summer

Thrift 2 Death: Two Weekend Pop-Up Event Happening at Slope Vintage

August 18, 2021 By Sofia Pipolo Filed Under: Community Tagged With: business, sofia pipolo, summer

For the next 2 Saturdays, Thrift2Death will be hosting their End of Summer Pop-Up Event. Visit Slope Vintage on 5th Ave for amazing vendors with one-of-a-kind vintage clothes, fantastic thrift finds, and fresh streetwear. Treysaun McGeachy and his cofounder Christain Neils are hosting the free event on August 21st and 28th from 1 PM to 7 PM at Slope Vintage.

“I’m excited for all of them really,” Treysaun says enthusiastically about the weekend’s vendors.

There will be a variety of vendors at the pop-up from vintage curators, custom clothing, graphic tees, and accessories. You’ll be able to meet the creators of new independent brands, those who are making one-of-one pieces and reworked fashion. They’ll also have handmade jewelry, bags, and crystal sellers. All the brands put an emphasis on creating sustainable fashion options; bringing a second life to clothes while remaining stylish and trendy. Thrift2Death also guarantees quality products at affordable prices for everyone, shopping options ranging from $10 to $200. And rest assured all the artists, designers, and curators will be bringing out their best pieces for the weekend event!

Visitors are welcome to come and go as they please. There will be drinks, food, and music. Of course, Slope Vintage will also be open with some great summer sales. And you’ll even have the chance to enter the giveaways for a Thrift2Death tote bag.

Trey and Christain’s mission with Thrift2Death is to connect the next generations of buyers and sellers at fashion events. As many small brands and clothing curators continue to emerge, they saw that these young business owners needed a physical place to connect with their customers directly. And then had the idea for a pop-up shop event that would not only allow business owners a place to sell but the ability to meet other creators in a positive collective space.

Trey, a 23-year-old recent graduate from Manhattan College, gained his following through TikTok as he began making thrift store review videos. He would showcase the best thrift and second-hand vintage stores in New York. He then began working at Slope Vintage and taking over their social media. The owner helped make Trey’s idea possible by allowing him to host Thrift2Death’s first event outside the store in July. With the combination of 5th Avenue street closure, increased foot traffic, and top-tier vendors the event was a huge success.

“It gave me a lot of confidence in our idea. It made me believe we could do this more and more,” says Trey. They were able to target their key audiences of Gen Z and Millenial shoppers, bringing a good profit and new followers for the businesses and brands, and learned how to make the next event even better.

Trey believes that Park Slope is a somewhat untapped neighborhood for young people. While everyone tends to go to the trendy areas of Williamsburg, Bushwick, and the Lower East Side; he sees Park Slope 5th Ave as a centralized location in Brooklyn that is easy for people to connect to all around New York. He hopes with the success of Thrift2Death more business and storefront owners in Park Slope will begin to see the potential in connecting and serving the next generation of brand owners and their customers. That young people have successful ideas, achievable ambitions, and have money to spend.

In the future, Trey and Christian plan to make Thrift2Death greater, with new vendors, larger spaces, and collaborating with more stores and venue spaces. They would even like to expand outside of NYC, hosting events in other cities like Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

You can follow Trift2Death on Instagram for more updates and previews on the vendors this weekend. We will see you at the End of Summer Pop-Up on August 21sh and 28th!

111 Place in Brooklyn That You Should Not Miss This Summer

August 13, 2019 By John Major Filed Under: 111 Place in Brooklyn Tagged With: 111 places, 111 places in brooklyn, john major, summer

There’s No Place Like Brooklyn in the Summertime

If spring is about renewal and possibilities, then summer is the season when the fun is in discovering what form those visions may take. In Brooklyn, the action moves outdoors, into the sunshine and warmth, where it can be experienced with friends, family, and neighbors – or the legion of tourists from points all over the globe. We welcome them.

The borough is filled with people who arrived here from other places, pausing only to enjoy the life they found. Whether it’s celebrating any number of the world’s musical traditions at concerts at Prospect Park’s bandshell, catching up with friends in the beer garden of a neighborhood pub, or schmoozing with whomever’s next to you at the playground while the children romp, Brooklynites celebrate being alive in summer, even if we do so at our decidedly quickened pace.

This issue’s selections from my new book, 111 Places in Brooklyn That You Must Not Miss (published by Emons Verlag), each fit part of the bill. Nosh on a roti or doubles at Ali’s Trinidad in Bed-Stuy to sample a rich culinary tradition created through a Caribbean cultural fusion, all here courtesy of immigrants. Enjoy the vibrant sights and sounds of the street, which are part of the flavor too.

