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March 11, 2008
'Port Sleene'? Yeah, That Has Quite a Ring to It
Brooklyn Paper columnist Dana Rubinstein spies a new maybe-trend: The Slope-ification of Fort Greene. Evidence? More boutiques, more strollers, more white people, more coffee shops, more high-end grocers like Union Market coming. It's a glass half-empty sorta thing ("Fort Greene has acquired a distinctly less edgy vibe. Stores cater to the arrived, rather than the up-and-coming, the mainstream, rather than the avant-garde.") but hey, at least the water is designer ("there are far worse things than looking like Park Slope"). And of course, what trendspotting nabe article would be complete without a couple possible new names for the area: "Park Greene. Or Fort Slope. Or Port Sleene." Wait a sec, has Fart Grope been spoken for?
My Copycat Neighbors [Brooklyn Paper]
Fort Greene photo by Daniel A. Norman; Slope photo by wallyg.
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Comments
For the transformation to be complete people who live in Fort Green would have to start acting like complete pompous assholes and start trash talking every other neighborhood in Brooklyn.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:09 AM
i just wish all the new folks in the greene would respect those that have lived in the hood before them. too many new people walk done the street as if they are better then the rest. can't stand em. go back to the slope or jersey or wherever you came from.
ugh
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:18 AM
Hmmm...I lived on Clermont between Lafayette and DeKalb in 1999-2000, before moving to Greene & Grand; I think it might be a wee bit of a stretch to say that Fort Greene has been "edgy" in recent memory. "Somewhat less gentrified that Park Slope" I'd totally buy, but "edgy?"
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:20 AM
The day Fort Green becomes like Park Slope is the day I move out.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:20 AM
Oh, but this was never supposed to happen! Remember? Fort Greene would get only the good, cool, enlightened rich people! They would be totally different from all those other rich people!
LOL, welcome to bougieville, guys.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:25 AM
i think ft. greene is worse than park slope.
the people who bought there think they are cooler than though, while at least the people in park dope knew what they were getting into.
plus, the white people who think they are black in ft. greene are quite disturbing.
i prefer prospect over ft. greene park, so why choose the latter if they are both the same?
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:29 AM
yes stay away.
ft. greene sucks.
so does clinton hill.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:32 AM
I see very little difference between park slope and fort greene.
Maybe Fort greene has better street cred with the hipster set.
Posted by: Santa at March 11, 2008 10:32 AM
I think South Slope is far "edgier" than any part of Ft. Greene.
In terms of "hipsters" it seems every person south of 9th Street is one. Park Slope is certainly gayer than Ft. Greene. That I like.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:37 AM
10:18 -- you don't like the way people walk done (down?) the street? What are you, in high school? Swallow your insecurity and enjoy the new faces. You sound like you're from Switzerland, seething with xenophobia and prejudice every time you see someone you isn't just like you and hasn't been around you like a security blanket for 30 years.
Whoever wrote this article is trying to market Fort Greene to the frumpholes of the slope. I doubt they'll bite; character or beauty to them is nothing compared to a great deal in a "safe" neighborhood with "good" schools. Fort Greene is expensive, unsafe, and has slowly improving schools (but far from ivy-league approved). I can't imagine what standard upper west side breeder would choose Ft Greene over Park Slope, so if you're out there, do "enlighten" me -- why did you pick FG over PS?
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:38 AM
sounds about right to me. i think "park-slopeification" is really just code for "help, we're being over-run by hipster breeders." white, black, brown, red, whatever. if they're pushing a stroller and dressed like a teen, drinking a $4 coffee, that's park slopification. i noticed it on smith street the other day.
oh well, i guess bklyn can't be cool forever.
Posted by: pluvious at March 11, 2008 10:39 AM
Both are great neighborhoods, but I think AY is going to have a much more profound impact on Ft. Green than most of Park Slope. That whole Atlantic Termial area is one of my least favorite in all of NYC. But once you get past that, there are some really amazing streets in Ft. Greene. South Portland is stunning.
I think Park Slope feels more like a neighborhood though somehow.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:40 AM
Where are you from 10:18?
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:40 AM
For one, Fort Greene is closer to Manhattan and thus doesn't feel landlocked and remote like PS does. For two, I think it is actually hipper than Park Slope. i don't live there, but the people I know who do are pretty hip (at least more so than the people i know who live in ps). but i think it long ago became a stroller neighborhood, so seems like this columnist is a little late in the game. When brownstones are going for not less than 1.5, you're usually talking about a neighborhood catering to the stroller set not some cutting edge frontier for god's sake.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:42 AM
"oh well, i guess bklyn can't be cool forever"
Yes, because Brooklyn was SO much more cool, when it was over-run by illiterate, goombahs and ghetto thugs who settled arguments with their fists, knives and guns.
God I long for the good ole days.
That damn coffee sure does make everything so UN-cool. So glad you've decided for all of us what is the bastion of coolness,, 10:39.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:43 AM
10:18 is from West Virginia. Married to her bro.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:44 AM
A stupid and pointless article.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:46 AM
Ft. Greene is way overpriced for what it is.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:50 AM
i agree that south slope is 10 times more cool than ft. greene. there are zero cool bars in ft. greene. it's boring.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:52 AM
10:42, I totally agree -- people who buy homes as single family units are going to be filling them with family -- i.e. kids. This has been a nobrainer in Ft Greene for 10years now.
But there are two different kinds of people who have kids.
There are the people who pick a neighborhood based on what the kids would benefit from in terms of schooling, daycares, parks, safety, and bargains. This is Park Slope.
And then there are the people who pick a neighborhood because they themselves like it -- often before having kids or having plans for kids. Most of my parent friends in Ft Greene weren't planning on having children until they were living there a few years. Their breeding program isn't dictating their life -- they pop one out, find other people in their hood to help each other with services, and send their kids to the local elementary and middle schools. This is what i've seen in Fort Greene.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:53 AM
bushwick kicks all y'all's asses.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:54 AM
I thought Fort Greene was always a buppy neighborhood? Back in the 80's I knew many doctors, lawyers, bankers, teachers, artists, musicians, actors who lived and were raising a family there. I think the big difference is that the houses they bought for $250k are now worth $1.75 million and the kind of people who can afford $1.75 million mortgages are not the same people who can afford $250 thousand mortgages.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:54 AM
***YAWWWNNNN***
Same old "changing-neighborhood" story where one ethnic/socio/economic group is replaced by another, except that when it's an African-American neighborhood being replaced, it's a major issue. Was there outrage by the Italians in Bay Ridge when they were replaced by Russians and Chinese? Should there be? Does it matter if your children can't afford to buy/rent in the neighborhood they grew up in?
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:56 AM
Damned Park Slope moms and their repulsive crotch fruit. They should keep their now very fat and ever-expanding asses in Park Slope. Now that their bodies have been distorted beyond all measure by childbirth, who wants 'em around anyway?
