That was beautiful, Tybur!!!

Posted by: Park Sloper at October 26, 2009 6:37 PM in response to NYT: Food Co-op Exile's Story Demands 2,000 Words

*rob* : "if you think the people who shop at the coop come from 'all walks of life' you are insane."

* * * *

Rob, you've obviously never set foot in the place because you couldn't be more wrong. The Co-op is one of the few places you can go to see corporate lawyers, Rastafarians, low-income people of all races and backgrounds, creative types of all kinds and large Hasidic families all shopping and working together. To me, this is one of the nicest aspects of the Co-op, along with the awesome prices and glorious produce.

Having said this, however, I must admit that the mismanagement and rigid, Soviet-era rules and ambience drove me away more than once (i.e., after two stints at membership, one lasting about 4 years and another about 1 year). I'd gladly shop there again and pay a higher price for their products than working members, but the old-guard managers find this morally reprehensible. They'd rather deal with the chaos of 15,000 people each working shifts of 2.75 hours each month, customers standing in hour-long lines to go through *three* checkout procedures to purchase their groceries, and massive cheating by superfluous member-workers.

Posted by: Park Sloper at October 26, 2009 2:59 PM in response to NYT: Food Co-op Exile's Story Demands 2,000 Words

The other issue with the 11th Street house is that they're advertising it as a one-family with an "auxilliary" kitchen on the ground floor, when what this undoubtedly really means is an illegal conversion from a one- to a two-family. What would it take to get a proper two-family C of O so you could rent out the ground floor apartment?

In any case, the price is wacko. There have been four-story brownstones in the center and north Slope, with actual original detail (which this house appears to lack), asking not much more than that.

Posted by: Park Sloper at October 9, 2009 4:20 PM in response to Open House Picks

Benson: glad to see you're backing down on the envy nonsense.

Here's a dictionary definition of the word: "A feeling of discontent and ill will because of another's advantages, possessions, etc.; resentful dislike of another who has something that one desires."

I daresay that most readers of this blog have no desire whatsoever to live in a house like the one featured, so envy has nothing to do with it. Except in your case, perhaps, since you apparently wouldn't buy a brownstone even if your life were at stake? (Why DO you spend so much time, then, on a website devoted to brownstone living? Just asking.)

Posted by: Park Sloper at September 28, 2009 1:32 PM in response to Priciest Brooklyn Sale of '09 is in Gravesend!

Benson, you're quite right that it's rare to find a positive word on this blog about properties outside of Brownstone Brooklyn, but that's because, you know, this site is called BROWNSTONER and we like BROWNSTONES! Where you're wrong is in thinking that envy has anything to do with it. And I'm sure the folks that buy homes in Gravesend and Mill Basin think WE'RE the wackos for sinking millions into narrow old 19th century townhouses with no garages, etc., and they certainly don't envy us, either!

Posted by: Park Sloper at September 28, 2009 11:26 AM in response to Priciest Brooklyn Sale of '09 is in Gravesend!

For the same price as that lower duplex (which does look nice, I admit), you can buy that entire, beautiful HOTD brownstone on Washington Ave. in Clinton Hill. Guess the developers will take a bath on this one.

Posted by: Park Sloper at September 25, 2009 1:45 PM in response to Condo Conversion at 219 Saint Johns Hits the Market

moreteasir: It's you.

Posted by: Park Sloper at September 25, 2009 1:34 PM in response to Open House Picks

I get not wanting to be rigid about neighborhoods, but having a character get off the F train and be in Fort Greene is just sloppy; it's not as if millions of people won't notice, right? It's like Cher walking around the corner from her Cobble Hill apartment in "Moonstruck" and ending up next to the Promenade. Surely no one in Hollywood would put a driver on the 101 going north from Los Angeles and ending up in San Diego, would they?

Posted by: Park Sloper at September 21, 2009 4:24 PM in response to HBO Does Fort Greene

Shillstoner, you're a f***ing piece of work, contradicting yourself left and right and not even seeing it. Sheesh. Get over yourself already.

Posted by: Park Sloper at September 14, 2009 6:31 PM in response to House of the Day: 591 2nd Street

Of course, the funny thing is that the book must have been easy to write, because it's not really fiction!