Or get your hands dirty volunteering alongside teen interns at the Red Hook Community Farm, located just past the ball fields and WPA-era swimming pool (also one of my 111 places, by the way). Help tend and harvest the many organic vegetables each year or the tons of compost that helps them grow.

Finally, while a visit to a cemetery may not be your first idea for some summer fun, the grounds of Green-Wood Cemetery make it a natural destination for spotting monk parakeets within the entrance’s Gothic arch, rambling on the labyrinth of roads as you seek the final resting place of Dorothy’s Wizard of Oz, or attending any of Green-Wood’s wonderful calendar of events, including many at night. None are quite so magical as “A Night at Niblo’s Garden,” a Victorian circus and picnic around the mausoleum of a great showman.

Anyway possible, get out of the house and enjoy this great borough of ours!

Niblo’s Garden

Dancing around their graves

After complaints of smells coming from Trinity Cemetery in Manhattan, Green-Wood Cemetery was created in 1838 as a rural alternative. An early version of a public park, it became a popular attraction for Victorian New Yorkers, drawing half a million visitors a year to wander its tree-lined paths. (Its popularity served as a main rationale for the later construction of Central Park.)

Modeled on Paris’ Père Lachaise Cemetery, Green-Wood’s owners marketed it as the elite address for the afterlife. The free map at the entrance will help you find the final resting places of celebrated artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Louis Comfort Tiffany; “West Side Story” composer Leonard Bernstein and “New York, New York” lyricist Fred Ebbs; and presidential candidates Horace Greeley and DeWitt Clinton. Notorious Tammany Hall politician “Boss” Tweed, who stole $200 million from city coffers, is here with mob boss Anastasio Umberto, leader of the enforcement gang known as Murder Inc., reportedly responsible for some 400 murders, as well as “Crazy Joe” Gallo, the “little guy with steel balls” who killed him in a barber’s chair.

There are countless stories behind the tombs at Green-Wood. Perhaps none is more peculiar than that of William Niblo. An immigrant from Ireland, Niblo opened the Bank Coffee House near New York’s financial center that became the place for the New York “it” crowd to see and be seen. He then opened the wildly successful Niblo’s Garden, an open-air tavern that staged performances by lantern light, including PT Barnum’s first spectacular.

Heartbroken when his wife Martha died in 1851, Niblo built a large mausoleum near the cemetery’s picturesque Crescent Waters. For 27 years until his death, he visited her tomb almost every day, often bringing friends along for parties and picnics, a practice Green-Wood now celebrates with an annual summer soirée, featuring performers from the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus.

Address 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232, +1 (718)210-3080, www.green-wood.com, events@green-wood.com | Getting there Subway to 25 Street (R) | Hours See website for hours, which vary for each entrance and season | Tip Across the street from the cemetery entrance, enjoy a coffee and take home a fresh loaf of bread from Baked in Brooklyn (755 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10022, www.bakedinbrooklynny.com). You can watch the bakers at work through the windows as you wait.

Red Hook Community Farm

Renewable farming and leaders sprout in Brooklyn

Created on the site of a former concrete baseball field in Red Hook, this pioneer urban farm yields more than 20,000 pounds of organically produced vegetables. Eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, beets, lettuces and three varieties of kale – these are just some of the harvest raised on this nearly three-acre plot.

Half the area is dedicated to a composting project, managed by staff from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which supplements the compost originally provided by the city’s Department of Sanitation. The largest community composting site in the country run entirely by renewable resources, a handful of tumblers are placed near the Otsego Street entrance for the public to contribute household waste, like fruit and vegetable scraps and coffee grounds. Later, volunteers help process those contributions into usable, new, organic material (more than 200 tons annually) that gets added to the two-feet-deep raised beds where the food production takes place.

Farm operations are overseen by staff members from Added Value, an urban farming and food justice non-profit center, which has offices nearby. Focused on working with young people to cultivate knowledge about both sustainable farming and leadership skills, the group hires up to two dozen teen interns each year to work the farm after school and during the summer months. Public volunteers are always welcome, and there’s no need to register in advance. Just come prepared

for the weather and expect to get dirty. Regular drop-in opportunities offer a chance to work the garden or help with the compost.

Some produce from the garden is sold at the weekly farmers’ market each Saturday morning. Subscriptions are also available that provide weekly distributions of the wide variety of fresh produce during the harvest season.

