Beating a Busted Bugaboo?
Maybe there’s more to the Park Slope stroller mafia debate than points about how it shows how white people are jealous of other white people or assertions that negative stereotypes come from I-don’t-wanna-grow-up hipsters. Maybe, as Lynn Harris posits in yesterday’s Style section, Slope bashing is an elegy for a former New York: Brooklyn was…
Maybe there’s more to the Park Slope stroller mafia debate than points about how it shows how white people are jealous of other white people or assertions that negative stereotypes come from I-don’t-wanna-grow-up hipsters. Maybe, as Lynn Harris posits in yesterday’s Style section, Slope bashing is an elegy for a former New York:
Brooklyn was supposed to be Manhattan’s little burnout brother. When I arrived in New York, Brooklyn was the place you could reliably feel superior to, if you thought about it at all. New Yorkers don’t hate the Upper East Side in the same way because that’s old money, old news. But Brooklyn? There’s the feeling that yuppies in Park Slope are washing away Brooklyn’s grittiness and making it more like Manhattan, said Jose Sanchez, chairman of urban studies at Long Island University, Brooklyn. Brooklyn was supposed to be different. Park Slope, to some, now represents everything that Brooklyn was not supposed to be. That’s why our feelings about Park Slope are linked to our feelings about our entire city: our overpriced, chain-store city run by bankers, socialites and, it seems, mommies. The artists are fleeing and your friends, it seems, have become Park Slope pod people. (And they’re coming for you, too.) It’s starting to feel as if there’s nowhere left to hide. And that if we lose Brooklyn, we lose everything. Though actually, if you could keep hating Park Slope, that would be great. Maybe if it really falls out of favor, I’ll be able to afford to stay.
But maybe all press is good press.
Park Slope: Where Is the Love? [NY Times]
Photo by redxdress.
Now that we all know what everyone else thinks about PS night life, architecture, art, culture, and food, how about those stroller mommies? Anyone think we should regulate those strollers? Let’s require DMV registration. Maybe we can regulate the size? Let’s do charge a fee though! Natives pay double. Italians, Irish, Polish, and Puerto Ricans go free (Hey, if the eco-conscious are the natives, then they are the establishment!). Where’s the person offering the crisp “Fin”?
i find it funny that many people hate park slope because its too crowded and noisy but mr.3:12 dislikes it because its boring and filled with boring people.
I guess you cant win.
with that said im a 23 year old prospect heights resident who is not married, rents and works at a record label. I love Park Slope and enjoy a good time in williamsburg. Cant say I dislike any part of brooklyn I have visted.
Heather interesting. Any thoughts on the following:
1) Is Park Slope kind of boring?
2) Are there many commercial options or things to eat aside from muffins, pizza and bagels?
3) Are the sidewalks crowded?
4) Are the natives scary, eco-conscious and sheep-like?
5) Is there a big, annoying hill?
3:12 —
Thanks for the response. Sounds like you are living in a good place for the things that matter to you. That’s great. It doesn’t sound to me like you are the kind of person who anonymously posts invective about “stroller moms” or the other Slope-related venom that frequently flies in threads on this site or was the subject of the Times article. Have you?
if your idea of NYC is fun and excitment why would you be living anywhere outside of manhattan.
90% of brooklyn at night is a ghost town.
Heather, its not in the middle. Park slope is one side of a hill, known in common parlance as a “slope”. It slopes down from the Park. Its called Park Slope.
I would like to dedicate this song to Heather: Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush
”
It doesn’t hurt me.
Do you want to feel how it feels?
Do you want to know, know that it doesn’t hurt me?
Do you want to hear about the deal that I’m making?
You, It’s you and me.
And if I only could,
I’d make a deal with God,
And I’d get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building.
Say, If I only could, oh…
You don’t want to hurt me,
But see how deep the bullet lies.
Unaware, I’m tearing you asunder.
Ooh, There is thunder in our hearts.
Is there so much hate for the ones who love?
Tell me we both matter don’t we?
You,
It’s you and me,
It’s you and me who won’t be unhappy.
And if I only could,
I’d make a deal with God,
And I’d get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building.
Say, If I only could, oh…
You,
It’s you and me,
It’s you and me who won’t be unhappy.
Come on baby, come on darling
Let me steal this moment from you now
Oh come on angel, come on come on darlin’
Let’s exchange the experience oh…
And if I only could,
I’d make a deal with God,
And I’d get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
With no problems…
Say if I only could,
I’d make a deal with God,
And I’d get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
With no problems…
Say if I only could,
I’d make a deal with God,
And I’d get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
With no problems…
Say, If I only could…
Oh…
Be running up that hill,
With no problems…
If only I could,
Be running up that hill…
2:33 – easy to say why I don’t like PS! for me, the city is about excitement, fashion, music, night life, edge, art, being in the middle of the most beautiful people, places, and things on the planet. PS is none of those things. it’s far from the city to boot. it’s the opposite of NY for me.
also, the people seem to be either boring just got here from the upper west side types or hypocritical liberals or poorly dressed frumpy god knows what they do for a living.
really, i’ve been in NY for almost 20 years, but the midwest suburb i grew up in had better dressed people with better decorating taste.
yes, PS has old buildings (if you like that sort of thing), but the interiors to so many just couldn’t be worse. no uniqueness, no spice, nothing to spark the imagination.
re my demo – 40’s, married, parent, large condo owner, creative arts management, north brooklyn
Well, Biff, perhaps you are not aware of this, but there is a really big hill in the middle of Park Slope! It slants down! For several blocks!