posted by: Simpson at July 9, 2007 1:39 PM
where else in this world are there babyphobes like ny'ers? I think we live in a city of stunted maturity. In the latin culture parents hang out with teenagers, babies, the elderly -noone sequesters themselves from babies like they do here. Unbelievable.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 1:41 PM
125 posts about THIS ?
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 1:42 PM
yes, 1:42....jealousy is a very ugly thing....
there is no reason to attack a neighborhood or it's residents other than pure, envy. it's one of the deadly sins, you know...
no one has forced anyone's hand to live in park slope. if you don't like it and want to attack it, there is simply no other reason for the past 125 posts...
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 1:54 PM
I see Jen Chung of gothamist (childless ABC from jersey, now in UWS) has jumped right onto the slope bashing band wagon with a snarky little bit, and an impossible to use "poll".
Pretty sad. Thought she was smarter than that.
http://gothamist.com/2007/07/09/news_flash_park.php
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 1:59 PM
1:54, I really don't think it's jealousy at all. I choose not to live in Park Slope because I don't like how many people there are, how much noise, how much it's like manhattan actually. It's not envy so much as boredom.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 2:03 PM
she did nothing but regurgitate the same drivel that people always say about park slope.
anyone have anything NEW to add??
you can bash it all you want. it doesn't seem to have much of an effect on those that enjoy it or the seemingly endless supply of people who'd like to live there. how about focussing on the glorious architecture or the terrific new korean place moim that just opened up. something besides strollers. for god's sake...
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 2:06 PM
Brownstoner, nice move to say that the Time Article is old news, then open up the floodgates for old news discussions.
No one ever moved to Park Slope to be hip, ever. No one ever got advice from the N Y Times on how to be hip either.
Brownstoner should have three perma-discussions linked on the page:
1. The 'I hate park slope' discussion. Somehow it never gets old to people. Sub topics:
-Is park slope trying to hard to be manhattan?
-Isn't everyone there just B-league for not living in the city, and don't we freaking hate them for it because they can't affort better?
-Isn't everyone there too rich and white but even suckier because their not super rich and famous and don't live in the Manhattan?
-Are the people who move ther really sucky because they breed and then use the sidewalks and infrastructure?
2.The impending AY Yards apocalypse
3. The 'lefferts is too dangerous' discussion for that one weirdo who always posts
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 2:06 PM
1:54, I really don't think it's jealousy at all. I choose not to live in Park Slope because I don't like how many people there are, how much noise, how much it's like manhattan actually. It's not envy so much as boredom.
so you choose to post because???
shall i rant on and on about how much i hate the upper east side and hope to get an article posted in the times about it and talk about it ad naseum on blog after blog???
please. if you're THAT bored, then you might want to move to park slope to interact with some of those many people that you seem to hate so much. a little noise and human interaction might do you some good...
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 2:14 PM
i really don't see a problem of strollers at all. some of you guys are overstating it.
Posted by: armchair_warrior at July 9, 2007 2:19 PM
2:14, my god you are hostile. I keep checking back because I am mystified by how many posts there are about this absurd topic. r e l a x
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 2:29 PM
I will post, this is the most important topic of our time,
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 2:39 PM
2:29....my god you're ignorant.
people who are as bored as you need to help out a charity.
Posted by: anonymous at July 9, 2007 2:41 PM
Mr. B, should be third & fourth options on your survey:
3. Who cares.
4. All of the above.
It's all the good and bad, family and hip, young and old ALL of us living together.
Please, drop all the head ache and belly aching!
Posted by: ActionJackson at July 9, 2007 2:42 PM
The heat is getting to y'all.Chill out.Anyone want take a ride in my Boxter convertible?
Posted by: "The Slope" at July 9, 2007 2:52 PM
Inwood Rocks.
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 3:00 PM
I've never seen so many bitter/resentful/(reverse)racist/(reverse)classist people in one thread ever.
Jesus.
