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November 10, 2008

Closing Bell: Where Does Park Slope End?

park-slope%3D1108.jpg
That's the subject of an online discussion over at Brooklynian, where one inquirer asked just where the heck Center Slope is, as opposed to North Slope and South. One possibility: "Named streets are North Slope; Center Slope is 1st St to 9th St; South Slope is 9th St to 16th St; South of the prospect expressway is wish-it-was-Park Slope." There are some offerings of Slopes East and West, too. They offer up NY Mag's boundaries (Stretching from Prospect Park West to 4th Avenue, Park Place to Prospect Expressway) and epodunk.com's (Bounded by 4th Avenue, Flatbush Avenue and Prospect Park West), as well as this assessment: "It means whatever the Real Estate Agent thinks that it means on any given day." On Curbed, too.
Photo by five2510thstreet.




Posted by lisa at 4:00 PM | Comments (28)
Categories: Closing Bell

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Comments

i'm going with this: north slope, flatbush to named streets. center slope, numbered streets to 9th st. south slope, 9th to prospect expressway. to parse even further, south south slope would be from 15th st. to the expressway. south side of expressway is greenwood, or, if you must, greenwood heights. personally, i don't wish it was the slope, i'm happy it's NOT. :)

Posted by: pluvious at November 10, 2008 4:11 PM

We just bought a place on the border of Park-Stuy and Bed-Slope. We can smell Prospect Park on good days.

Posted by: iloveyoutothemax at November 10, 2008 4:13 PM

neighborhoods don't have 'borders'. They are not legal or political subdivisions.

Posted by: Petebklyn at November 10, 2008 4:17 PM

"south south slope would be from 15th st. to the expressway"

Technically, that's Slippery Slope.

Posted by: SnarkSlope at November 10, 2008 4:19 PM

In the eyes of realtors, park slope never ends...I live in Park Slope Bay.

Posted by: bayridgegirl at November 10, 2008 4:22 PM

I always think of the realtor "north slope" as two areas: that bordered by Flatbush, Cartlon and Atlantic and the area bordered by around Prospect Place, Flatbush, 3rd Ave.

Center slope - 5th Ave. to PPW, Flatbush to 9th Sts (the proposed 1st St. is a very arbitrary cut-off).

South slope used to be 4th Ave. to PPW and 9th St. to the expressway but now it seems to go considerably into the not-yet-former Sunset Park.

Don't know where this leaves Prospect Place to 9th and from 4th to 5th Aves. but in the recent past those blocks were not seen as being as desirable.

The entire Slope in my mind runs along arterial boundaries - Flatbush Ave., 4th Ave., the Prospect Expressway and Prospect Park West.

Posted by: Bessie at November 10, 2008 4:26 PM

It's funny- when we moved out of the north slope to the other side of the expressway, we told all the old timers we were leaving the slope for our high teen block and they all said- 'that's still park slope...what are you taking about'

When we got there, all these really old businesses have signs that say things like: South Slope Bakery, South Slope Deli, South Slope Rehab...etc... Doesn't seem like such a new term.

Posted by: Park Place at November 10, 2008 4:27 PM

Endless -- it's a state of mind.

Posted by: BH76 at November 10, 2008 4:30 PM

I agree with the north, mid, and south slope boundaries given in the initial post. I've always thought of Park Slope as being "the area contained by Flathbush, 4th Ave, Prospect Park West, and roughly 15th street" ... tho I guess the Prospect Expressway makes sense.

Posted by: cwbuecheler at November 10, 2008 4:30 PM

... and by "Flathbush" I mean: "Flatbush"

Posted by: cwbuecheler at November 10, 2008 4:43 PM

Well, until fairly recently, ads for my neighborhood, PLG, were under "Park Slope vicinity", when they weren't under "Flatbush". Prospect Heights and Sunset Park were also "Park Slope vicinity. Cobble Hill and Boreum Hill were "Brooklyn Heights Vicinity". RE people can be quite creative.

