Moving to Park Slope from Chicago - advice?

anonymous

Hello,
My husband and I are moving to the NYC area in the near future. When we were recently in town we happened upon Park Slope and really liked the neighborhood. Just wondering if you could put in your two cents on the pros/cons of living in Park Slope?

And one of my biggest questions is: will cabs take you from Manhattan to Park Slope and vice versa?

Thanks.

kevin_on_putnam

You wouldn't want a cab to take you from PS to Manhattan, it would take forever, subway is much quicker and cheaper

candicissima

Cabs totally take you with (generally) no problems. It'll average between $7-$15 depending on where in Manhattan you're coming from.

bluedove

Kevin_on_Putnam wrote: You wouldn't want a cab to take you from PS to Manhattan, it would take forever, subway is much quicker and cheaper

Well yes, but very late at night/with heavy stuff to carry, it's nice to have the option.

They'll totally take you, just make sure you get in the cab and shut the door before you tell them where you're going. Sometimes they have a bit of an attitude about it, but they can't legally kick you out once you're in.

dan.h

Park Slope is a beautiful neighborhood. Dubbed "stroller land", it is home to young couples, older more established families and college students alike.
I prefer Prospect Heights myself, but you can find sanity in Park Slope closer to Sunset Park..

pitu

and you can find lesbians and gays and interracial couples and all the rest of the rainbow -- the sort of people that have been making this place home for decades. the berkeley of new york.

the stoller thing, ehh.
the rude yuppie couple thing is relatively new, like in williamsburg.

stacey

Its not too hard to get a taxi cab or yellow cab to bring you from Manhattan to Park Slope. If you have to drive to the City it is very hard to get a yellow cab in Park Slope period. You will probably be using car service to take you from Park Slope to Manhattan.

Im with dan - Park Slope is nice but I prefer Prospect Heights. Good luck and welcome to Brooklyn

kevin_on_putnam

bluedove wrote: [quote=Kevin_on_Putnam]You wouldn't want a cab to take you from PS to Manhattan, it would take forever, subway is much quicker and cheaper

Well yes, but very late at night/with heavy stuff to carry, it's nice to have the option.

They'll totally take you, just make sure you get in the cab and shut the door before you tell them where you're going. Sometimes they have a bit of an attitude about it, but they can't legally kick you out once you're in.

Well... I used to work the night shift in the art department of an investment bank. We got a black car home every night and I swear I got caught in a traffic jam every night around 2am coming home. I'd try a different route every time, Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, Manhattan Bridge and it seemed I always got stuck. I started taking the subway home and to me at least, it seemed faster.

bluedove

It's such a crap shoot. I've gotten caught in traffic jams at bizarre hours too. Usually if I'm coming home that late, though, it's because I've been out drinking, and in those cases it's just easier and safer to flag down a car. If you catch the train just right it's faster, but miss it and you could be standing on that platform for a very long time.

Anyway, should they decide they WANT to take a cab, it's good to know they have the option.

bewitched

bluedove wrote: [quote=Kevin_on_Putnam]You wouldn't want a cab to take you from PS to Manhattan, it would take forever, subway is much quicker and cheaper

Well yes, but very late at night/with heavy stuff to carry, it's nice to have the option.

They'll totally take you, just make sure you get in the cab and shut the door before you tell them where you're going. Sometimes they have a bit of an attitude about it, but they can't legally kick you out once you're in.I was half way in the cab and when I mentioned Flatbush Ave he told me to get another one. I slammed the door and walked away pouting. What gives? It's not like they won't get a fare back to Manhattan.

linusvanpelt

Before the late 90s cabbies would sometimes give me a problem going to Park Slope. Was never refused, because I knew to get in the cab before announcing my destination, but one time a guy treated me to heavily-accented cursing to himself, punching the steering wheel every time we stopped in traffic. ("DEM! DEM! DEM! I HATE GO BROOKLYN!") But I haven't had any problems in several years.

You want to know anything not related to cabs?

Pro: beautiful, child-friendly (a con to some), great park, good restaurants/shopping, more laid-back attitude vs Manhattan

Con: expensive (2nd most in Brooklyn, probably, next to Brooklyn Heights), less laid-back now that more Manhattanites with big money have moved in, longer commute to Manhattan than, e.g., Brooklyn Heights or Astoria

bluedove

linusvanpelt wrote: but one time a guy treated me to heavily-accented cursing to himself, punching the steering wheel every time we stopped in traffic. ("DEM! DEM! DEM! I HATE GO BROOKLYN!")

This has happened to me more than once. You just sort of have to grin and bear it.