Posted by: Common Sense at July 9, 2007 3:25 PM
Coming in late here, so my comments will probably fall on deaf ears. I am a Park Slope Parent, I am not a member of the food coop, though I sometimes wear clogs. None of that has anything to do with what I am about to say. I've been reading Brownstoner for some time, mostly just to torture myself because we didn't buy 5 years ago and now we're priced out of the market. The thing about Park Slope is, it embarrasses me. The Republic of Organica/sanctimommy/long gray hair in a ponytail unlplucked eyebrow thing is real and it's real annoying. And yet. There are great things about this neighborhood that you already know about, but more than that, it's really quite safe. After months and months of reading this blog and hearing all the rants about PLG and Bed Stuy and Crown Heights and not really chiming in because heck, maybe someday I would buy there, I realized the other day that I probably won't. I was at a friend's apt. on Bergen St. in Prospect Heights. Two cops came up to us to ask about a somewhat brutal mugging that took place right outside her apt. the night before. They mentioned two other crimes that had happened on that street in the same week. Right then I realized that I will never be a pioneer and I may be renting forever because I can't live in fear like that. Today two cops were shot in Crown Heights. I know it could happen anywhere, but mostly it doesn't. Park Slope is expensive, homogenous, and really annoying. But generally speaking, I can walk my kids home from the subway without looking over my shoulder. I don't even care if we have to trip over a stroller to get there.
Posted by: ParkSlopeRenter at July 9, 2007 3:30 PM
3:19: you're an idiot but i got a good laugh out of the link. i wish park slope did look like that!
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 3:31 PM
It's obvious that Mr. Brownstoner feels the need to post something on "The Park Slope Stroller Topic" every once in a while to try and make this site relevant again. I guess his "unhealthy obsession with brownstones" isn't quite enough to peak peoples interest anymore.
He passes himself off as being a concerned citizen of the community but clearly tries and stirs the pot with posts like this, creating further division in the community.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 3:32 PM
3:19: you're an idiot but i got a good laugh out of the link. i wish park slope did look like that!
smoke a little of the herb, and it WILL look like that. does to me everyday!!!
park slope is a ball!
just get high!!!!!!!
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 3:35 PM
nuff said Park slope renter..that why I love KENSINGTON..safety with a lot more diversity.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 3:37 PM
Couple of thoughts:
1. There will be more of these stories as they obvs resonate.
2. People with 9to5 jobs dont have these problems with strollers as we get home after kids are at home.
3. There are lots of haters out there.
4. Mandals ROCK
5. Count your blessings- the sidewalks in the UWS are much narrower.
6. Everyone else is a _______
7. Porshe Boxers are the lame.
8. Envy is alive and well.
9. PS is a poor mans CG ;)
Posted by: Max at July 9, 2007 3:38 PM
it has become hipster hell - seems like the a-holes in williamsburg found out that there was a prettier place in brooklyn and invaded the slope...leaving behind dreaded williamsburg...the crowd at southpaw these days is embarassing
Posted by: DG at July 9, 2007 3:45 PM
It's true...Park Slope is (labeled) the militant parenting capital! But I think MP's reaches beyond the little crunchy hamlet of Park Slope.
I just found I'm pregnant and I'm getting asked serious questions (from non-Park Slopers/out-of-staters) about breastfeeding, donating my milk, cloth diapers and the dangers of too many ultrasounds. I swear, people have gone crazy over this stuff. My advise is, to each his own.
Posted by: anonymous at July 9, 2007 3:48 PM
DG: I don't get your post. I've never seen a hipster in PS and W'Burg hipsters would never move to PS even if they could afford it, which they can't.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 3:53 PM
Keep your damned milk. We don't want it.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 4:04 PM
3:53
what a stupid post.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 4:15 PM
i think southpaw is incredibly fun actually. so is union hall for that matter.
we are lucky to have such nice music venues in park slope that are actually well attended and packed with people as they are supposed to be.
some people will complain about ANYTHING...
