Our Neighborhood
Park Slope attracts both frequent visitors and loyal residents with its beauty and vitality. The northern and southern parts of the neighborhood have distinct personalities. The North Slope’s broad streets are lined with trees and elegant brownstones, and their stately facades give the neighborhood an old New York feel. The South Slope, with its varied architecture, has a more quirky air. The vast Prospect Park, which borders the entire area, is a year-round oasis. It offers shady paths for a stroll or a jog, a lake and sprawling meadow for play, an ice skating rink, a carousel, and a free summer concert series that always draws crowds.
Seventh and Fifth Avenues are the Slope’s commercial centers. Beyond the necessary grocery stores (organic and otherwise), you can shop here for clothes, toys, books, and furniture, among other things. Famished from all that spending? Park Slope’s restaurants serve virtually every cuisine, from Thai to Lebanese to English. A different sort of sustenance can be found among the lectures, readings, and concerts the Slope regularly hosts. And if you’re hungry for an even bigger dose of culture, Brooklyn’s Museum of Art, Botanic Garden, Academy of Music, and main public library are all just a short walk away
The residents of Park Slope form a diverse community. The Slope is home to people of many ethnic and religious backgrounds, as well as a large lesbian and gay population. The jobs that Park Slopers hold represent the spectrum of New York professional life. Good schools and ice-cream parlors create a welcoming family environment, and even after their children leave, people often retire here. Singles may tire of dodging strollers, yet many have made homes in the neighborhood and help keep Fifth Avenue’s bar scene hopping.
Like any urban area, Park Slope does have its problems. The neighborhood’s gentrification over the past quarter-century has created tension between residents and developers. The cost of living in the area rises each year, beyond the limits of affordability for many. And Park Slopers are daily faced with more personal difficulties as well: among them, the need to provide a good education for their children or quality care for aging parents. Many wonder how to create sustaining community in the midst of what can be a chaotic and exhausting urban environment.
But neighborhood residents are not willing to let such challenges go unanswered.
Thus you will find a high level of political and civic activity among
Park Slopers, many of whom are committed to serving their neighbors and
the world. The Slope has become a center for Brooklyn’s social
services: homeless shelters, literacy programs, senior centers, and
community development organizations thrive with local resources.