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:57 AM
South Slope has got to be one of the ugliest neighborhoods in Brooklyn.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:59 AM
i don't know, 10:57, i've seen some damn fine moms in park slope.
or is it just park slope moms who gain weight from pregnancy?
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:59 AM
Ft. Greene has way more black home and business owners than Park Slope. So it will be a long time if ever that Ft. Greene will = Park Slope.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:00 AM
I agree 10:56. If Fort Greene were full of Italians or Poles, this wouldn't be an issue and no one would care or write about it.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:02 AM
10:57: Wow, bro...thanks for keeping it real. Couldn't have said it better myself.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:02 AM
I would never choose Park Slope personally because I find the PS Cheerleaders on this blog repulsive and if they are anything at all like the rest of the people living in Park Slope then it is one scary neighborhood.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:02 AM
Once Ft. Greene wins a spot as one of the top neighborhoods in the United States, get back to me.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:02 AM
11:00 - Park Slope has way more hispanic home and business owners than Ft. Greene. What was your point?
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:03 AM
Park Slope style parking has definitely arrived to Fort Greene. Park Slope car owners are to WORST parkers i have ever seen. It's like the Helen Keller method of parking.
Just keep backing up til smash... Then pull forward and smash... Then for good measure back up again til smash...
I know you all have Volvos and never notice the damage you do to the poor little Hondas and Toyotas parked around you. You a little mercy.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:05 AM
10:39 - you are a true dork. back in the day when brooklyn was 'cool' - it wasn't cool. it was second fiddle to manhattan. I am one of the so-called "hipsters" who lived in Williamsburg in the mid 90s, and believe me, it was not considered cool to live there - most of us would have preferred to be in lower Manhattan. we just couldn't afford it.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:05 AM
I'd choose Park Slope because of 5th and 7th Avenues. You never need to leave the neighborhood, if you don't want.
Considering you are paying huge amounts of money to live in Ft. Greene, I think the services are severely lacking in comparison to Park Slope. The schools are lesser quality, Ft. Greene park sucks and you've got AY coming.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:06 AM
Point is that when I think of Park Slope I want to heave.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:07 AM
"I would never choose Park Slope personally because I find the PS Cheerleaders on this blog repulsive and if they are anything at all like the rest of the people living in Park Slope then it is one scary neighborhood."
So far you are the most repulsive poster on this thread. How ironic.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:07 AM
Ft. Greene has much higher crime. That's all Manhattanites need to know to sway them to Park Slope.
Period.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:08 AM
10:59, you were probably seeing nannies or aunts or something, not moms.
Many women don't appreciate the devastating effects that childbirth will have on their bodies. There is the weight gain, which of course is horrendous and to a degree irreversible. Then there's the fact that the vagina gets stretched out and...well, it's never the same. My wife was a tight young thing when we first married. After our first child was born, having sex with her was weird...kinda like just having sex with water or something.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:09 AM
The ladies in Fort Greene are fine.
Not so in uptight olde Park Slope.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:10 AM
You lame ass Slopers can scream till your blue in the face about all the virtues of Park Slope but the fact is that everyone knows that Fort Green is way cooler than Park Slope.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:10 AM
Period.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:10 AM
Fort Greene has a very good chance of becoming the Chelsea of Brooklyn. I know of several affluent gay males who tired of the Chelsea and found what they were looking for in Fort Greene.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:14 AM
10:53, your post is laughable. Good luck to your family when you have kids.
Yes, let's castigate those unhip loser parents "who pick a neighborhood based on what the kids would benefit from in terms of schooling, daycares, parks, safety, and bargains." What a miserable existence they must lead, always putting the children first, their only consolation being the weak pleasures of gripping the finely worked leather on the handlebars of their $900 stroller and sipping a $4 latte.
Yea verily, let us praise those selfish thirtysomethings whose "breeding program isn't dictating their life." Thank the lord that they have seen the true light, that what matters most in our short time on this mottled orb is having a choice of wine bars within walking distance.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:16 AM
There isn't a single gay bar in Ft. Greene.
I can think of five in Park Slope.
Nice try though, 11:14.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:17 AM
People who do not put their children first, should NOT BE HAVING CHILDREN!!!!
PERIOD.
If that's what Ft. Greeners are like, I'll take Park Slope.
You people are wacko.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:19 AM
"The day Fort Green becomes like Park Slope is the day I move out."
Hope you've called the moving van.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:21 AM
Let's be real here for a second. Someone else above kinda alluded to it, and it's 100% true.
Most Manhattanities looking to move to Brooklyn prefer Park Slope leaps and bounds over Ft. Greene. For a host of reasons...it's whiter, it's got better schools, it's safer, it's more expensive, it's got a better park, it gets accolades saying it's the best, it's ultra liberal and green, it's got more fancy boutiques, nice restaurants, union markets and fro-yo places than it knows what to do with and it's kid friendly.
Being attractive to Manhattanities is the only way Brooklyn will continue to flourish, so let's not beat around the bush here.
Ft. Greene is great, but it's smaller and attractive to a substantially smaller portion of people. That is good news for some people.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:25 AM
Ft Greene is the coolest nabe in brooklyn because cool people live there. Everyone else can eat crap.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:29 AM
I bet you Brooklyn would become more attractive to rich manhattanites if we started up some high class prostitute rings.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:35 AM
Ft. Greene is like jock itch. You know it's there and it's annoying, but no matter what you try to do, it just doesn't seem to go away.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:36 AM
No two words guarantee a 50+ post thread more than "Park Slope" (other than perhaps "Foreclosures Up", which would bring The What out from under his rock and result in an overwhelming amount of Asshat references, grammatical corrections, etc.)
Posted by: Biff Champion at March 11, 2008 11:36 AM
I've got one in my basement, 11:35.
It's called my wife.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:37 AM
Yes, whatever 11:25 said is correct: Fort Greene is definitely NOT very interesting. In fact, here's a list of reasons why you should not move here:
1. Ugly
2. Depressing
3. Tons of stupid stroller moms with screaming brats
4. Gross stores with un-cool un-avantgarde overpriced crap
5. Rat infested
6. Drug ridden
7. Crime-addled
8. Everyone's mean when they walk down the street; they'll spit in your face and maybe even call you names like "poor slob", "old-timer", "fat ass stroller mom"
9. TERRIBLE schools
10. LONG COMMUTE to manhattan (all those train lines? they really SLOW DOWN approaching Ft Greene, so the wait to get a train can be like an hour or two)
11. NO PARKING. People will shoot each other for a spot, on a daily basis.
12. Atlantic Yards -- need I say more?
WHereas Park Slope has it all. I mean ALL. It's perfect, beautiful, lots of nice white people with good schools and gorgeous parks, and everyone will be really friendly and just like you.
PARK SLOPE ALL THE WAY!!!!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:39 AM
Brownstoner, I know you've got to generate page views and all, but these kinds of posts serve no purpose but to lure the trolls from their caves.