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 4:17 PM
have some of you perhaps by now realized by the 150 plus comments on here with some saying that there are hipsters, some say not, some say a plethora of strollers, others have no problems, that park slope is not a tiny micronabe with drones of the same people inhabiting it.
there are ALL walks of life in park slope. the south slope is full of these so called hipsters and young creative types, the north slope has a lot of singles, some young couples, quite a few gay from what i've seen, the central slope has more families, the west slope is still predominently latin, see where i'm going with this...
to suggest that park slope is not diverse means one of two things...you have either never been to park slope...or you are blind.
Posted by: long live park slope at July 9, 2007 4:22 PM
Re: the thread about safety-- I left the front door of my PS brownstone unlocked and wide open the other day (by accident of course!) for 8 hours and came home to find everything exactly as I'd left it. Pretty safe, no?
I think Mr. B secretly revels in this topic and that's why he reprises it every so often because he is a "cooler" parent living in "way cooler" Clinton Hill.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 4:25 PM
sorry but PS is not THAT diverse unless you pretend lots of other nabes are part of PS which you seem to be doing.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 4:29 PM
i don't pretend other nabes are within ps. that's the job of real estate agents.
i would say most people consider the neighborhood to be bound by flatbush, 15th, ppw and 4th avenue. i also think most people consider anything in the teens south slope.
the fact that you are arguing with me on it means that you don't know a thing about it, so why don't you stay out of the conversation please?
Posted by: anonymous at July 9, 2007 4:33 PM
"the fact that you are arguing with me on it means that you don't know a thing about it, so why don't you stay out of the conversation please?"
ever heard of the concept called logic?
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 4:43 PM
I don't have kids but the doggie people can be just as annoying. You better think twice when you are asked "where did you get hin/her?" It better be a rescue or a Westminster breeder.
Militant Doggie Parenting. How ridiculous.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 4:44 PM
If Park Slope was filled with Black rich yuppies, would you all be complaining?
Posted by: anonoymous at July 9, 2007 5:02 PM
sam 9.41 and anon 9.44: if you guys could carry around my enormous 7 m/o (non-walking) baby, you would see why i have horrendous back and wrist problems and need a stroller. there is this in-between stage where a baby stops being light, especially if you are an out-and-about parent, and before they are old enough to walk for long-enough periods...
Posted by: jean at July 9, 2007 5:07 PM
How about the infertile moms with the chinese kids they bought? Um, let me help you with this. See...you look ridiculous with them. It looks like a kidnapping pic! And no, they won't grow up to be concert violinists, probably just paper the Slope (did I just say that?) with menus.
Posted by: anonymousey at July 9, 2007 5:08 PM
4:43...i'm interested to know what your boundaries for park slope are...
and then bestow upon us what neighborhood you reside that is the picture of diverse perfection....
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 5:09 PM
funny, fort greene / clinton hill is filled w rich buppies, and no one complains about their stroller-filled streets and fort greene park w/ kids aplenty...
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 5:10 PM
anonymousey 5.08 is an f*ing racist. signed, one of those kids.
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 5:12 PM
ft. greene park is not a park. it's a dirtpatch by day/open air drug market by night.
i've scored there many times.
on both counts.
Posted by: anonymous at July 9, 2007 5:15 PM
Anon at 5:12.Just go easy on the menus, ok? I wonder if the guy in the Boxster with the SLOPE plate was Asian. How funny would that be? Herro?
Posted by: anonymousey at July 9, 2007 5:24 PM
"but I'll take that over some baby that takes a bizarrely rancid smelling dump in a restaurant while I'm trying to enjoy my soup. And then of course there's the mother who takes her sweeeet time get the malodorous kid beyond nose's reach. "
i bet this has never happened to you.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 5:29 PM
I like diverse neighborhoods like Chinatown and little italy and Bed Stuy and Canarsie and Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights and Upper East Side and Harlem...
