Park Slope | The New York Observer

Your Open House: Who's Buying the Priciest Park Slope Brownstones?

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:28:21 -0500

There's a certain retro chic about shopping for $3.5 million brownstones on a Sunday afternoon in Park Slope. Throw in nine wood-burning fireplaces, five bedrooms, and a fully stocked wet bar, and it's like it's 2005 all over again.

But, thankfully, these are kinder, gentler times than when Park Slopers were rumored to fight wars with Bugaboo strollers over organic co-op bananas. On Sunday, the lattes were decaffeinated and a handful of families turned up...

Your Open House: Nos. 36 and 55 Montgomery Place, Near Prospect Park West

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:24:07 -0400

Amy Sohn’s Prospect Park West, a gleefully bitchy take on Park Slope moms by a former New York columnist, won’t be released until September—but as of last week, Sarah Jessica Parker’s production company was already looking to turn the novel into an HBO series. The allure of the park is hard to resist. Whether that’s as true for real estate as for chick-lit remains to be seen, but Sunday saw two open houses on...

The History of Jazz, by Darcy James Argue

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:05:02 -0400

Leading his interviewer up to his second-floor apartment on Smith Street in Carroll Gardens, Darcy James Argue, the leader of the Secret Society, a postmodern, 18-piece, big-band jazz outfit, apologized for the mess. He'd just received a new shipment of Secret Society T-shirts.

"They are all over my apartment," he said. Mr. Argue's flat is actually almost disappointingly neat. From his billing of his band as "steampunk" and the persona he presents on his Web...

Brooklyn Housing Has Rough '09 Start; Condo Sales Off 57 Percent Annually

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:48:41 -0400

The median sales price in the North Brooklyn condo market dropped to $565,128 in the first quarter of 2009, down 2.5 percent annually and 1.1 percent quarterly. Pity, that.

It wasn't all that long ago that the North Brooklyn condo market was the great gentrifying hope for real estate developers, marketers and brokers (and buyers and some bloggers!) looking to expand the luxury market into the outer boroughs. Williamsburg developments like Douglaston’s the...

Hipsters Die Another Death at 'n+1' Panel: 'People Called Hipsters Just Happened to Be Young, and, More Often Than Not, Funny-Looking'

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 08:00:00 -0400

“I am not now, nor have I ever been, a hipster,” vowed Harper’s senior editor Christian Lorentzen at a panel discussion provocatively titled “What Was the Hipster?,” organized by n+1, and held at the New School on Saturday afternoon.

Despite L-train maintenance and the kind of steady rain that can wreck perfectly asymmetrical bangs (not to mention a recent attempted occupation by students), about 100 attendees packed the Eugene Lang Center for a ridiculously...

In Park Slope, Epic Lines and One Quiet Guy in A McCain Cap

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:56:08 -0500

A whopping 248 voters -- plus children and at least seven baby stollers -- waited in a U-shaped line, stretching from the Fourth Street entrance to PS 51, continuing down the entire block of Fifth Avenue, to a spot halfway around Fifth Street when I arrived at the Park Slope polling place at precisely 7:54 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

It's a neighborhood that eats, drinks and breathes "hope" and "change," from the Obama cookies...

Which Brooklyn Nabe Will Wall Street Impact Most? Vote Now!

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:59:12 -0400

Brownstoner's holding a vote today on how much (not if!) Brooklyn's housing prices will fall because of the Wall Street crisis. The votes center on the blue-chip neighborhoods like Brooklyn Heights and the up-and-comers like Clinton Hill. Have your voice heard!...

Fourth Avenue, Gowanus--Something to Tell the Grandkids

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:26:18 -0400

"I don't think we live in Park Slope," my roommate said to me one evening, sitting at the kitchen table in our new walk-up. "I think we live in Go-anus. I don't even know how you pronounce that."

My roommates and I had recently moved into a three-bedroom near Fourth Avenue, assuming we'd entered the land of baby strollers and Tea Loungers. (After all, Fifth Avenue is one block away.) But...

In Park Slope, Italian Really Is The New French

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:12:27 -0400

Scarpetta chef Scott Conant may be "too modest" to say it, but here's proof that Italian is the new French.

Literally, in this case: beloved former French bistro Cocotte in Park Slope is being converted into some type of red-sauce joint, described simply as an "Italian restaurant," according to some new signage posted on the premises.

Cocotte, one of this author's favorites in the neighborhood, was suddenly shuttered back in February, with chef and co-owner Bill...

Shocker: Park Slope Loves Its Sex Toys!

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:37:21 -0400

The media hubbub surrounding Toys in Babeland's opening in Park Slope earlier this summer ranged from a Post screamer ("Sex-Toy Shop Has Bad Vibes in Park Slope") to a Daily Intel piece about how Internet buzz on the new store was largely favorable. In between, the Daily News informed that the shop would have a baby changing table to cater to the famously family-friendly hood, a tidbit that netted Babeland’s owners an irate phone...

A Question on Lots of People's Minds

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:12:07 -0400

"What is so special about Brooklyn?? That's all we ever read about in this rag. Are you telling me the snotty (white) infants in Park Slope will be getting a better slice of life than the (brown/white/asian) kids in Astoria and Jackson Heights??" ["Brooklyn, The Borough: Growing Up New...

You Know You're a Brooklyn Renter If...

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:46:41 -0400

Flocks of 21- to 35-year-olds moved to Brooklyn in 2008, as the condo boom gave way to a renters’ market, reports The Brooklyn Eagle.

Almost half of the new renters in the first quarter of this year were between 21 to 25 years old, and 93 percent were under 35. The typical renter in neighborhoods like Clinton Hill, Boerum Hill, Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace and Boerum Heights is usually attached, works...

News You Can Use! Brooklyn's Priciest Nabes for Condos

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:15:14 -0400

The intrepid condo buyers who took a gamble on a modestly priced spread in Brooklyn Heights in April 2007 probably had no idea that they would be living in the borough's most expensive neighborhood for condos a year later.

The average condo price increased 170 percent annually, from $613,750 to $1.65 million in April 2008, according to the report from the Real Estate Board of New York.

Other condo price results results by...

Stat of The Day: South Slope Condos Hot, Hot, Hot

Wed, 28 May 2008 14:47:28 -0400

The average sales price of a South Park Slope condo increased 96 percent from April 2007 to April 2008 to $608,824, according to a report out on Tuesday from industry trade group the Real Estate Board of New York. Condo sales in the neighborhood increased from three in April 2007 to 21 in April 2008.

We're trying to find a link to the full report. ...

'Astronomical' Rent Hike Dooms Brooklyn's 'Mommy Meeting' Mecca

Fri, 23 May 2008 09:47:23 -0400

The Brooklyn Paper is reporting [via Eater] that Park Slope's hallowed Tea Lounge is closing in July after nearly seven years on the corner of Seventh Avenue and 10th Street:

[Co-owner Greg] Wolf blamed his landlord, Georgina Tufano, for doubling the rent on his small storefront, though he declined to reveal the dollar figure.

“It’s astronomical,” said Wolf, whose other bars are on Union Street in Park Slope and on Court Street in Cobble Hill....