To read the discussion on this blog one would think Park Slope was universally loathed and that Fort Greene and the Slope were perpetually at war. Both are great neighborhoods and everyone I know seems to think so. I can't be the only visitor here who reads these vitriolic posts and wonders who the hell these people are.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:39 AM
The What isn't posting today because the DOW is up over 200 points.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:39 AM
11:39...while you are certainly right, I don't think either Park Slope or Ft. Greene are suffering from the vitriol.
Given that homes in both hoods fetched 500K, 10 years ago and now sell for 3 million plus, I think it's safe to say that most of this is all in good fun.
Everyone knows Park Slope is gorgeous, even if they hate it and everyone knows Ft. Greene is gorgeous, even if that hate it.
It's like saying you hate a supermodel because she's so damn pretty.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:42 AM
Park Slope IS universally loathed. Can't you get it through your Park Slope head that everyone finds people from Park Slope annoying. They are the worst. They destroy every thread on brownstoner. If you truly want to stop the wars then stop Park Slope from trashing every other neighborhood. Yesterday it was Bed Stuy and Carroll Garrdens that Park Slope went after.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:48 AM
If Park Slope is universally loathed, 11:48 why is it that outside Brooklyn Heights, it has the highest home prices?
People like to pay huge sums of money for things they hate??
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:50 AM
Fort Greene=Heidi Klum/Iman
Park Slope=Brooke Shields/Christie Brinkley
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:50 AM
Fort Greene=Heidi Klum/Iman
Park Slope=Brooke Shields/Christie Brinkley
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:50 AM
i think both forte greene and park slope are beautiful and i don't find one any cooler than the other. forte greene feels slightly claustrophobic to me - it's a lot smaller and is both bound and pocked by totally normal, expected features of the built urban landscape but which i find off-putting in comparison to park slope. others may find that interesting and good way, and be totally bored by park slope. fine by me.
Posted by: i disagree at March 11, 2008 11:51 AM
Actually yesterday it was a Carroll Gardens booster who ruined that thread. Not one person was talking about it, when they jumped in and totally hijacked the rest of the thread.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:52 AM
YeS MOVE to Park Slope. The Slope is awesome! No crime. Better prices. Better Food. Not so many ultra Cools. MOVE THERE!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:53 AM
The best reason to hate Ft. Greene - Target, Burlington Coat Factory, Pathmark and Chucky Cheese.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:53 AM
11:50 that is because some of the most annoying people in the world have lots of money, because they made it their ambition in life to make lots of money and will do whatever it takes to make lots of money. And those people end up in Park Slope. In the same way that the Park Slope cheerleaders on this board have no other purpose than to make lots of money on real estate and will trash every other neighborhood to do that.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:54 AM
11:48 ,do you really think people from other countries focus on this nonsense("universally" lol). I'm sure they are having a big discussion in Peru about this right now. The fact that you get so worked up about this says more about you than the topic. It is so pathetic that all these brooklynites who are pretty much the same person but who root for different teams need their SLIGHT geographical distance in order to craft an identity.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:56 AM
I find making money admirable, 11:54.
Unlike most of the dudes hangin out every single day in Ft. Greene who are above working and think that begging for change for 10 years is a better career option.
I'll take motivation and drive over laziness any day.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:56 AM
The way I see it, these things are all on a continuum.
There's the antiseptic, white, affluent chicks of Park Slope.
Then there's the somewhat racier, edgy, darker women of Ft. Greene.
Then there are the cum-belching gutter sluts of Crown Heights.
The decision is yours!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:57 AM
Actually, one of the houses in the story was in Carroll Gardens. Don't you think that would make it appropriate to talk about Carroll Gardens in the thread? This is exactly the kind of self centered clueless behavior that makes Park Slope so loathsome.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:57 AM
I dunno- I moved to Clinton Hill from Lower Manhattan because I could afford it. That's all- I wanted space and couldn't afford it in Manhattan. I never thought about whether or not I could get a $4 latte. Now that I'm settled I think FG and CH are fine places to live and all, but they're rather boring little hamlets and as far as 'hip' I'd call that a stretch. What's 'hip' around here? Almost nothing that I can think of. Are they referring to coffee shops with 2 small tables and a pastry case? So what- there's at least 5 of those in Norman, OK.
If I'm looking for excitement (and not going into Manhattan) I'm 75x more likely to wind up in PS than CH or FG. There's just more to do there.
Period.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:58 AM
The person did not mention the house, 11:57.
They mentioned how awesome CG was.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 11:58 AM
Yes, and nobody ever mentions how awesome Park Slope is.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:00 PM
Park Slope has Union Hall, Southpaw, Cattyshack...all 1000 times more exciting than anything Ft. Greene has to offer.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:00 PM
alright everybody, now get back to work and stop wasting thime on this nonsense
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:00 PM
I lived in Park Slope once but I kept on tripping over peoples egos so I moved to Clinton Hill.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:03 PM
but park slope is awesome!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:03 PM
Just as a point of reference...I recently went to Berlin and was hanging out in a bar talking to a bunch of german chicks (one was super hot).
They had just come back from a 2 week trip to NYC. They spent most of their time in Manhattan, but then "discovered" Brooklyn by the 5th day.
I asked them their favorite parts of New York City.
Their answer:
The Lower East Side and Park Slope. Every single one of them said Park Slope was one of their favorite areas of the city.
I don't live there, I'm just telling you what they said.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:03 PM
"I lived in Park Slope once but I kept on tripping over peoples egos so I moved to Clinton Hill"
I'd rather trip over egos than dead bodies.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:04 PM
Oh, and furthermore- Erykah Badu?! That's the lamest callout ever.
"I live in ___ ; y'know the same neighborhood where Mason Reese and the former lead singer for Cutting Crew live!"
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:07 PM
Why don't you all spend less time bitching & blogging about who's neighborhood is cooler and spend more time making money so you can afford to leave. Get a *&Y%$ job.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:08 PM
I'd rather live in the same neighborhood as Maggie Gyllenhall, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany, Steve Buscemi, Kelly McGillis, Peter Sarsgaard, John Turturro, Charles Schumer, Johnathan Safran Foer, Paul Auster, etc than Erykah Badu. What the heck has she done lately??
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:11 PM
12:08...You're just jealous that we DO have jobs...that we own 3 million dollar houses AND we can still play on brownstoner.
Don't be so jealous. It isn't very attractive on you.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:12 PM
12:03 Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:13 PM
I really hate the reductive quality to so many articles on gentrification. I'm a white woman who bought in Ft. Greene when it was less cool than it is now. I sold my apt last year to an African-American woman who makes twice as much money than I do. Yeah gentrification means people with more money but it's not always along racial lines.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:13 PM
12:13...MORE white people are displacing black than the other way around. Your one example does not say anything. Except perhaps that you are slightly ignorant.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:17 PM
10:34 said: "Yes, because Brooklyn was SO much more cool, when it was over-run by illiterate, goombahs and ghetto thugs who settled arguments with their fists, knives and guns."