Posted by: abc at July 9, 2007 5:33 PM
you're an idiot 5:35.
this thread is about people bashing PARK SLOPE MOMS AND THEIR KIDS. quite ridiculously, i might add.
to say it happened on an airplane justifies what everyone who loves park slope has already said. this shit happens EVERYWHERE!!! not only in park slope.
thanks for making the point in such an ignorant way.
Posted by: anonymous at July 9, 2007 5:40 PM
can we get back to what's really important here? i go and work a little, come back and find that you people have totally taken us off topic. as a guy it's impossible to wear sandals and not look like a silly fellow who belongs in a mall somewhere suburby. i mean, have we learned nothing from dockers? also, park slope is way more diverse than bed stuy or even clinton hill. in clinton hill there are a lot of black people, a few white people, and the three awesome mexican guys who run the pizza place on waverly and greene. i love those guys!
Posted by: the chime at July 9, 2007 5:47 PM
"I like diverse neighborhoods like Chinatown and little italy and Bed Stuy and Canarsie and Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights and Upper East Side and Harlem..."
thank you for some sanity. people on here would probably say prospect heights is more diverse than park slope, but they clearly don't even know what the word diverse means. diverse is closely resembling the demographics of said people. the u.s. as a whole is about 12% black, 20% latin, 70% white, 8 % asian. give or take...
park slope most closely reflects these demographics more than most neighorhoods i can think of.
you people probably think ft. greene is more DIVERSE than park slope, but guess what....50% of the u.s. population isn't black. you just think that by living in an area where there are as few whites as possible, that somehow you've come across the diversity holyland.
you have not. you're just misinformed.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 5:47 PM
"but I'll take that over some baby that takes a bizarrely rancid smelling dump in a restaurant while I'm trying to enjoy my soup. And then of course there's the mother who takes her sweeeet time get the malodorous kid beyond nose's reach. "
i bet this has never happened to you.
Yes, it's happened to me, but guess what? Turns out it was the soup!
Posted by: GHB at July 9, 2007 5:48 PM
sorry....60% white...
and my figures are probably a bit off, but you get the idea...
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 5:49 PM
THERE ARE NO HOT WOMEN IN PARK SLOPE. PERIOD. ALL THE WOMEN ARE HOMELY, FAT AND BORING.
I'M A YOUNG SINGLE MALE (HORNY AS A RABBIT) AND I HAVE TO GO TO MANHATTAN TO GET LAID. WHEN IT COMES TO WOMEN, BROOKLYN IS WHACK!
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 6:07 PM
Being Chinese, I can't believe I got the math wrong! Back to my audio video club blog!
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 6:08 PM
i'm gay and i could bag a woman in park slope.
you are doin something wrong, my friend...
Posted by: anonymous at July 9, 2007 6:09 PM
Actually I love living in park slope as a parent. It is really just like the East Village ten years ago for me, because that's where I used to live. All the people I knew either all now live in Brooklyn, or left NY, so there's no other neighborhood where I can relate to former East Villagers that I knew.
I get plenty of support from the other parents and we go out to restaurants with our babies and dogs and swing our boobs around and fling crap everywhere. It's a hoot. We also burn money in our brownstones to make fires for our organic rice and congratulate each other for being passive agressive white democrats. It's all really good.
That stroller that hit you the other day was mine. I laughed at you drunk with breeding power after it happened.
That broken slate sidewalk that you tripped on and broke your toe- that was mine. I'm also the one driving in front of you slowing down at every fire hydrant in case it's a parking spot. Oh, and I took a plane the other day and let my baby crap on some guy that I knew was from Brooklyn.
My mom bought us the 2MM brownstone, and I paint landscapes part time. My husband is an architect. We used to belong to the coop and run a theater in our spare time, but now we just shop at Union Market and go upstate on weekends. I'm sure that I could go on an on about me, but I'd rather hear you tell me more about what you hate because I'm sure it describes me.