Posted by: Park Sloper at September 10, 2009 1:39 PM in response to Sitting Down with Prospect Park West Penner

I completely agree with Kris. I'm reading it now, and while it's fun to see so many familiar places from my daily life portrayed in the story, the satire is a bit too broad for me -- so far, at least (I'm about half way through the book), everyone comes across as overly stereotypical and fairly loathesome. I can't believe that Sohn expressed surprise in the Times article that people think she portrays the neighborhood and its inhabitants in a negative light, since she clearly went to great lengths to do exactly that.

While I understand the source of the satire, and can laugh at it along with everyone else, I'm also curious about how this comes across to people elsewhere in the country. Could you write the same book about yupster parents in Marin County or Brookline or Hyde Park? Or do we seem like complete aliens?

Posted by: Park Sloper at September 10, 2009 1:36 PM in response to Sitting Down with Prospect Park West Penner

Artesana on 7th Avenue & 1st Street offers some kind of rug cleaning service. I haven't used them, but they sell all sorts of woven and tribal rugs and seem to know their stuff. I've bought several things there and have always found them to be very professional, so I'd have a lot of confidence that they use a quality cleaning service.

I've used Majestic Rug Cleaning in the Bronx with good success. They do pick-up and drop-off in Brooklyn every Thursday (and at least in Park Slope, they generally seem to arrive by about 10:00 or 11:00 a.m., so I've never had to wait around all day for them). They can also do patching and sewing of tears. You can reach them at 718-542-7474.

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 27, 2009 3:30 PM in response to Rug Cleaning

Speaking of Pottery Barn, I have a PB table whose legs have gotten loose, and I've misplaced the allen wrench that came with it. Haven't been able to find the right size wrench at the hardware store, and PB doesn't sell replacement wrenches. Any tips?

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 26, 2009 11:24 AM in response to Dining Table Finish Peeling

Rob probably has a point, but of course that's how these kinds of outfits manage to keep operating: because nobody wants to go to the trouble of doing anything about it. I think what they're doing is outrageous, and I would report it to everyone you can: the NYC Consumer Affairs office, the NY State Attorney General's office, the Better Business Bureau, the local network news stations, not to mention Craigslist itself. We the public have to make it too hard for these criminals to keep preying on people.

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 24, 2009 3:12 PM in response to Reporting a Realty Company

You grew up on cheese doodles, cheese puffs and pepsi, rob? That explains a lot. :-)

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 21, 2009 11:44 AM in response to Do You Qualify for Federal Mortgage Relief?

tybur6: Yes, I have to admit, I'm not spending much time in the hammock these days. It was lovely in the spring and early summer, but as of the last couple of weeks I've been exiled (probably until mid-September, I'm guessing), thanks to the little biting monsters. I think I'll buy one of those propane mosquito killers next year. They supposedly cover about an acre, so many of my neighbors will thank me!

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 20, 2009 5:44 PM in response to Sprucing Up a Garden in a Rental

Thanks, Minard. I've actually got some astilbe elsewhere in the garden. Didn't know about the upright fucshias, I'll have to try that.

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 20, 2009 3:06 PM in response to Sprucing Up a Garden in a Rental

Thanks, Dave. It's still a work in progress - and already looks a bit different since these pictures were taken last year - but I love it; it's my little sanctuary.

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 20, 2009 2:35 PM in response to Sprucing Up a Garden in a Rental

Congratulations! Investing a little in your garden, even in a rental, will enhance your quality of life in ways you can't yet imagine.

Listen to everyone above (except for rob, of course) about testing the pH level (easily done), turning the soil, etc. Then find some fast-growing, shade-tolerant plants (I recommend hostas, for example, and second the recommendation about hydrangeas), plant some bulbs this fall and some impatiens and other annuals in the spring, and without too much trouble you'll have a lovely garden next summer! It doesn't have to be terribly expensive, and I can't imagine your landlord would object. Au contraire, when you move someday, you'll have upgraded his property for him.

Here are my own before and after pictures:

BEFORE:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27956711@N08/2600910183/in/set-72157605752648762/

AFTER:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27956711@N08/2600937549/in/set-72157605752648762/

Enjoy!