----
Since WHEN was Brooklyn overrun by "illiterate goombahs" and "ghetto thugs?"
This is CLASSIC Manhattanite/ transplant racist talk. Brooklyn is the place where all the "ethnic groups live"; thefore it *was* all gang violence and thuggery and there was nothing of worth here.
Yeah, Brooklyn *always* sucked, what with its Prospect Park, its Botanical Garden, Canarsie Pier, Coney Island, its vast # of ethnic restaurants and establishments, its Promenade, Fulton Ferry State Park, the Brooklyn Museum, and all of its parades and festivals. It REALLY SUCKED living here in the '80s and '90s, having to attend the Labor Day parade over the years or actually seeing celebrities at the annual "Welcome Back Brooklyn festival."
Moron.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:17 PM
Brownstone, I don't get the Opal Estates banner ad you are hosting.
"Top Reasons to Leave Brooklyn"? Isn't this blog about the 'joys' of Brooklyn Brownstone life especially if you live in Park Slope, Fort Green, or Carrol Gardens?
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:19 PM
12:12 I do own, and I am sure your husband bought your 3 million dollar brownstone for you. Your intellect is that of a tele-marketer.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:20 PM
The What is the perfect example of the old Brooklyn that I don't find cool at all.
He's illiterate, he's angry, he hates anything new and he's so pessimistic about the world that it shows in everything he says on here.
I'm glad the new Brooklyn will not have a place for him in years to come.
Brooklyn in the 80's was one of the most racist places on the planet, 12:17. You are dellusional.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:21 PM
12:11 - you are truly pathetic. I simply CANNOT believe that you just rolled out your roster of PS celebrities. every time i think slopers can't fall any lower, they stump me once again.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:22 PM
12:20. I am the husband. And my husband did not buy anything for me.
Seems your powers of percetion would not even cut it in the telemarkeing field.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:23 PM
As an ocassional visitor to both neighborhoods, I find them quite different.
Fort Greene is lovely of course but it is still rough around the edges. Even the most beautiful blocks often contain a couple of decrepit houses or houses painted bright blue or the like.
Park Slope on the other hand, at least the area that I consider to be Park Slope, has few rough edges. Row upon row of perfect buildings perfectly maintained. It doesn't look like New York City (home of rent control and desperate tenants).
Fort Greene definitely looks more like New York, unruly and hap-hazard.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:24 PM
jealous, 12:22?
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:24 PM
Just for the record, 12:22...the first celebrity touted on this thread was Erykah Badu...from someone in Ft. Greene hoping to give the neighborhood some street cred.
Take that into consideration become you become so horrified you need a brown bag to make it through.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:26 PM
Husband and Husband? I don't get it.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:26 PM
You wouldn't get it 12:26.
Men and Men...Woman and Woman.
I know it's a foreign concept to you, but whisper it with me...WE ARE GAY!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:28 PM
If anything Clinton Hill is becoming a Park Slope II. And that is not a good thing.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:29 PM
Worst. Thread. Ever.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:31 PM
12:31...things have been boring around here. Bstoner needed a big "hit" day. Cut him some slack.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:33 PM
12:20 How could you be the husband and also say your husband has never bought you anything. That makes no sense. Get back to your
phone calls. ha ha
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:35 PM
And Crown Heights in becoming Park Slope. Also not good but oh well.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:36 PM
And Bed Stuy is becoming Park Slope.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:37 PM
It's Flems vs. Walloons all over again.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:37 PM
is this the twilight zone?
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:37 PM
Bed Stuy and Crown Heights will never be Park Slope.
NEVER.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:38 PM
Manhattan is becoming more like Park Slope every day.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:38 PM
My butt is becoming Park Slope.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:39 PM
"Manhattan is becoming more like Park Slope every day."
Best news I've heard all day.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:40 PM
PERIOD.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:40 PM
Park Slope is getting a BABELAND!!!
Need I say more?
Way cooler than Ft. Greene.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:41 PM
The dads in park dope are hot as hell.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:44 PM
All Park Slope needs now are some babes.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:46 PM
As someone who lived in FG/CH from 1999 to 2005, I definitely saw the neighborhood get whiter and more stroller-centric. I'm not passing any judgment about that, just reporting the fact. But I will confess that personally, even though I am a parent myself, I get a little wigged out when I go to Park Slope and see that EVERY single person on the street is holding the hand of one or more adorable designer-clad tots. (Mini-Me required for admission.) On the one hand, good for them. I'm sure it makes urban family life easier when you have a huge circle of playdate pals and twelve mommy-and-me classes within spitting distance. On the other hand, I sometimes wonder what it will be like for these kids to grow up in a neighborhood that appears to have been designed exclusively for them, like a faux-urban Disneyland. Now, someone will jump in and say "What about the gay bars?" and someone else will say how diverse PS really is, blah blah blah. But you can't deny that the "ruling class" of PS, the white, affluent breeders, gives the sense of being a vocal and visible majority with strikingly homogenous taste and lifestyle.
These PS kids will probably grow up to rule the world. But when they take time between congressional hearings or album recording sessions to talk to the press, I guarantee you will hear them brag about their gritty, down-to-earth upbringing in Brooklyn. At which point my pals and I in the nursing home will be rolling our eyes.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:48 PM
There are some hot liptick lezbos in the slope.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:52 PM
lipstick
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:53 PM
12:48...your post just made every parent in New York City want to live in Park Slope.
I see nothing wrong with wanting to raise a kid in the most idyllic setting that NYC affords.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:55 PM
12:48 here... no, nothing wrong with it at all. I was not out to bash Park Slope. I just find it all interesting from a sociological perspective.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 12:59 PM
"the 'ruling class' of PS, the white, affluent breeders"
Replace "PS" with "Earth" and your post will be accurate.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:00 PM
The kids in Park Slope will grow up to hate their parents.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:00 PM
12:48 - I love your comment, but I really don't think park slope kids will be bragging about a gritty upbringing. I grew up in Manhattan in 70s and 80s and no one was saying park slope and brooklyn heights were gritty even back then - they were just perceived as hopelessly out of it. People I know who grew up in those neighbs in those days - which were arguably substantially more gritty - NEVER describe their upbringing as gritty (see the Squid and the Whale for example). those neighbs were always VERY bourgeois. it was actually MUCH grittier growing up in many parts of manhattan. So I hardly think our children (though I live in CG not PS) are going to make that claim. Now kids in bed stuy or clinton hill - they may indulge in a little gritty factor boast.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:01 PM
12:59...i agree with you.
it is interesting. i think kids who grow up in park slope are lucky, actually.
if i ever have one, i would like to raise him/her there as well. i think it's a great place.
much better than the burbs where i was raised...that's for darn sure.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:04 PM
Who said PS isn't gritty? Clearly that person never witnessed two Park Stepford moms jockeying for position at the stroller check-in at Puppet Works!