Posted by: Pork Slop at July 9, 2007 6:18 PM
6:07pm,
yes, i agree. show me one brooklyn spot where a single dude can find some sweet young fine ass? it doesn't exist.
it's a given fact, single men and women prefer manhattan far over brooklyn because the dating scene in brooklyn is horrifc.
manhattan has the meat packing district, soho, tribeca, the lower east side, chelsea, gramercy and the upper east side. all of which are great places to hook up. brooklyn has nothing. park slope is even worse. the closest thing to manhattan in terms of social life is williamsburg and forte green;though neither are great. everything else is just horrible.
brooklyn is great for families but nothing else. perhaps i'll move there in ten years, but for now i have to sow my royal oats!
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 6:27 PM
yea Chelsea A great place to pick up girls only if you like them with a slight bulge in their pants. But back to the topic, That Ozzies coffeeshop is the most disgusting place.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 6:49 PM
can someone please define a hipster for me?
HIPSTER = ????????
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 6:49 PM
If I were to meet most of you at a party we'd probably have quite a civilized conversation. How is it that the anonymity of the Internet releases everyone's inner vitriol? Same thing holds true for the thread on Gothamist. What gives?
"Can't we all just get along?"
I've lived in Brooklyn since 1984, when I was in my mid-twenties: in Boerum Hill, Clinton Hill and (since 1993) in Park Slope. Honestly, there's really not that much difference between any of the Brownstone Brooklyn neighborhoods, and I've lived in this area as a young struggling writer; a poor graduate student; a hard-working professional; a parent; and soon, I'll be an empty nester as my kids go off to college. I've enjoyed Park Slope and the neighboring areas in all of my incarnations, and as I've contemplated where I might want to move once I have no kids at home, I've come to the conclusion that there's nowhere better -- for me -- than Park Slope. Sure, Clinton Hill is cool and has some nicer architecture; Fort Greene is more diverse; Williamsburg is more artsy; Red Hook is more down-to-earth; etc., etc. But we've got it all in Park Slope, including a larger, thriving commercial life of bars and stores and restaurants, and easy access to all of the other neighborhoods I've mentioned! Meanwhile, I'm GLAD young mothers feel safe breastfeeding in public here! I'm GLAD there are restaurants where families can take their kids -- those of you who are parents know that you need to get out of the house with the kids sometimes! There's also a reason I don't go to Two Boots anymore: that was the place to go when I needed a place where my toddler could run around and get pizza dough from the kindly cooks and doting wait-staff. Now, I choose places without kids. I'm also GLAD there are cafes with wi-fi where freelancers can hang out. GLAD we've got Southpaw for music, and the Old Stone House for literary readings, and Prospect Park for luscious greenery; and the farmer's market and the Co-op and Union Market and endless green grocers and bodegas for food; and all the great bars and restaurants on Fifth Avenue; I could go on and on, and I guess I already have, so I'll stop.
But the real reason I'm staying in Park Slope is that I've made my home here, I like my neighbors, have fun cultivating my garden, know all of the local shopkeepers, enjoy being a regular at some of the top-rate local restaurants ... and everyone who has settled in Brooklyn seems to feel the same way about their neighborhoods. It's not that we're wannabe Manhattanites; quite the opposite, I think most readers understand that once you've moved to Brooklyn, there's no going back! Basically, everyone on this blog is a Brooklyn booster of some kind or another. I still fail to understand why that requires denigrating other neighborhoods.
Bottom line: there's really no story here. Ever notice how many stories and columns in the New York Times end up mentioning or featuring Park Slope in one way or another? It's just because so many of their reporters live here. And as usual with the NYTimes, they're behind the curve in "reporting" cultural phenomena that have already been endlessly chronicled elsewhere. (Nonetheless, I expect to read a follow-up article chronicling the responses on this blog, in the same way that discussions on the Park Slope Parents listserv always end up in the larger media somewhere.)
Let's all get a life, and enjoy this wonderful borough we call home.
