'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…
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.
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.
All Park Slope needs now are some babes.
The dads in park dope are hot as hell.
Park Slope is getting a BABELAND!!!
Need I say more?
Way cooler than Ft. Greene.
PERIOD.
“Manhattan is becoming more like Park Slope every day.”
Best news I’ve heard all day.
My butt is becoming Park Slope.
Manhattan is becoming more like Park Slope every day.
Bed Stuy and Crown Heights will never be Park Slope.
NEVER.