Posted by: Biff Champion at March 11, 2008 1:07 PM
Don't worry friends, crime in Brooklyn starting to get bad again. So, maybe this stuff will be reversed after all.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:23 PM
Park Slope crime is down in 2008.
It's up in Bed Stuy, Williamsburg and East New York.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:25 PM
Anyone who praises rising crime doesn't deserve freedom of speech.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:26 PM
Of course Fort Greene is edgy, someone got killed over the weekend over six bags of crack. Now if that's now edgy then I'm moving to Bed-Sty
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:29 PM
People, people, please. You keep saying jealous when you mean envious. Learn the difference.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:31 PM
Ft. Greene Park is still scary as hell.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:32 PM
"Just for the record, 12:22...the first celebrity touted on this thread was Erykah Badu...from someone in Ft. Greene hoping to give the neighborhood some street cred."
Erykah Badu was mentioned in the Brooklyn Paper's story and the poster was mentioning what a lame call out it was of a B-list celeb. Once again you prove how incredibly self centered and clueless and defensive Park Slopers are on this blog.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:32 PM
yup, all 70,000 park slopers are clueless and defensive, 1:31.
good thing you weren't around during the time of civil rights.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:34 PM
Ooohh...go check out House of the Day...more Park Slope Luvin'!!!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:35 PM
1:32 - I think it is actually 2 or 3 crazed park slopers who are responsible for the monomaniacal thread-intruding mentions of "top 10 neighborhood list", "intact 19th century housing," paul bettany et al, and now, Babeland.
It is impossible that slopers in general are that nuts.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:40 PM
"Ft. Greene Park is still scary as hell."
gimme a break. either you haven't been there lately or your too much of a pussy to live NYC.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:40 PM
it's fine during the day, 1:40.
not so at night.
it's a drug den.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:41 PM
"yup, all 70,000 park slopers are clueless and defensive, 1:31."
And yet again you show how clueless you are. If you read my post it says how clueless and defensive Park Slopers on this blog are.
You think there are 70,000 Park Slopers on this blog? Nope is takes a special kind of real estate pumping, money grubbing Park Sloper to take that honor.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:44 PM
Kelly McGillis???? She's like 60. I really thought the days had passed when she would be proof positive that one neighborhood trumped another. What, doesn't Bea Arthur live in Park Slope?
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:45 PM
1:44 = Most ignorant poster on brownstoner award!!!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:46 PM
It's a drug den, but they are really nice dealers and good product, which they definitely do not have in Park Poop.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:46 PM
Kelly McGillis was HOT back in the day. Nuthin wrong with a little love for the oldies but goodies.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:47 PM
I've bought perfectly acceptable dope in Prospect Park, thank you very much.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:48 PM
"but they are really nice dealers and good product, which they definitely do not have in Park Poop."
They deliver in the Slope. No need to go into the park at night to score in the nicer neighborhoods.
It's all legit.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:48 PM
Fort Greene was cool to me because it's always seemed international to me. When I first started to go there, in the mid 90s, I was visiting friends who had moved there from France, Africa, Morocco, Holland -- and I saw the area through their fresh and passionate eyes. They seemed to love it for its quintessential New Yorkness -- between the brownstone architecture and the strong black community, there was something in Fort Greene that only New York could offer them; the very reason they were here. It had a rebellious, outsider feel where the pride of the area was inherent; not based on money, accomplishment or school stats, but based on independence and resilience. I think my outsider friends identified and felt welcome there unlike in any other neighborhood in New York.
I lived in Williamsburg at the time, and I and most of my friends there were artists. We were inclusive, self-sufficient and pretty much disengaged from the community around us; we did whatever it took to get by, and continue to work, which was hard enough. We didn't have time or interest in discovering new york or communing with our neighbors.
So my visits to fort Greene were surprising, refreshing trips. There, people seemed so aware of each other, of every nook and cranny of their few-block radius, so happy to live there and happy to be a part of each others' lives, despite many problems like rodents, drugs, dirty streets. My friend Sophie took me to numerous ethnic restaurants (there seemed to be only those at the time!). My other friend Maurice introduced me to everyone on his block, within a span of one afternoon. And another friend, Alan, introduced me to BAM, which was such an eye-opener -- foreign theater companies being given this incredibly large and well-equipped venue to put on unconventional productions to large, packed houses.
It seems to me, having now lived here for several years, that Fort Greene continues to draw Australians, Chileans, Zaireans etc . . . and I hope this never changes.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:48 PM
I bet you 1:46 (the first 1:46) is the same person who ends their more forceful declarations with...
PERIOD
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:50 PM
1:48...it's already changed.
Most of the newcomers to Ft. Greene are money grubbing neurotic freakshows.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:51 PM
I miss the old Brooklyn when most of you folks wouldnt dare go to Brooklyn Heights, let alone Park Slope.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:52 PM
a drug den? you mean a few tweens occasionally smoking a dooby? like i said a you're a pussy.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:52 PM
Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green! Fort Green!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:53 PM
that would be fort greene, loser
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:55 PM
Don't mind the doobies. It's the crack I have a problem with.
Crack is Whack!!!!
Show me the receipts!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:56 PM
1:55...you just bitch slapped 1:53 right outta the park. LOVE IT!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:58 PM
Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene! Fort Greene!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 1:59 PM
I find the racist condemnation of any neighborhood deplorable. If this thread were instead about a neighborhood becoming undesirable because it was becoming more black, Brownstoner would be sued and liberals everywhere would be condemning the site.
The era of suburban sprawl is over, and being this nation is predominantly white - the whole city is necessarily going to become more populated by white people.
We all have to learn to live together, and accept the fact that the city will eventually come to mirror the region in terms of racial demographics.
Posted by: Polemicist at March 11, 2008 2:01 PM
Wait, all these people who are having periods shouldn't be having babies, right?
And the husband and husband thing? How are they procreating?
K, have to say - brownstoner is so over...
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:03 PM
if chicks from berlin say they like park slope, i'm in.
you haven't been to berlin lately have you?
it's "edgy" and "cool" in a way that new york wishes it could be.
every neighborhood in berlin is more "edgy" than the next.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:08 PM
2:01 --
"the whole city is necessarily going to become more populated by white people"
Are you trying to scare us into provoking a reverse white flight (every non-white person fleeing the incoming hordes of asshole white children) so you can get your hands on my gorgeous brownstone?
nice try. Too bad my black husband and white me have ate your theory for breakfast 10 years ago.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:11 PM
2:08 -- berlin was edgy and cool for an artificial heart beat about 6 years ago. It's standard issue marketing. Next: Warsaw!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:13 PM
Mr. B, please do a story with the heading "Park Slope: Discuss" and nothing else. I wonder how many hits it would get.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:14 PM
Brooklyn lost African Americans in the last census more than at any time in the last 50 years.
And gained more people with an undergraduate and graudate degree that at any time in history.
The U.S. is 12% black.