Posted by: Park Sloper at July 9, 2007 7:00 PM
Born and raised in Ditmas Park, I've lived in Park Slope for about 15 years. I don't have a problem with families, mommies or kids, but what I do have a problem with is the overwhelming attitude of entitlement and "right of way" that many of the stroller pushing PS mommies I've encountered have. I shouldn't have to walk in the street to pass by a gaggle of mommies with their broods who totally block the sidewalk and have absolutely no intention in the world of making room for others to pass by. I also shouldn't have to suffer your unruly, unruled kids running amok while the mommies think that allowing them to do what they please where they please without any correction or reprimanding because they don't want to harm their self esteem to the point where I have to find somewhere else to sit and think or read in peace.
Go forth and multiply as much as you please, but just don't forget that just because you have a child doesn't mean you are superior.
Posted by: Childless in PS at July 9, 2007 8:01 PM
honestly, most toddlers i've encountered in park slope are FAR more mature than most of the posters on here today.
Posted by: anonymous at July 9, 2007 8:43 PM
ha from the crown heights message board...
Actually, it wasn't a Super Soaker, but some little asshole just threw at least a gallon of water on me at the intersection of St Marks and Grand. I saw about 20 kids running around throwing water on each other as I was trudging home from a long day of work with a huge sack of groceries and my dinner, but I (naively, admittedly) didn't think they'd do it to just some stranger walking by. This kid, maybe 12 or so, stood five feet from me, holding up a bucket of water, and said, "Ya hot?" "Not that hot," I said, and smiled, and he smiled too so I figured we were cool, and I started to cross the street and then I was *soaked.* It wouldn't bug me so much if it had just been a cup of water or a water gun or whatever, but this was a full bucket and he totally soaked my bag (and thus my wallet, cell phone, calendar, etc. etc.). A couple of his friends were clearly shocked he'd gone ahead and done it.
I had to take my shoes off to keep walking (fortunately the sidewalk is fairly clear in that area) because my feet were slipping around in them, got about a block away, and called the police, mainly to get them to drive by over there and bust it up. And I know this is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things -- I didn't get mugged or hit in the head with a rock or whatever -- but still. It's a shitty thing to do. And I'm pissed off. And I really wish I had a Super Soaker right now so I could go back up there and find that little jerk.
Posted by: nick at July 9, 2007 8:58 PM
"Whoever said he couldn't get laid in Brooklyn is pathetic. Christ, just in the past month I've had more tail than a toilet seat."
Really? What are the hot spots in Brooklyn? I'm talking about hot bars and lounges. I only preference because I know some of you fools like to camp out at local libraries, book stores and laundromats looking to score.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 9:23 PM
on the list of *hot* spots in brooklyn i would add the pizza place on waverly and greene. those mexican guys are great! those mexican guys are the greatest!
Posted by: the chime at July 9, 2007 10:08 PM
key food on 7th has been a great hotspot for me...
picked up some pretty good tail there...
if not, tried union hall?
Posted by: anon at July 9, 2007 10:20 PM
I agree that NYT articles have a heavy slant towards Brooklyn, probably due to all the FL writers in Brooklyn.
Most of my writer friends live in Park Slope and Carroll Gardens so its not surprising to me they are writing about what they know.
Having fellow parent friends who live in PS and being a member of PS boards I think PS like any place has both good and bad points and to me it seems like its more good than bad. I do think it can be intimidating place to raise children if you are not confident in terms of your own parenting skills since there is a lot of opinions and judgement thrown around (what do you expect when you have a collection of well educated, intelligent, opinionated, socially aware people all in one concentrated area) and I do find some of PS people's stance rigid and wearying at times even while I agree 100% with them.
I think BH area in some ways is more laid back than PS and I do find myself glad that I live in the somewhat anonmity of BH which to me is more like living in Manhattan. My neighbors are a tad friendlier than my Manhattan neighbors but they still keep a veneer of distance that I actually like and find comforting.
Posted by: joe at July 9, 2007 10:39 PM
i like it when the words "judgmental" and "prick" are used next to each other. it makes me giggle.