Address 560 Columbia Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231, +1 (718)288-6752, www.added-value.org | Getting there Subway to Smith Street – 9 Street (F, G), then take bus B 57 or B 61 | Hours Fri 9am – noon, Sat 10:30am – 1pm | Tip For another beautiful garden producing fruits and vegetables, drop in on the Bedford-Stuyvesant Community Garden (95 Malcolm X Boulevard, Brooklyn, NY 11221, www.nyrp.org).

Beef roti and house-made ginger beer in Ali’s Roti, on Fulton Street in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.

Roti at Ali’s Trinidad

A local food vendor evokes memories of faraway

While the highlight for many in Brooklyn’s vast West Indian community might be the annual New York City Caribbean Carnival Parade that occurs in late August, a multi-day bacchanal that draws several hundred thousand people annually to the streets where Crown Heights bumps up against Lefferts Garden, the rest of the year offers plenty of opportunities to celebrate their national heritage. A long history of immigration to the borough from the Caribbean islands has left Brooklyn blanketed in businesses, especially eateries, that provide reminders of home.

Ali’s Trinidad Roti Shop does its part to supply a share of those gastronomic memories. Though the landscape is crowded with shops offering roti, an Indian-style flatbread that is used to wrap around potatoes and chickpeas along with your choice of meat, Ali’s offerings stand out for their spicy blend of homey flavor. The shop is compact, and the service no-frills, but there’s a reason people wait on line. And as you wait, you’ll have time to strike up a conversation and perhaps listen to some calypso or soca.

Roti is actually a culinary legacy of the history of slavery and indentured servitude throughout the West Indies. For centuries the Caribbean was populated by enslaved African peoples forced to work on British- owned sugar cane plantations. Indentured South Asians arrived to take their place after abolition in the 1830s. They brought with them their delicious naan and paratha breads. It didn’t take long for cultural crossover to occur.

Another Ali’s Trinidad specialty is doubles (always said as a plural). Consisting of a pair of fried flat breads spiced with turmeric and filled with curried chickpeas like the Indian chana, the ones here are generously dressed with a sweet tamarind sauce or a pepper sauce. Wash it down with a ginger beer to complete the authentic island experience.

Address 1267 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11216, +1 (718)783-0316 | Getting there Subway to Franklin Avenue (C, S) | Hours Mon – Sat 11:30am – 10pm | Tip To learn more about Caribbean food culture, or to explore other international culinary traditions, visit the Museum of Food and Drink (62 Bayard Street, Brooklyn, NY 11222, www.mofad.org).

Dispatches From Babyville: I Love New York In June

July 31, 2019 By Nicole Kear Filed Under: Dispatches From Babyville Tagged With: Dispatches from Babyville, heather heckle, i love New York in june, Nicole Kear, parenthood, summer

Plenty of people love New York in June. This list includes but is not limited to Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney and probably even a few people after 1959. But who, I ask you, still loves New York in July . . . to say nothing of August?

New York in fall serves as the backdrop for romantic comedies. New York in summer serves as the backdrop for a different kind of film. Dog Day Afternoon. Summer of Sam. Do The Right Thing.

To quote another old song, to everything there is a season, and New York’s season is fall, possibly spring, maybe even winter. Never summer. Summer is when anyone who can flees the city and heads to other places. Places that smell like jasmine rather than rotting refuse. Places with fireflies instead of cockroaches.

I get it. I’d summer somewhere idyllic too, if I could. But since I’m stuck here for most of the season along with my three kids, I figure I’ll find some silver linings. Behold, one mother’s attempt to make lemonade out of lemons. And on that note . . .

Reasons to Love NYC in Summer

1. Lemonade! Kids can move a lot of units.

Country Time lemonade might be iconic and all, but let’s get real. There are no customers on a dusty country road, or in front of a sweet-smelling, pristine suburban lawn. Smart city kids who pick even a halfway decent location will make bank. Save up those pennies and they’ll have enough for a MetroNorth ticket out of here.

2. Eating Italian ices on stoops

While we’re on the subject of refreshing treats, there is no experience more pleasurable, anywhere, than taking the first lick of a lemon Italian icey while sitting on a Brooklyn stoop on a sweltering day. I’m sure there’s data to support this somewhere. Check the Journal of Geographical Gastronomy. It’s science.

3. Cold subways are the best subways

New York City subways get a lot wrong. Maybe they even get more wrong than they get right. But let’s pause here to commend the MTA for their top-notch air-conditioning. I concede that much of the enjoyment I feel when stepping into a cool subway car may be relief from escaping the unbearably hot platform, but what’s the difference really? Cold subways are the best subways. Which comes in handy when your subway gets held in between stations for 45 minutes.