It makes no sense to me how you all think you're "keepin it real" in a neighborhood which is 80% black. That is not the demographic of the U.S. at all.
Even Park Slope is only 50% white, and some of you make it seem like it's freakin Greenwich.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:15 PM
It's high time somebody offered up some snacks.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:18 PM
part of what makes park slope hellish are the eurodrips that live there. No surprise that a bunch of germans love it - and certainly no draw.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:18 PM
i love germans. they are usually pretty hung.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:19 PM
New York, need I remind you, is not the U.S. It's just New York. A weird anomaly, a cherished beauty mark on the obese ass that is our God-fearing, war mongering country.
That beauty mark happens to be 28% black and only 45% white, with other shades of hispanic (27%) and Asian (10%) mixed in there.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:21 PM
I'm on it 2:18.
Would you care for some crotchfruit salad?
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:21 PM
and uncut
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:22 PM
2:18 hahah. I know. It FEELS kinda german.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:22 PM
Paperbag party at my house.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:24 PM
I think Ft Greene is alright, if a little uncouth, during the day. But I would never ever walk there at night. I'm a bit of a wuz I admit it. I'm allergic to getting mugged.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:25 PM
Love it 2:21.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:25 PM
Seriously. Why can't we have a rational, mature discussion about which neighborhood is the best, which is second, third, etc.? It's important to get this right.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:26 PM
"That beauty mark happens to be 28% black and only 45% white, with other shades of hispanic (27%) and Asian (10%) mixed in there."
So basically almost the exact demographic of 11217 and 11215? (park slope)
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:27 PM
2:25 -- " I'm allergic to getting mugged." I'm allergic to getting an eyeful of coward. If I ever see you on my block, I might react in a really violent and money-stealing way, just be warned. I live in the greater Fort Greene area, and I walk there DAY and night.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:29 PM
sigh...I'm with you 1;52...remember when b.heights had the bossert old man bar with the pool table...better days...better days...
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:30 PM
2:26 pm. I agree. All vote for Park Slope, say Aye. All vote for Fort Greene say Wassup Wuss. All vote for Crown Heights, wave your guns in the air and shoot em like you just dont care.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:31 PM
HILARIOUS! and true. we've been saying it for about 5 years now...fg used to be international and cool and edgy and all that but now? none of those things. can you say eeeeeewwwwwwwww?
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:39 PM
178 posts! I hear Mr. B has free tickets to the Fort Green circle jerk show this friday night for the 200th post.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:42 PM
where is ft. greene exactly?
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:43 PM
11:16 said:
"Thank the lord that they have seen the true light, that what matters most in our short time on this mottled orb is having a choice of wine bars within walking distance."
If there weren't such thing as young arty hip renters spending lots of money on eating and drinking and buying cute trendy clothes in Park Slope there would be NO amenities in Park Slope at all.
Families don't go out, they don't spend money on those things.
The moment anybody points that out, the Park Slopers rush to say "oh yes we do have young hipsters and we love young hipsters" but then at the same time they hate those young people and insult them and attempt to take over Union Hall and push them out.
Young hipsters are priced out of Park Slope and no, they don't want to hang out at Union Hall with the moms and strollers. Young hipsters will be going elsewhere and taking their restaurant, bar and chic boutique shopping business with them. Gosh, most neighbors want these kinds of residents in their neighborhood and actively court them to come there. But not Park Slope, apparently. Well, all the better for the other neighborhoods trying to get better amenities!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:49 PM
Apparently you don't read this blog too often, 2:49.
About 50 new boutiques, shops and restaurants have opened up in Park Slope just this past year.
It's fun to say all those young arty people are leaving, but the fact is, they are just being replaced by more successful young arty people.
Nothin less edgy about that to me. Just the way things go in a society which is supposed to strive to evolve, not devolve.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:51 PM
50 much better shops and restaurants than were there before, if you ask me...
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 3:04 PM
Then why did the yuppie parent insult the young hip singles then, 2:51?
If Park Slope residents make singles feel out of place, and the singles can't afford to live there, why would they stay?
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 3:21 PM
Well since Park Slope, by the latest census was 52% single, I'm not sure that's a big concern right now, 3:21.
I am single...I live in Park Slope. My entire building (co-op) are singles.
People like to give Park SLope the stereotype that it's all married people with kids, but the facts are that it is 24% of the population.
Rest are couples and singles.
I prefer facts over generalizations and stereotypes. But that's just me.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 3:24 PM
3:21...Manhattan is WAY more expensive than most of Brooklyn, yet singles seem to love it there.
Your logic makes no sense.
Brooklyn is just getting a more wealthy crop of singles, and the old timers don't like it.
Plain and simple.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 3:26 PM
Outside of public housing tenants Fort Greene appears to be almost exclusively white. I would love to see some current stats on the shift in race and income in FG over the last 10 years.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 3:46 PM
working on your term paper buddy?
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 3:53 PM
2:30 -- And Julio's on Court Street...
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 3:53 PM
Facts have little meaning when you pull them out of your ass.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 3:54 PM
Another I hate Park Slope thread. Love it!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 3:56 PM
193
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 4:03 PM
FUCKTARDS AND BROWNSTONER
The Atlantic Yards is in Prospect Heights NOT Fort Greene.
Put that in your Tish James butt and smoke it.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 4:25 PM
Few more posts till 200. be sure to bring the KY.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 4:34 PM
F*!k Park Slope and Ft. Greene, I'd rather be in Bed Stuy. I'm tired of those wannabe kewl people moving into PS and FG.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 4:53 PM
park dope rocks!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 4:54 PM
People here don't "give Park Slope the stereotype" it's all families. Park Slope families promote it that way among other couples and their friends, and the area in general uses the family thing on purpose as a marketing tool for real estate. It's also known nation-wide if not worldwide as a family-oriented neighborhood. Don't confuse yourself with Williamsburg, please. Park Slope is not some incredibly edgy arty hip enclave for young people.
Plus if singles were going around "giving Park Slope the stereotype" that it's all families then that means...follow me here....they're complaining about how they don't fit in there. Which proves the point someone made about that.
Talk about not making sense.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 4:55 PM
198
Posted by: Biff Champion at March 11, 2008 4:55 PM
199
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 5:00 PM
Could that be my old buddy The What. I can smell his predictably corny profanity all the way in Queens (where he probably lives)
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 5:01 PM
The What is in hiding to many 3 million doller sales in PS.
5:01 you win the tickets to the weekly circle jerk fest at FT Green park. Cum on down to bklyn and leave shabby ass queens alone. U get center seat! bring goggles and an empty tin cup.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 5:17 PM
4:55...here are som ACTUAL FACTS for you....real live stats for Park Slope. No, not everyone in Park Slope is families. Or do you not believe the U.S. Census report and take neighborhood propaganda as fact. Is your name George Bush??