Posted by: the chime at July 9, 2007 11:42 PM
to 11:28
Read carefully and than type. I said I have fellow parent friends who live in PS and that I am on the PS boards but that I don't actually live in PS. I live in BH. How is that being self-congratulatory?
This board is starting to have the distasteful flavor of curb.com
Have a nice day "Anonymous"
Posted by: Joe at July 10, 2007 12:43 AM
Great post, Park Sloper-- you done won me over. xoxo
Posted by: peace out at July 10, 2007 12:57 AM
Thanks, peace out.
Posted by: Park Sloper at July 10, 2007 1:29 AM
I live in Manhattan, but I only live here because I couldn't afford a place in Paris.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 10, 2007 8:32 AM
I live in Park Slope, but only because I can't afford to live in Manhattan to dream of living in Paris.
No, really I live in PS but I'm moving to Clinton Hill. I can't figure out if it's a move up or down or lateraly, but I don't really care. Paris would be cool too.
My growing distatste of PS made me want to move but now I am noticing all the reasons that I moved to PS in the first place- Grand Army Plaza is beautiful with the library and the museum and the park and the gardens. . . but I hear that there are dance parties in the park in the new neighborhood. Do you hear me, dancing outside! How amazingly joyful is that! Match that PS.
Posted by: anon at July 10, 2007 9:22 AM
I've also heard that people crap roses in Clinton hill. It must be quite a place.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 10, 2007 9:37 AM
The real problem with Park Slopers is that they think Hillary Clinton would make a good president.
Posted by: stir the pot at July 10, 2007 9:50 AM
Instead of all the "mandal" hate, how about talking about the thing NOBODY has mentioned yet on this thread. And that is dudes wearing CROCS! They're cute on a 4-year old going to the beach, but on a 40 year old guy trolling the Slope? Oh, the humanity! AAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!
Posted by: GHB at July 10, 2007 9:51 AM
Men wearing crocs? Thank God I have never seen this. Any man who wears crocs should be pistol whipped and his house burned to the ground.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 10, 2007 9:56 AM
The guys mostly seem like they could get their butts whooped by their wives.
Posted by: GPA at July 10, 2007 9:57 AM
I just want them to stay out of bars. I used to enjoy Friday nights at the 4th Avenue Pub (not even PS, technically) until the stroller moms and dads took over. What the eff??? I already avoid the Tea Lounge and Two Boots (where they serve alcohol) because of all the rugrats, can't I at least have a kid-free bar? Booze it up in front of your kids at home.
Posted by: Escape Brooklyn at July 10, 2007 11:31 AM
please do not divert the importance of this dialogue by introducing crocs into the conversation. crocs are a completely different thing altogether worthy of another thread. mr. brownstoner was nice enough to introduce the idea of men wearing sandals and ask us what we think of it and i think, out of respect to mr. brownstoner and this nice blog that he has created, that we should stick to that subject. men should not wear sandals because they just don't look good. but those mexicans at that pizza place on waverly and greene? those guys are awesome!
Posted by: the chime at July 10, 2007 12:15 PM
40-yr old PS'er wearing crocs b/c I hate my toes.
Posted by: Croccy at July 10, 2007 12:49 PM
I have to laugh whenever I hear a complaint about stroller entitlement on the sidewalk. Yes, I do push a stroller, but I'm polite about it and my footprint is much smaller than the child-free folks who walk four abreast and stop dead in the middle of the sidewalk to have a chat (while glaring at me as I go around them) or those who ride their bikes on the sidewalks.
Posted by: PS Stroller Mom at July 10, 2007 12:54 PM
Then get a toe-job!
Posted by: GHB at July 10, 2007 12:55 PM
Oh the hysterical insanity! It must be the heat! Don't forget folks, concert in Prospect Park at 8:00pm tonight, fireworks afterwards, the fun-kind!... bring some non-perishable food items along for the food drive!