4. The island of Coney

Sure, I could go to Turks and Caicos and find silky beaches with oceans as warm and unpolluted as baths. Yes, I could go to Hawaii and hike a volcano, frolicking through waterfalls (I’m speaking figuratively here. I can’t go to those places, or I would, posthaste). But can you play Shoot the Freak in Hawaii? Can you ride the Cyclone and eat a Nathan’s hot dog in Turks and Caicos? Does anywhere else in the world have a Mermaid Day parade where a stranger will hang their freakishly huge and incontrovertibly menacing boa constrictor around your two-year-old’s shoulders? I didn’t think so.

5. Shakespeare in the Park

Okay, fine, I admit it. I haven’t been to a Shakespeare in the Park performance since 2002, well before I had kids. But by Jove, I’m going to get those tickets this year, and I’m taking my son, no matter how much he protests Shakespeare is boring, and it’s going to be world-class theater served up free. And if I don’t make it, then I’ll take my children to an equally free, more kid-friendly and zero-hassle Piper production in the Astroturf.

6. Fire Hydrant Sprinklers

Nuff said.

7. No one’s here

This, right here, is the real reason to love New York City in the summer. It is, possibly, a misanthropic perspective, but it’s valid. No one is here. That means you get to enjoy all the offerings of New York City which you typically can’t partake in, because of crowds. No one’s here so you can park your car, which is to say, you can use your car. No one’s here so you can eat at restaurants, without having to wait for two hours, or eat at 4:45. No one’s here. Yes, of course, the denizens of NYC are what make it so special, but sometimes you need a break from those denizens. A nice two-month-long break. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. It’s like how you feel such pure, unadulterated love for your children when they’re sleeping. Since ours is the city that never sleeps, this is how you achieve that feeling about New Yorkers.

And there you have it—all the reasons to love New York in the summer. I tried to stretch this list to ten, I really did. But there are only and exactly seven reasons to love New York City in summer. If that’s not enough for you, well go ahead and book a flight to the Bahamas. Just don’t blame me when the Italian ices are lousy.

Heather Heckel is an artist and educator living in New York City. In addition to the Park Slope Reader, her clients include Whole Foods Market, Kids Footlocker, Juice Pharma Worldwide, and The Renwick Hotel. Her artwork and children’s book has won international awards, and she has been published numerous times in the 3×3 Professional Illustration Magazine. Recently she has completed artist-in-residencies through the National Park Service in Arkansas, Connecticut, Washington, and California. Heather is passionate about social and environmental justice, and is an advocate for human rights and animal rights.

http://www.heatherheckel.com

https://www.instagram.com/heatherheckelart/?hl=en

The Endless Summer: Camps!

May 17, 2018 By Sarah Inocencio-Miller Filed Under: Park Slope Life Tagged With: creativity, daycamp, experience, fun, interests, kids, learning, season, sleep away, summer, Summer camp

With summer quickly approaching, bringing waves of sunny days and no school, many parents and families look to summer camps to help their kids stay active and make new friends. Luckily for park slope residents, and New Yorkers in general, camp options are countless and provide an array of opportunities for children to cultivate new skills, practice old ones, and foster their curiosity while building meaningful relationships.

Camp is a productive way to engage a child in their interests while also allowing them to unplug from phones and television in favor of connecting in positive social situations. Summer camp can be an incredibly meaningful period of time for some.

Best friends Marissa Roer and Kate Elliot, two Brooklyn residents, frequented camp throughout their childhoods and have maintained a friendship of ten years since first meeting at an arts conservatory camp. “I would endure the year and think about camp,” Marissa mused as Kate laughed. “Summer camp was when I learned about female dynamics. It was a good thing for me to experience while growing up,” Kate added. “I eventually ended up going to high school with two of the girls I bunked with.” Though their days of camp are long over, Marissa and Kate make a point of seeing each other once a week over Saturday yoga and brunch and frequently catch up with other camp peers, one whose wedding they will be attending in the fall of this year.

In the spirit of Marissa and Kate’s friendship, cultivated from years of camp, here is a definitive list of potential summer camps that will make any kid hope this summer really is endless.