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 20, 2009 2:24 PM in response to Sprucing Up a Garden in a Rental

Excuse the typo; I meant "driveways," of course. If I'd been writing with quill and ink, a typo wouldn't have been possible. Let's get rid of these newfangled keyboard thingies. They're SO inauthentic. Not to mention computers and the Internet.... (Shrill one, do you only post from work? Because I can't believe you'd defile your Victorian manse with a computer and Internet connection.)

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 19, 2009 6:23 PM in response to House of the Day: 180 Washington Park

Shrilly, baby, don't you realize you're preaching to the choir? We're the people who LIKE the old brownstones and the original detail. Nobody here is into destroying the integrity of these beautiful structures. I can't believe you can be so mortally offended by double sinks. It's like being offended by refrigerators, or indoor plumbing, or lack of working dumbwaiters. I'm sure your friends in the burbs have driverways, right? And maybe even cars? Give me a break.

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 19, 2009 6:19 PM in response to House of the Day: 180 Washington Park

"We dine in the formal dining room, which is on the garden floor as the architect intended."

And the Constitution "intended" for black men to be counted as 3/4 of a white man, and women not to be counted at all. Be careful, shrill one, that original intent argument can really go too far.

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 19, 2009 5:50 PM in response to House of the Day: 180 Washington Park

Also interested. Is it 12' high or wide? Please email photos and other info to park_sloper at yahoo DOT com.

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 19, 2009 2:38 PM in response to Complete Cherry Panelled Library F/S

Björk "sounds like an autistic chipmunk being strangled."

GOOD ONE! That's exactly right.

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 19, 2009 12:08 PM in response to Björk Moving to Brooklyn Heights

"Fabulous 3 Bedroom/2 Bathroom apartment in a luxury building with business facilities located right on Wall Street!"- http://tungstenproperty.com/listings/view/4930 -
$5,150. Still think $5000 is going to fly in downwtown Brooklyn?"

Actually, YES! (With the understanding that BOTH of these prices are likely to come down some.)

Downtown Brooklyn is actually a better residential location than Wall Street, even -- or especially -- for someone who works on Wall Street. It enables someone who works in the Financial District to be really close to work without living and working in the same neighborhood 24/7. And though I wouldn't personally want to live in a high rise on Gold Street (I'm a brownstoner, after all), I can see the attraction for a young investment banking associate who wants to share this type of place. You're 10 minutes from work, and 10 minutes from all of the food, drink and culture that Fort Greene has to offer.

BHO is right that a "responsible tenant would need to be in the six figures to pay 33% on such units," but keep in mind that there are still plenty of folks, even very young folks, making six figures in NYC.

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 19, 2009 11:53 AM in response to All Is Revealed at Avalon Fort Greene

"and yes intelligent writing usually does indicate snobbiness"

Oh, rob, you've outdone yourself this time. Truly pathetic.

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 18, 2009 5:39 PM in response to Closing Bell: The New Yorker's Nod to Brooklyn

I meant "despise," of course.

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 18, 2009 12:39 PM in response to Open Thread

OK, I happen to despite smoking, don't allow it in my home, and get nauseous at the smell of secondhand smoke, but seriously ... can't smokers even smoke outside anymore? This is getting ridiculous. I'm even starting to feel sorry for the poor suckers.

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 18, 2009 12:37 PM in response to Open Thread

bxgrl: I cut and pasted the Thai. I don't have the font packages for Japanese or Korean on my work computer, unfortunately, and I can't read the Chinese people have been posting for the same reason (not that I understand Chinese anyway, except for those characters that are also used in Japanese).

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 18, 2009 11:55 AM in response to Open Thread

My favorite Japanese line is:

"Can you eat sushi?"

Typical question asked of foreigners. A gay friend even experienced this while being fondled underwater by a Japanese guy in a hot springs!

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 18, 2009 11:53 AM in response to Open Thread

Hangukmal hasil jul aseyo?

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 18, 2009 11:52 AM in response to Open Thread

Sawatdee.

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 18, 2009 11:49 AM in response to Open Thread

Talar þú íslensku?

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 18, 2009 11:44 AM in response to Open Thread

Already did, Dave! คุณพูดภาษาไทยเบ็นไหม?