FWIW, when I lived in the South Slope [early'70s], most people considered 15th Street to be the boundary. The North Slope was the area near Flatbush Avenue--streets north of Lincoln Place--and it was considered to be quite dangerous (as was anything west of 7th Avenue--or 8th Avenue, south of 9th Street). I hear it might have changed a bit :-)

Posted by: Bob Marvin at November 10, 2008 4:43 PM

Petebklyn, some neighborhoods have boundaries because there are physical boundaries (e.g.: the northern boundary of Greenpernt is absolutely the Newtown Creek) and others have boundaries based on common usage. When I first started hanging out in Park Slope (first "serious" girlfriend; she was something else), the definition was the "name streets," or some folks thought you had to be in the historic district. I watched the southern boundary get expanded to Ninth Street. Then brokers started marketing properties south of Ninth as "South Slope" and people of a certain demographic kept moving there and now I also agree with the north, mid, and south slope boundaries given in the initial post. I have never been able to make that leap across the expressway.

One thing for damn sure, there ain't no BoCoCa, unless that is your cutsie name for the thing your kid just made in her Huggies.

Posted by: altervoce at November 10, 2008 4:52 PM

Since the name "Park Slope" literally means something like the area sloping down from the Park, I am going with Union Street to 15th Street. The Western border is a totally different conversation…

Posted by: pwhite at November 10, 2008 4:52 PM

park slope is prospect park west to 5th ave.
16th st to flatbush ave.

DEAL WITH IT.

Posted by: Xander Crews at November 10, 2008 4:57 PM

I'm feeling generous today; I'm willing to say South Slope extends to the expressway. On stingy days, it ends behind my house.

The trickier question is defining the boundaries of "Park Slope and vicinity" as used in the Times RE classifieds.

Posted by: slopefarm at November 10, 2008 4:57 PM

sorry i meant
prospect park west to 5th ave
16th st to union street.

thats it.. no more..

Posted by: Xander Crews at November 10, 2008 4:59 PM

slopefarm,

"Park Slope" vicinity, as used in NY Times RE ads is easy. It's anything that looks vaguely like a brownstone that isn't in "Brooklyn Heights vicinity" :-)

Posted by: Bob Marvin at November 10, 2008 5:04 PM

Park Slope vicinity is any block that doesn't have a used tire shop or a bodega selling halal meat.

Posted by: Xander Crews at November 10, 2008 5:09 PM


Question #1: Does it matter what the terms used to mean, or can they be redefined?

Quesiton #2: If they can be redefined, but should the basis for refinintion be?

Posted by: ceolaf at November 10, 2008 5:15 PM

What about zipcode? 11215. Doesn't that help decipher the neighborhood border? 11215 goes to 3rd avenue and to Prospect Expressway. And why exaclty are you all so concerned about the borders anyway?

Posted by: ador3 at November 10, 2008 5:22 PM

Hi, Bob,

I've seen victorian Flatbush listings under PS Vicinity, too, but I think those houses are honorary brownstones in the eyes of realtors and Manhattan price refugees. But the "vicinity" now certainly goes as far as your neck o the woods, Crown Heights, Bed-Stuy and, increasingly, Sunset Park. It's really shorthand for neighborhoods and housing stock that yuppies will consider (outside Brooklyn Heights vicinity, of course).

Posted by: slopefarm at November 10, 2008 5:23 PM

"What about zipcode? 11215."

11215 goes past the expressway on some blocks so it doesn't help pull the border back - all it means is that some people in the high teens get their mail from the 9th st station

North Slope has 11217 on many blocks- that means they get sorted at the Atlantic St office

Posted by: Park Place at November 10, 2008 5:36 PM

I live across from the 78th precinct on 6th ave between began and dean. The 78th precinct, on its website, claims to be in park slope, but it is on the wrong side of Flatbush. Am I in Prospect Heights? Am I in North Slope?


I just say that I live by the Atlantic yards project. I would, however, appreciate any clarity the brownstoner community can offer.

Posted by: actually works in finance at November 10, 2008 9:36 PM

I don't know about the rest of you, but I live in Kensingtonslope!

Posted by: dinag at November 10, 2008 9:48 PM

I live in the Stuyvesant heights enclave of Bedford Stuyvesant. The sidewalks are wide and there are very few strollers.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 11, 2008 8:22 AM

Park Slope ends in 5_4_3_2_1_0 seconds.

Posted by: mod squad at November 11, 2008 10:01 PM

I live in Greenwood Slope on 36th. Love it!

Posted by: greenwood_heights_boy at November 12, 2008 12:27 AM

You guys are all a**wads. The fact is you trust fund yuppie anuses are all a bunch of a-holes. Who the f**K cares where your retarded neighborhood begins and ends.

Posted by: MyCoopSucks at November 18, 2008 2:24 PM

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