47.90% White
31.60% Black
0.60% Native American
0.10% or Alaskan Native Islander
11.10% Asian
24.70% Hispanic
19.50% Families w/Children
24.60% Families Married
10.50% Married w/Children
15.10% Female Household
7.60% Female w/Children
56.60% Non-Family
39.60% Single Household
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 5:23 PM
Dow Climbs 416.66 for Its Biggest Gain in Over 5 Years
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 5:24 PM
...and The What is nowhere to be seen (or heard)...
Posted by: Biff Champion at March 11, 2008 5:25 PM
For the record, Williamsburg now tops Park Slope as having more children.
So sorry to tell you it's over. It's ugly and over, which is even worse.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 5:26 PM
Wasn't this the week the What said we would see the world as we know it end?? You wouldn't guess by the record run-up on Wall Street today.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 5:27 PM
The What went to FT green park to make the final payment on a nickel bag he had on lay away since 2007 and got arrested. Bail is at 35 cents.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 5:31 PM
Wow...haven't we come a long way here in Brooklyn! Back in the 80s, when I was in high school, everyone argued about which neighborhood was better. Mostly, it was the Bensonhurst kids arguing with those of us from "South Brooklyn", (as PS and CG were collectively known to those of us who grew up here). Now, we trade school yeard insults between hipsters and yuppies about which neighborhood is "coolest". Ahhhh....progress!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 5:34 PM
5.23 Thanks for your book report. You are 0% fun.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 5:40 PM
Brooklyn was much cooler in 1491, after that it got really lame..
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 5:47 PM
OMG FACTS that prove Park Slope ISN'T all families!!!????
Say it isn't so! Now what will we have to bitch about on here!!!?
Oh right...we'll just make shit up and hope everyone believe it!
(Anyone who has lived or visited Park Slope knows that those facts above at 5:23 are really not very surprising...I've always found it quite diverse every time I go explore over there)
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 5:51 PM
park slope sucks and always will. ft. greene is much better, diverse and doesn't have a stroller mafia.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 6:04 PM
5:23, that's why I left Park Slope: too many goddamn Eskimoes.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 6:05 PM
Park Slope, Fort Greene, Tish James, and chicks in Crown Heights will all be worthless once AY is built.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 6:05 PM
Park slope is so fucking white and obnoxious. We got brothas and sistas here in ft. greene. Greene rules, PS blows!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 6:10 PM
I think everyone's inner adolescent is on display in this thread.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 6:12 PM
those park slope kids in the strollers will turn into rebllious angry teens who hate their parents.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 6:18 PM
Can i get 250 posts? Come on 2 fiddy where you at!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 6:29 PM
Fort Greene is for wannabes 6:10. Why don't you keep it real and come back to the REAL hood?
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 6:36 PM
I LIVE IN FORT GREENE...IT HAS ITS UPSIDES AND DOWNSIDES.
I LIKE PARK SLOPE...
I'M PAST THE AGE, WORK TOO MUCH AND DEAL WITH FAMILY THE REST OF THE TIME SO DO NOT CARE WHICH NABE HAS MORE BARS PER CAPITA OR BETTER BARS IN GENERAL...
FORT GREENE CERTAINLY HAS SOME AMUSING MOMENTS. IT'S MORE DYNAMIC, STILL THESE DAYS, THAN THE RITZ AVENUES AND STREETS OF THE SLOPE...FOR SURE...AND THE COMMUNITY GARDEN WE BELONG TO IS WAY MORE LAID BACK.
I ACTUALLY FIND THE PEOPLE IN FG ARE FRIENDLIER THAN IN PARK SLOPE. EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE NEWBIES WHO SEEM RATHER DISCONNECTED, EVEN THEY CAN BE A LITTLE MORE FRIENDLY THAN IN THE SLOPE.
SEE, THE SLOPE FEELS "BIG CITY-ISH", WHEREAS, FORT GREENE FEELS MUCH MORE VILLAGESQUE AND THE PEOPLE ACT ACCORDINGLY. IT REALLY IS LIKE A SMALL VILLAGE WHERE, ON A SUNNY WEEKEND YOU CANNOT GOT DOWN YOUR BLOCK IN LESS THAN 45 MINUTES WHAT WITH 3 CONVERSATIONS WITH DIFFERENT NEIGHBORS...WHICH CAN BE VERY NICE. THE GREEN MARKET ON SATURDAYS IS VERY INTIMATE COMPARED TO GRAND ARMY PLAZA'S.
JUST A VERY DIFFERENT SCALE.
I DIDN'T NOTICE MUCH WRITTEN ABOVE REFERENCING THE IDEA/SENSE OF SCALE AND HOW IT IMPACTS SOCIAL RELATIONS.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 6:47 PM
So where does Park Slope hide all the black people because everytime I go there I just see white obnoxious white people who think they are better than everyone else.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 6:48 PM
"So where does Park Slope hide all the black people because everytime I go there I just see white obnoxious white people who think they are better than everyone else."
It's nice that you don't generalize. Where does your hate come from. There was an article in CNN.com today how people's worst sides come out in blogs because they are anonymous. So 6:48, that side is pretty ugly.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 6:59 PM
I wasn't even talking about stats, 5:23. Like not a bit. So why are you talking about stats?
Nobody gives a rats a** what the last census said about Park Slope. It's all about its broad perception and identity and Park Slope has no other identity whatsoever than being a wealthy family-oriented neighborhood.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 7:00 PM
The last U.S. Census was 2000! What a joke. The demographics in some Brooklyn neighborhoods have been changing on a yearly basis. Park Slope is very different than it was in 2000.
uff.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 7:05 PM
listen, i have lived in clinton hill since 1995 and lived in park slope before that, this neighborhood IS NOT and will not ever be park slope, thank GOD. while there are a lot of white women with strollers who think they own the place, they are wrong! there are many black families that live her and will live here for a long long time and will not ever give this neighborhood over to them. believe what you want, but it won't happen and i will not let it happen as a black mother, who used to have a stroller-when i sit on my brownstone stoop, white people can look at me all they want, but it is my house and i am not and will not give it all up to have a neighborhood full of people who have no regard for the what was here and what will be here. in fact, my new white neighbors are totally "down" and don't want that environment either!!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 7:52 PM
those stats are from 2005.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 7:53 PM
Hurray for the FE bailout today!
$200 billion dollars of magically created taxpayer money will be used to purchase assets the banks can't sell to anybody else.
Hurray for inflation! Hurray for record oil prices!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 8:06 PM
7:52:
I hate to break it to you, but you do not own Brooklyn.
When Brownstone Brooklyn was built, the only people who lived in these neighborhoods were white. It wasn't until later that black families moved in.
So remember who came before YOU!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 8:27 PM
well since we're going all out on this topic,
i say Ft Green is still 6 white yrs away from Park Slope. thats a lot of cash in real estate
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 8:35 PM
8:27 Thanks Tonto!
That's fucking right biyatches! You own bkyln.
Fuck Columbus!