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 18, 2009 11:43 AM in response to Open Thread

คุณพูดภาษาไทยเบ็นไหม?

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 18, 2009 11:40 AM in response to Open Thread

Você fala português?

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 18, 2009 11:39 AM in response to Open Thread

Er der nogen her, der taler dansk?

Talar du svenska?

Snakker du norsk?

Et je suis sure qu’il y a plusieurs qui parlent français, n’est-ce pas?

¿Hay alguien que habla español?

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 18, 2009 11:29 AM in response to Open Thread

Very interesting, Montrose! I also live in a Park Slope building -- in a row rather similar to the Carroll Street buildings pictures -- that I guess was also part of this boom. The row of four-story buildings on my block originally had two apartments per floor, but most of the buildings have now been converted into co-ops or condos and -- unlike Wonton's building, where the apartments were cut in half -- they now have one apartment per floor (with the exception of one building in the row, which still has eight apartments).

On my block, however, the apartments aren't on either side of a center stair. Rather, the stairway is along the side, in classic brownstone fashion, which means that one apartment must have been in the front and one in the back. There are inner windows looking out on a narrow air shaft between the buildings, which I always supposed were installed to be consistent with the old tenement window rules; it never occured to me, however, that this was actually middle class housing. The buildings are 85 feet deep on 100 feet lots, so longer than the typical brownstone (but with a smaller back garden as a result).

As for closets, it's quite possible there weren't any originally. The developer who turned my building into condos about 10 years ago had to build some out from the wall in the bedrooms out of sheetrock. But then, most true French flats don't have closets, either, hence the lovely armoires that many French homes have.

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 18, 2009 11:17 AM in response to Walkabout with Montrose: Parlez-vous French Flat?

Nihongo ga dekimasu ka? Anyone?

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 18, 2009 10:39 AM in response to Open Thread

Why don't we have the next Brownstoner gathering at Vue at Hotel le Bleu? I'd like to meet you PLUSAs! Though I guess we'd have to warn them we're coming, since they may not be able to handle more than one customer at a time.

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 13, 2009 5:39 PM in response to Open Thread

Snappy, you take the cake! Awesome thread today, folks. Thanks for helping me to avoid work once again!

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 13, 2009 5:34 PM in response to Sex and the Other City

Hey all. Since I don't normally read the OT, I have another question: what's a PLUSA?

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 13, 2009 4:44 PM in response to Open Thread

I remember that one, Benson. Priceless!

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 13, 2009 4:14 PM in response to Sex and the Other City

OMG, Montrose! Brilliant!!!!

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 13, 2009 4:06 PM in response to Sex and the Other City

The rain was coming down even harder now, and Benson had no umbrella. He stood outside the door of the converted coffin factory where the writer's group was meeting. He couldn't go back in, he just couldn't. Just as he was about to amble on home in the rain, the door suddenly opened. It was the young blonde, her quivering mounds more beautiful than ever.

"You forgot your hat," she said, handing it to him. She opened her large umbrella and held it over both of them.

"Are you heading back to Park Slope?" he asked her. "Maybe we could grab a drink together somewhere on Fifth Avenue...."

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 13, 2009 3:10 PM in response to Sex and the Other City

Benson burst through the door, somehow completely dry despite the torrential downpour. "Is this the Park Slope Writer's Workshop?" he asked.

The six women sitting in a circle all looked at him. He didn't look like your normal Park Slope dad. He was dressed up as if for a night on the town, although Celia thought he might be trying a bit too hard, as if he were trying to compensate for a working class background.

"It's actually the Gowanus Writer's Workshop," Celia said. "But you're welcome anyway." She flashed him one of her winning smiles.

Benson seemed to hesitate a bit, then took the seat next to Celia that she offered to him.

"So," another woman said, "let's continue. We were talking about blogs, and how they've shaped our own writing. Kyra, what was it you were saying?"

"Yeah, well, I just think that, like, blogs and Facebook and Twitter and all of that, it's changed both how writers write, and how readers read. You know?"