One snowy Valentine's Day, a cabbie said "I knew when I saw you standing there that you were from Brooklyn! I knew it! You're lucky I stopped. You're so lucky. Shit." followed by a ride's worth of unintelligible grumbling, loud sighing, dramatic eye-rolling, etc.

linusvanpelt

bluedove wrote: One snowy Valentine's Day, a cabbie said "I knew when I saw you standing there that you were from Brooklyn!"

Yeah, never hail a cab while wearing your Dodgers hat and sipping an egg cream.

bluedove

I know, right? What does that even mean!?

rah

lirio wrote:
I was half way in the cab and when I mentioned Flatbush Ave he told me to get another one. I slammed the door and walked away pouting. What gives? It's not like they won't get a fare back to Manhattan.

Trying to get cabs to take me home from the Financial District can be such a nightmare. The same thing has probably happened to me 3 or 4 times since moving to the neighborhood in March (of course, I also had this problem when I lived in Washington Heights). Another headache was having cabbies who had absolutely no idea how to get me home (especially when you're new and not 100% familiar with Brooklyn this really sucks). I learned quickly though, but now I almost always take the train home.

flute

bluedove wrote: What does that even mean!?

The Brooklyn Dodgers !!

and

Egg Creams .............


http://www.newyorkfirst.com/gifts/1002.html



edited: i know the point wasn't brooklyn dodgers and egg creams ... but, hey i just had to find an egg cream recipe ...

anonymous

linusvanpelt said: "Pro: beautiful, child-friendly (a con to some), great park, good restaurants/shopping, more laid-back attitude vs Manhattan

Con: expensive (2nd most in Brooklyn, probably, next to Brooklyn Heights), less laid-back now that more Manhattanites with big money have moved in, longer commute to Manhattan than, e.g., Brooklyn Heights or Astoria"

After 10 years here my best advice is BRING MONEY - LOTS OF IT!

Here's my PRO: beautiful, Prospect Park, Brooklyn Museum near, Botanical Gardens near, Library near, increasingly very good restaurants, the real brownstones, did I say beautiful!

CONS: too frigging child friendly, too many double-wide strollers, too many nannys, too many stay-at-home mothers, no longer a laid back attitude, too suburban, too many Wall Streeters, too much money, too many 21st century yuppies, too many SUV's

citizen jane

Anonymous wrote: . . . too many nannys, too many stay-at-home mothers . . .

Don't forget: Not enough babies crawling in the street unsupervised. I mean, how much of a curmudgeon do you have to be to object to both nannies AND mothers?!

citizen jane

Also, check out www.prospectpark.org -- since the main attraction is this beautiful park. It has an Audubon Center, boat rides, walking/biking paths, baseballs fields, meadows, etc. It is easy to forget that you are in the city when you're in Prospect Park. Welcome to Brooklyn.

rose

citizen jane wrote: [quote=Anonymous]. . . too many nannys, too many stay-at-home mothers . . .

Don't forget: Not enough babies crawling in the street unsupervised. I mean, how much of a curmudgeon do you have to be to object to both nannies AND mothers?!

Apparently the children are supposed to stay locked in the basement until they are old enough to go out in public without annoying anyone. Or maybe sent to the country to be raised by wetnurses.

daniel

Keep in mind that many of the detractors here are residents of Prospect Heights, and thus are jealous of Park Slopers for living in a neighborhood where people don't dump garbage on the streets, where shootings aren't a daily occurence, where drug dealers, thugs and scam artists roam the streets.* Besides - they all come here to eat anyway. Park Slope is a great place to live - there are a lot of excellent restaurants, ranging from ultra-cheap but good to very expensive and fancy. Almost any type of food you want can be had. There are many good bars, lots of nice boutiques, this neighborhood has everything (except rampant crime, as in Prospect Heights*). And Prospect Park is beautiful.

* note: these disparaging statements about Prospect Heights hold about as much truth in them as the stories that some whiners here continually harp upon, of over-priveleged parents, obnoxious stroller pushers and out-of-control babies in Park Slope do.

anonymous

Thanks for all the comments, I appreciate it.

carnivore

daniel wrote: * note: these disparaging statements about Prospect Heights hold about as much truth in them as the stories that some whiners here continually harp upon, of over-priveleged parents, obnoxious stroller pushers and out-of-control babies in Park Slope do.

Meaning they are vastly exagerated for dramatic effect, yet hold at their core a kernel of truth.

anonymous

Daniel: Thanks for posting that and renewing my faith in the goodness of this board. I needed that.