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 8:50 PM
You motherfuckers should be thanking the motherfucking dinosaurs for going extinct.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 8:59 PM
I've lived in both Park Slope and Fort Greene and see the merits of both. But I really get sick of these Slope-bashing stereotypes. I myself am a hard-working mom of small kids, working at a nonprofit, and my also-hard-working-husband and I don't really care about being "hip" or smug - we're just trying to get through my days and yes, provide the best to our kids.
We initially were looking to buy in FG, but it just happened that the apt we found 6 years ago (we did NOT want a coop, but houses were too expensive and we wanted pre-war condo) was in PS. I initially did not want to move to PS due to the very stereotypes thrown around here - I feared we would be pegged as cliche lefty smug breeders (we even owned a used Volvo at the time) But you know what? Once I moved here, I totally stopped caring about these stereotypes, and realized that this is truly a great neighborhood - NOT because of any kind of hipness, but because the park is amazing, there are great services, the food coop provides incredible cheap food, and yes, there is a real sense of community here esp for families. I cannot tell you how many times total strangers have helped me out, whether in the the local playgrounds, on the street, or on the Park Slope Parents listserve. Say what you want about the rich folks moving in, but they are not at all everyone in this neighborhood - I think there are plenty of folks like us - NOT rich, but hard-working and down to earth. We bought our places before the huge run-up in prices, and stretched then, and those of us who are trading up now are stretching further, but we're not the ones buying 3 million dollar homes, that's for sure. Somehow those folks get all the attention and come to "represent" what PS slope is all about and it just ain't so.
As for all the talk of designer clad moms and babies, again, I think this is kind of a myth. Most of the people I know around here have a more modest style - Old Navy/clogs/and the occasional Beacons closet or Diana Kane flair. And the PSP listserve circulates tons of hand-me-downs for kids.
Much as we loved FG, the lack of services was a real drag - something as simple as grocery shopping always felt like an ordeal. Maybe it's better now, but I always felt that it was much better suited for folks who want to eat out a lot, whereas my family, budget-conscious as we are, eats mostly at home. So having the coop is key to us, as is having a good drugstore, dry cleaner, toy stores, etc. nearby is infinitely more convenient than FG.
As for racial diversity, I did like that FG was more diverse, but I think that's changing, and I think PS is not quite as homogenous as people think - though I think all neighborhoods which get gentrified unfortunately do become more homogenous - but I would not pick on PS anymore than the other gentrifying hoods, FG included.
Lastly, the schools in PS are undeniably better than FG. I think that's changing, but I often felt that families (or people planning families) who moved to FG were *wealthier* than PS since they did not even seem to care about the public schools (and I suppose planned on private school), whereas a key draw of PS is the schools, of which there are several great ones now - 321, 107, 39, etc.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 10:26 PM
"lastly" that was a doozie.
Posted by: guest at March 12, 2008 12:55 AM
10:26--you manage to be AS judgmental as everyone else. You are judging "those people" buying the 3 million dollar homes, and you stress that there are people in PS "like you" who are "NOT rich", etc. Are you morally superior to the "rich folk" you describe? Interesting...
Posted by: guest at March 12, 2008 1:04 AM
I'm 10:26 - excuse the "lastly" - tired from watching my kids and being at work all day!
In response to 1:04 - No, I don't mean to judge the people buying 3 million dollar homes, but I'm just pointing out that not everyone in PS is necessarily very wealthy, or shelling out that kind of money to live here. I don't feel morally superior to the people that do pay 3 million since I know nothing about them as individuals. I just get tired of hearing on this list how PS is full of smug rich white people when my experience is that there is more diversity here than people assume. Maybe that will change due to the cost of buying here NOW but there are many people who have been here a long time who are socioeconomically in a different profile than the new buyers.
In general, I think it's always silly to lump a whole group of diverse people into one monolithic group. Neighborhoods should be judged primarily on the basis of architecture, amenities, transportation, convenience, etc. I understand how the people who live there factor into the equation, but when discussing the people in a given neighborhood (not just PS, by the way), the discussions seem to devolve into annoying and ultimately uninformative stereotypes.
Posted by: guest at March 12, 2008 9:14 AM
9:14, 10:26
You are so transparent with your, "I have lived in both neighborhoods and Park Slope is clearly better," posts. You start off by saying that you just want to debunk the myth that all Park Slope people are rich and smug. And I was listening at that point. But then you go on to say how Park Slope is so much better and then I realize that you are just another Sloper (although slightly more strategic than most on these boards) trying to pump your real estate value. If you really want the Park Slope hating to stop then Slopers have to start showing respect for other neighborhoods. Until that happens Park Slope will continue to be rightfully loathed for their pompous, judgmental ramblings on these boards.
Of course you are allowed to say how wonderful you think PS is, but that can be done without trashing every other neighborhood. I assume that I am wasting my breath because Slopers have proved over and over again that they just don't care about anyone but themselves and making a buck, even now when these heady real estate days are waning.
Posted by: guest at March 12, 2008 10:07 AM
10:27 get over it already. your rambling is judgemental. not all "slopers" are the same. I would bet your ass that most of the snobs you encounter are new just like you to Brookln. go back to utah
Posted by: guest at March 12, 2008 10:58 AM
too early that last comment was directed twds 10:07
Posted by: guest at March 12, 2008 11:09 AM
Manhattan Rules!!
Posted by: guest at March 12, 2008 12:47 PM
FG vs PS.
Best neighborhood in brooklyn is like getting 1st place at the special olympics....
Posted by: guest at March 12, 2008 12:59 PM
10:26 back again - how is it that I'm trashing FG? I said I appreciated the merits of both neighborhoods. Why must saying positive things about one neighborhood (PS) be construed as trashing another (FG)? Brooklyn is NOT a zero-sum game - there can actually be more than one good neighborhood, and in fact, there are many. Also, where you live is a very individual choice. When we were younger and without kids, I really loved FG for its restaurants, proximity to BAM & the city, etc. If we had had kids there, I'm sure we would have found a great community and discovered new things. But since we happened to find an apt we liked in PS, we also discovered lots of great things about PS. I was simply trying to point out that PS is NOT solely rich, smug, annoying people and I find it kind of sad that these stereotypes are perpetuated - I find it equally sad when people trash Bed Sty, Carroll Gardens, etc. since I think it's unfair to the neighorhoods and the real people who live there. The real estate values of PS are not going to rise and fall by the anonymous posts on this blog, so I think it's silly to accuse people of trying to pump up real estate values here. I guess I am somewhat naively trying to ask this community of blog-readers to be a little more open-minded and not just uniformly trash everyone simply because they live in one neighborhood or another. I just happen to live in PS and love it, but I bet if I still lived in FG, I'd love it too - so my argument is more about looking beyond the sweeping generalizations and appreciating that each neighborhood probably has its own unique mix of people. But maybe trying to make this argument is pointless on this blog...
Posted by: guest at March 12, 2008 2:29 PM
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