Benson turned and looked at Kyra. Her voice and syntax sounded as young as she looked. She was slender and stylish, with long legs and toenails painted an enchanting shade of lavender. But though he found her words unimpressive, he couldn't help but be impressed by the mound of soft breasts that rose and fell with her every breath.

Celia nodded. Then she said, "Does anyone have any new work to share today?"

"I do," a stylish blonde said. "It's about an old school grandfather who just had to cut his kids a certain look and they knew he meant business. His son, though, is a modern Brooklyn dad who carries the baby around in a sling, and negotiates with his three-year-old over whether to wear his shoes backwards or not."

"That sounds great," Celia said. "Go ahead."

"Okay. 'The old man stepped carefully down the front steps, his leather shoes shiny in the afternoon sun....'"

Just then, a loud blast of music interrupted. "Oh, no" said another woman, a beautiful African-American with coffee-colored skin. "It's that fundamentalist church in the converted warehouse next door!"

"Seriously, Montrose?" said the young woman. "Fundamentalists? Here in Gowanus?

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Montrose replied. "I'm sorry, but these people scare me. They've perverted the word of Jesus in the name of right-wing theocratic fascism." Just then, the babies asleep in the strollers along the wall all woke up, and all started bawling in chorus.

"Oh, my god," Benson spurt out. "More intolerant hateful speech! More babies crying! What is this, a Brownstoner meeting?" He gathered up his Louis Vuitton briefcase and burst out of the door as quickly as he had arrived.

The women all looked after him, stunned. "What on earth was that about?" the young woman asked.

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 13, 2009 2:56 PM in response to Sex and the Other City

Yep, Bay Ridge! And Bushwick was awesome! We should write a book....

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 13, 2009 2:08 PM in response to Sex and the Other City

"Who ARE these kids spending a million bucks to live in a crappy box in the sky?" Rosie shouted over the screaming children running around the yard. She was sitting with her girlfriends watching the kids play, sipping a rose-colored cocktail that matched the color of her hair.

"Hell if I know," Carmela replied. "But I can tell you right now, the rooms must be shaped real weird, 'cause those construction crews cut every corner known to man!"

They all laughed. "You should know, Carm. Didn't Johnny have one of those no-show jobs at that site?"

"Whatcha talking about?" Carmela said, rearranging her blonde hair on top of her head. "Johnny works real hard. Poor guy came home all sunburned every day from that job, he was kicking butt outside all day long."

"Kicking butt at the craps table, you mean!" Eletta said. "They had that card table set up outside, that's why they all got so much color. I can tell you, my Frankie came home lookin' like a friggin' spic from that job."

"I think you got it wrong, El," Rosie said. "It was the friggin' spics whose butts he was kicking." They all laughed again. "Though I gotta say, those Mexicans work real hard, I don't care what anyone says."

"What are you, some kind of Park Slope liberal now, Rosie?" Eletta asked.

The deck around the above-ground pool was getting slippery from the water the kids kept splashing over the sides. Carmela turned her head toward the pool just in time to get drenched as Johnny Jr. splashed a huge wave out of the pool.

"Now look what you've done!" she shouted, her soaking hair dripping rivulets of chlorinated water onto her silk blouse. "Johnny Jr., Carla, get out of there right now! We're going home!"

Posted by: Park Sloper at August 13, 2009 2:01 PM in response to Sex and the Other City

It really is a good advantage if you have money invested in a 401k account, enough to buy you a house for preferably cash. For instance, assume you have $150k cash in your 401k, experts suggest rolling it over to a Self directed IRA from which you can use the funds (100% of the funds) to buy a house. However, the percentage of money you should take out from your self directed IRA depends on the amount of savings you have.

Once you have a self-directed IRA set up, consider purchasing actual physical real estate by withdrawing funds from your IRA to make a down payment on the home, and get a mortgage, or if you have enough funds, purchase the entire home by paying 100% cash.
Source: http://www.research401krollover.com/
You are not allowed to take a mortgage from your IRA, like how you would take out a loan from your 401(k) and pay it back in a certain period of time. When purchasing property from your IRA, remember this key point that all gains you make from this property such as rental income, capital gains, etc must be contributed back in to your IRA.

Posted by: cocojambo at November 14, 2009 12:07 PM in response to Tapping 401(k) for Purchase?