For the original poster: Park Slope is lovely. There are lots of parents and children here because it's a beautiful, safe, community-minded neighborhood. You do need lots of money to get a decent-sized place here, though. It's a bit cheaper the nearer you get to 4th Avenue (anything below 4th is technically no longer in Park Slope) and the more south you get (south of 15th Street is no longer Park Slope, though even that border is debatable.) Prospect Heights (generally across Flatbush Ave. from Park Slope, plus up Eastern Avenue toward the Museum) is a bit cheaper but is still lovely, and has some really great parts and some no-so-great parts. I think you need to check out places there on a block-by-block basis.

linusvanpelt

Rose wrote: [quote=citizen jane][quote=Anonymous]. . . too many nannys, too many stay-at-home mothers . . .

Don't forget: Not enough babies crawling in the street unsupervised. I mean, how much of a curmudgeon do you have to be to object to both nannies AND mothers?!

Apparently the children are supposed to stay locked in the basement until they are old enough to go out in public without annoying anyone. Or maybe sent to the country to be raised by wetnurses.

No, they just need to be taken to the suburbs and raised there, away from us. Oh, except we hate the suburbs too.

anonymous

Subject: Ohh the slope

I moved to Park Slope about a year ago, and not a day goes by that I'm not happy to be here. This neighborhood is truly a melting pot. I have met every type of person on the street, and generally everyone has been pleasent to me. I would much rather live in the Slope than the Village. Yes, there are families in the Slope. Imagine that! But really, do you care? My only beef is the price of rent. However this is NYC and if you are looking for cheap I would suggest you move to another city. My wife and I both work in the city and we both find it very difficult to leave Brooklyn on our days off. The streets are clean, full of people (not so many tourist), loaded with great bars and resturants, and any other type of shop you can imagine. I would highly recommend the neighborhood!

j0518

I've lived in either Prospect Heights or Park Slope for almost 4 1/2 years now. I recently got married and, when my wife and I start talking about starting to save up for a house and no longer paying $1800 a month for rent, we always wind up at the same point: we're happier paying the rent and staying here. You have everything from the most beautiful park in NYC, a beautiful museum and botanical garden, an amazing selection of restaurants, and actual peace and quiet. Yes, you will encounter your share of snobbery, but it never has to consume you. The runaway strollers, fake liberalism, and delusions that La Bagel Delight beats Bergen Bagels will have you cursing at times, but its more than worth it in the end. There's no other place in NYC I'd rather live in, and I can't imagine leaving anytime soon.

anonymous

I have lived on and off in both Park Slope and Prospect Heights for around 15 years.

I currently own a brownstone in central Park Slope. I have my complaints, but they are few, and they would be normal complaints in virtually any nabe in NYC (noise, traffic, parking, tourists, hipsters, spoiled yuppies, etc.).

Overall, Park Slope offers an extraordinary combination of amenities and lifestyle. So much so, that it is a very popular local tourist destination on weekends. What a lot of the posters don't realize is that many of the people you see on the streets of Park Slope, aren't Slopers at all. They come to enjoy all these great things that they don't have in their Bklyn nabes. So, yes, on the weekends, the streets can be packed, the restaurants overflowing, etc. But, the essential charm that is Park Slope remains.

It is expensive, I know. But it is worth it. And BTW, as previously pointed out, many of the detractors on this board are Prospect Hts residents. Don't for one second think that they moved to PH because they decided to thumb their noses at Park Slope. Human nature being what it is, sometimes when you can't afford something, it's just easier to tell yourself it wasn't any good anyhow.

dan.h

Slopoid wrote:
It is expensive, I know. But it is worth it. And BTW, as previously pointed out, many of the detractors on this board are Prospect Hts residents. Don't for one second think that they moved to PH because they decided to thumb their noses at Park Slope. Human nature being what it is, sometimes when you can't afford something, it's just easier to tell yourself it wasn't any good anyhow.

Your are out of your mind. Take your better than thou attitude and move to the upper east side. Many of us choose to live in prospect heights.

flute

dan.h wrote: [quote=Slopoid]
It is expensive, I know. But it is worth it. And BTW, as previously pointed out, many of the detractors on this board are Prospect Hts residents. Don't for one second think that they moved to PH because they decided to thumb their noses at Park Slope. Human nature being what it is, sometimes when you can't afford something, it's just easier to tell yourself it wasn't any good anyhow.

Your are out of your mind. Take your better than thou attitude and move to the upper east side. Many of us choose to live in prospect heights.

Message to Slopoid:

:roll:

whyfi

FLUTE wrote:
Message to Slopoid:

:roll:

I'd been thinking about the best way to address his/her post... I think that I overthought it, but you have hit the nail on the head!