I took a walk with a news photographer today. He was looking for a very Slopey location. I suggested Seventh Avenue. But Union Street between Seventh and Sixth Avenues is really the most Slopey of streets. There you’ll find the Tea Lounge (free wireless and strollers), the Park Slope Food Coop (socialist organic shopping) and Squad 1 (9/11 heroes).
It’s the Park Slope Triangle — three iconic spots that say a lot about Park Slope. Run a string from the Food Coop east to Squad One then across the street to the Tea Lounge and then back across the street to the Coop.
A triangle.
The Tea Lounge is a gathering place for moms and kids. But let’s not forget that free wireless makes it a mecca for neighborhood bloggers, writers, and freelancers.
The Food Coop, the nation’s largest, has 10,000 working members and is a haven for organic produce, food products, and strange internal squabbles that achieve national notoriety.
Squad One lost eleven firefighters on 9/11. But they’ve always been beloved members of the community for their hospitatlity toward local children and their fire safety presentations to school groups. Not to mention all the fire and rescue work they do. We love them,
I’m surprised at the way people talk about CT Muffin–it’s not a national chain like Dunkin’ Donuts–it’s a well-managed, NY-based business with several stores around Brooklyn. They make very good coffee, muffins and other pastries. The place is clean. The staff is reasonably polite and friendly. CT Muffin and the 321 flea market on a weekend morning make for a much more authentic Park Slope experience than anything that includes the Tea Lounge on Union Street (although I bow to the Coop and the Firehouse).
The Tea Lounge is actually pretty disgusting. All that comfy upholstery is filthy, full of crumbs and stains and heaven knows what else. I’ve seen people changing baby’s diapers, clipping their nails, brushing their hair and treating the place like it was an extension of their own bathroom. It regularly smells like a Penn Station toilet. Parents let their children run amok among the couches. The food is mediocre and overpriced, the coffee just average. The staff can be reasonably helpful but I don’t care how cute and young and hip you are, I don’t want to see your butt crack when you’re making my lunch. Do they actually pass their Board of Health inspections?
There doesn’t ever seem to be anyone actually in charge of the place, so no one seems to take any initiative to maybe clean the bathroom once in a while or vacuum up the baby vomit & crumbs from the chairs. That it’s become a successful, necessary and perhaps even well-loved place is obvious, but we deserve better. The owner has made plenty of money off of Park Slope on Union Street and at the (equally filthy) 10th Street locations. Maybe he could invest some of the profits into a few new thrift store sofas and some cleaning supplies. Until then, I drink better coffee and zone out in front of my laptop at other places around the nabe.
If you’d gone to the Union St. neighbor association town meeting last night, you’d truly believe that we are living in a scene out of Footloose, I’m serious. They are trying to close down some local establishments (does anyone know what happened to Snooky’s yet?). It’s just a matter of time until Park Slope is like Backwater, KS.
You forgot about the two yoga studios across the street from each other.
Oooh, I like it when Louise gets people talking! Go, OTBKB! I agree whole-heartedly. We need to buy local and support local merchants. To heck with the line at Rite-Aid, skip the B&N… And if you’re like me and you’re work crazy hours in Manhattan in order to afford your bliss in Park Slope, resist the temptation to buy in the city! It’s tough to wait til the weekend (who’s with me on the 9 to 9 shift at work?) but it’s a way to keep our weekend strolls dotted with the charm that makes all that work worthwhile.
Gosh, I ranted. I blame Louise! She gets people talking.
If Ozzie’s actually made a decent cup of coffee, instead of burnt sludge, perhaps people would stay away from Starbucks. At least we have Gorilla on 5th.
Aside from that, i’m with alyssa 100%. If you don’t like the chains, don’t patronize them. That goes double for all of you who were delighted by the new Bank of America branch on Seventh that occupies (and deadens) prime retail space.
much as i don’t want places like ct muffin, dunkin donuts, etc., they are able to stay here for a reason: people go there.
if you don’t like ct muffin, there are plenty of other places to get a really yummy and less expensive latte.
we actually do have some control over which businesses thrive. i really wish other PSers who hate the chains as much as i do would think about it in these terms
God help us if Starbucks takes over where the Tea Lounge is now. I’m on that block often, in the co-op (it’s cooperative, not social, btw), the tea lounge, and yes, Union Hall. It feels right at home.
The triangle? Really? By this rate next year, however, I wonder if the triangle in the future will consist of Starbucks, Connecticut Muffin, and Dunkin’ Donuts (neighbors will have driven out Tea Lounge because a waiter complained about a baby stroller blocking the fire exits and Ozzie’s because it doesn’t carry trendy green tea donuts and Union Hall because it’s too noisy.). I love my neighborhood dearly, but it’s getting a little too Footloose lately, wouldn’t you say?
I love walking past the fire dept. and giving them a nod of respect. Makes my day.