For the big thinkers out there, there are plenty of camp options to satisfy even the most curious of minds. Located in Windsor Terrace, The Tiny Scientist summer program offers weekly sessions dedicated to in-depth explorations in topics ranging from chemistry experiments to sports science to the study of dinosaurs. Engineering For Kids is another great option that introduces 4-14 year olds to STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) in a hands-on way. Their website offers an easy-to-use class filter so you can sort through their breadth of programs, like scratch programming, electronic game design, 3D printing, and LEGO-based robotics. For ‘girls who wanna have fun’, Curious Jane is a no-brainer and provides girls entering 3rd-6th grades to explore and create among other inquisitive girls. Curious Jane also publishes a quarterly magazine so girls can DIY projects at home—perfect for the girls who couldn’t get enough of the summer program.

For the adventurers itching to get out and let out some energy, SKATEYOGI helps the aspiring shredder learn to skate safely. Programs allow children ages 6-12 to experience skateboarding outdoors in Prospect Park as well as in an air-conditioned, indoor space. Parents are included in the fun and receive daily pictures of skateboarding adventures around the city. Brooklyn Boulders offers summer sessions that teach kids boldness, creativity, strength, and fine motor skills through climbing. The team and instructors behind Brooklyn Boulders are “strong believers that attitude is everything, and believe in the value of failing gracefully”. A Park Slope favorite, Kim’s Kids Club allows children to take everyday adventures in their very own city. Flexible scheduling allows families on a budget or with summer plans to choose a camp experience that works for them. Activities include playground hopping around the city, visiting the Bronx Zoo, and swimming at Riis Beach (accompanied by Kim’s Kids very own lifeguards).

For The Budding Prodigies waiting to unleash their creativity, Gowanus Music Club gives kids the chance to hone their musical abilities by learning to play instruments. Supported by staff who themselves are musicians and the friends they make in their bands, rockers are given the opportunity to play live shows and showcase their talents to family and friends. For more stage opportunities, Brooklyn Acting Lab provides multiple sessions and a “play in a day” program. Each summer BAL also mounts one big musical to be performed at the end of the summer. This summer rising 3rd-8th graders will spend four weeks rehearsing Shrek The Musical Jr. with the session starting July 9 and running through August 3. Automatic Studios offers two different levels of classes for both the amateur filmmaker and the more serious auteur. The weeklong session packs the experience of making a movie into five days of fun and ends with a wrap party to celebrate their accomplishments. The two-week master class boasts a similar model, but offering a bit more time for budding directors to hone their craft through preproduction, shooting, and animation. BKLYN Clay offers affordable classes teaching the basics of hand building and wheel throwing techniques, while students get creative with the clay. At Brooklyn Sewcial kids are given one week to finish a unique project in a small classroom environment that motivates creativity and imagination. Spoke the Hub provides a Camp Gowanee Multi-Arts Summer Program for children ages 7-12 featuring an impressive lineup of master teachers. This summer artists such as Sachiyo Ito, a Japanese dance master and elder, and Iliana Quander, a well-known Brooklyn fashion designer will be joining the ranks of Spoke the Hub.

For The Tiny Chefs who want to take control of what’s on their plate, Food Art For Kids introduces the importance of fresh produce and how to integrate that into a meal. Sessions include weekly visits to Brooklyn Heights’ Green Market where fresh produce is picked out for the cooking projects of the week. Kids engage in cooking healthy meals and on Fridays treat themselves to a homemade pizza party. A farm-to-table summer camp, Butter Beans Kitchen offers wholesome culinary expeditions for children ages 6-10. At Butter Beans Kitchen, kids are given unique opportunities to engage with the environment in the city around them, like farming in urban gardens, beekeeping on rooftops, and catching fish in Central Park. Children make their lunches every day, and learn to cultivate a close relationship between the food they pick and what they will ultimately end up feeding themselves.

The traditional summer camp is usually sleep-away, which, although daunting at first, can be a child’s first steps towards independence and nurturing self-confidence in a safe environment. For those ready to take the plunge and find a home away from home, Windsor Mountain welcomes children into a co-ed, non-competitive sleep-away summer camp in Windsor, New Hampshire. Windsor Mountain’s hallmark is ‘directed free-choice’, which means campers have a say in all the activities they participate in and have staff and counselors at their disposal to help figure out how best to enjoy their summer at the mountain. With amenities like a farm, garden, forest, tree house, and ropes course, boredom is never an option. For those who want to get away but aren’t quite ready to tackle nights away from home, Deer Mountain Day Camp in Rockland County, NY offers day sessions for kids of all age groups with the traditional camp structure. Located on a mountainside next to a spring-fed lake, this 25-acre camp encourages outdoor play and exploration. Stony Creek Farmstead in Walton, NY offers children the opportunity to live on an organic farmstead and interact with animals and the environment in a sustainable, respectful way. The camp is offered in weekly sessions and provides distinctive activities like milking cows, foraging for wild food, and working on art projects.