Posted by: bren at July 10, 2007 1:32 PM
"Horrible parenting on you-tube"
Genius idea.
All of you, get a camera and just TAPE THAT SHIT. If that doesn't bring an ounce of self-awereness into the self-entitlement cocktail, I dont know what will.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 10, 2007 1:50 PM
By the way (and I'm cross-posting this comment on the "Park Slope Stroller Nazis" thread and on the "Monday Links" thread), the comments on the Park Slope Stroller thread have distracted attention from the other recent New York Times article on Brooklyn (and Park Slope) about Brooklyn bloggers, "Cracker Barrel 2.0."
Granted, the existence of a large number of prolific Brooklyn bloggers is also old news, but the article mentioned our own Jon (Butler) Brownstoner, along with Park Slope's beloved Louise Crawford of Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn, as well as Dope on the Slope, Flatbush Gardener, Big Sky Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights Blog, DumboNYC, 110 Livingston, Ditmas Park Blog, Brit in Brooklyn, Kensington Blog, Clinton Hill Blog, Gowanus Lounge, even Curbed.com, and three that were new to me, Kinetic Carnival, BushwickBK and Self-Absorbed Boomer. I'm sorry I missed the Second Annual Brooklyn Blogfest that Louise C. organized recently at the Old Stone House, but I look forward the third annual festival next year!
And thanks to all of you (as well as many not mentioned in the article, such as [in no particular order] [Son of] Planet PLG, across the park, 423smith, Daily Heights, Daily Slope, A Brooklyn Life, Brooklyn Streets (aka firstandcourt), Atlantic Yards Report, Develop Don't Destroy, No Land Grab, Big Cities Big Boxes, Brooklyn 11211, Found in Brooklyn, McBrooklyn, Set Speed (aka onehansonplace.com), Runs Brooklyn, Brooklyn Ramblings, Old First, B61 Productions, Found in Brooklyn, Who Walk In Brooklyn, Only Coney, Callalillie and Bed-Stuy Blog, as well as lots of others I undoubtedly haven't discovered yet) for your inspired blogging about wonderful Brooklyn! And let me also give a shout out to Design*Sponge, which is a design blog, but run by a writer in Carroll Gardens and well worth a look!
And Jon B., in putting this list together, I noticed that your site no longer has a list of links to other blogs. Shame on you! Bring them back, please!
Posted by: Park Sloper at July 10, 2007 1:58 PM
fyi: some of us had our twins the old-fashioned way: by having sex! so all you folks complaining about double strollers -- assuming you choose to procreate, and even if you never "deign" to use fertility drugs -- be warned: you may find yourself pushing one someday, basking in the dirty looks of passers-by like yourself. unless, of course, you choose to carry them both in a snugli... (why didn't I think of that??)
Posted by: park slope cliche at July 10, 2007 6:00 PM
the chime: thanks for providing me lots of laughs the last couple of days!!! great posts, really!!
Posted by: lemlar at July 10, 2007 8:57 PM
I assume the comment at 2:35 PM wasn't really by Brownstoner? Doesn't sound like you, JB!
Posted by: Park Sloper at July 10, 2007 10:16 PM
Park Sloper at 1:58,
There's a very long list of brooklyn blogs on the right hand side of the page.
Posted by: Brownstoner at July 11, 2007 1:05 PM
Where? That's what I was looking for -- and I remembered it being there in the past -- but I'm not seeing any such list.
Posted by: Park Sloper at July 11, 2007 1:10 PM
There's a drop-down menu underneath the Search box
Posted by: Brownstoner at July 11, 2007 5:25 PM
All the so-called hipsters bitching here today are tomorrows harried SLoper parents (unless they move to Ditmas Park - described by the Village Voice as where aging hipsters go to retire, i.e., breed...
Posted by: Anonymous at July 11, 2007 9:46 PM
What in world is wrong with breast feeding?i find it rather a turn on,think iam going to hang out at the Tea Lounge.
Posted by: guest at May 18, 2008 5:30 PM
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