Rock 'n Roam

Park Slope, Brooklyn certainly isn’t nicknamed the “Stroller Capital of the World” for nothing.  It’s constantly teeming with mothers (Or more likely, Nannies) pushing their children around Prospect Park or walking them down Fifth Ave to treat them to Frozen Yogurt.  To be honest, I was actually hoping to get an apartment in Park Slope when I first moved to NYC; mostly because I have some family there and always liked its great selection of restaurants, shops and bars. But now I can safely say that after three weeks of living in Prospect Heights, which is about a mile away from Park Slope, I am a little relieved my mailbox is not located directly in this child infested neighborhood.  After spending several days watching my niece and nephew while my brother was traveling for business, I discovered that:

a.)the plethora of restaurants is actually due to the fact that PS kids are incredibly picky so they need a nice big selection of food to shoot down.

b.)most of the shops are geared towards upper middle class mothers, their children, and their dogs.  I definitely don’t belong in any of those categories.

c.) the bars are for the parents who need to blow off steam after their kids have gone to bed.  But don’t worry, they have live-in nannies.

So now that you have a pretty good idea of what this neighborhood is like…just add in layers of gorgeous brownstones sitting on beautiful tree-lined streets and Voila!…you’ve got a mental image of prime Park Slope.

So tonight, I made the brave decision to go join my niece and nephew while they trick or treated around their neighborhood.  It was an interesting experience to say the least, and I definitely wouldn’t advise spending Halloween in this area if you’re sick, tired, feeling anti-social, or if you just plain dislike being around a giant mass of children.  I literally had to watch where I stepped at all times for fear I might stomp on a child’s foot or a dog’s paw.  The noise level could have been compared to that of a Yankee’s game.  The costumes were ranging from Queen Elizabeth to the Incredible Hulk to Transformers to Hitler (yes, really).  And apparently, the kids in this neighborhood don’t say “trick or treat.”  Instead, they just greedily dart up each set of stairs and grab candy out of the bowl that’s already being graciously extended towards them.

I took several photos so that you can see the craziness that went down for yourself.  Seriously, what a life.  If you want more Park Slope fun, head over to http://www.fuckedinparkslope.com/

I also want to add that despite the negative aspects I may have poked fun at above, I still love coming to visit the slope as often as possible.  Very liberal, very Brooklyn,  not too pretentious…gorgeous spot.