As a 23-year-old with no children of my own and no real camp experience, I was pretty astounded by the sheer number of camps nestled away in Brooklyn. As a kid my parents would, by default, send me to summer school so I wouldn’t sit alone coloring in the living room for weeks on end. Although summer school held nothing of the richness of camps I’ve come to learn about, it did offer flexibility in electives, so I was lucky enough to be able to choose an area of art I was interested in and also attend a school that had some funding for this. In the first grade I chose to take the drama elective during summer school and although it was the most casual of experiences and I had the smallest of roles, I ended up harboring a secret flame for drama that never quite extinguished. I knew from that point on that I enjoyed theater, but was never given another opportunity to pursue it as I was stacked with my pre-existing extracurricular activities. Many years passed before I performed again.

In middle school it was customary for the 8th graders to put on a play before graduation and that year we put on Fiddler on the Roof Jr. I ultimately got one of the lead roles, and with the ecstasy of real stage time under my belt. I entered high school with a mission. At 3:01 on my first day of 9th grade I rushed to the performing arts center to sign up for auditions for the Theater Conservatory. The small flame that I had kept quietly within myself ended up defining my high school career and, eventually, my college career as well. Then, with a tad more acting knowledge than I had possessed in the first grade, I moved to New York City from my hometown of Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting.

Looking back on the journey that I’ve taken with the greatest passion I have in my life, I wish I had had more time to nurture the love for acting that I had within me.

Camps and summer programs teach leadership, interpersonal skills, courage, and creativity. More than anything, they allow kids to try new things alongside others who may have similar interests and ideas as them. It’s extremely important to encourage interests and hobbies at a young age. These experiences coalesce and inform a person deeply. And who knows? They may just stumble across a spark that fuels them for the rest of their lives! k

WHAT HAPPENS IN THE SPRINKLERS . . .

August 23, 2017 By Nicole Kear Filed Under: Dispatches From Babyville Tagged With: coxsackie, sprinklers, summer

When I think “summer in the city,” I think “sprinklers.”

I know Memorial Day is the official start of summer, but in my mind, it’s the day they turn the sprinklers on at our local playground.

[pullquote]The sprinklers are like kiddie Las Vegas. What happens in the sprinklers stays in the sprinklers. [/pullquote]Sprinklers, like bubbles, are the kind of thing that hold children in thrall, but hold absolutely no appeal for adults. It’s not just young children that delight in sprinklers, either; even kids dancing on the precipice of adolescence get into them. I can’t decide if it’s the sort of thing you genuinely lose the taste for, like Pop Rocks, or if we grown-ups don’t see the appeal because we don’t partake. Maybe if I gave the sprinklers a whirl, I’d find myself shrieking with delight too.

My kids clock a lot of time in the sprinklers in the summer; we pop by for a soak nearly every day. Which makes it somewhat inconceivable that every time we arrive, I am not prepared. I never have any gear.

It’s as if the sprinklers are a total surprise, every time. Like, “Oh wow, look at that. Wish I would’ve known. I would’ve brought our stuff!”

If I were the sort to invoke expressions like, “There are two kinds of parents in the world,” I might do so now. I might suggest there’s one kind who always comes equipped with bathing suits and towels and even, yes — how do they do it? — water shoes. And then there’s the kind that just lets the kids get soaked while fully dressed.

That would be reductive, of course. There are infinitely more kinds of parents. I, myself, am the kind that, with huge, even excessive effort, manages to bring our sprinkler gear to the playground 2 to 4 times before finding that the whole proposition is, let’s be honest, destined to fail, and thus, destined to make me feel terrible. So about a week into summer, I decide we’ll just abandon the ambitious plans and be content, again, to get wet while clothed.

The trouble is, once you forgo gear, you enter a hazy and perplexing landscape filled with questions. The Rules of Sprinkler Conduct are far from clear . . . or instinctive.
Questions abound.

Regarding sprinkler apparel:

If your child is young, is it ok for him or her to go in the sprinkler in their diaper? Or underwear? Is the graduation to underwear an indication that your child is too old to be half-naked in the sprinkler?

Also, footwear.
Do they really need shoes in the sprinkler? How long do tetanus shots last for anyway?

And then, water toys.
If you rinse it out thoroughly, is an abandoned Italian ice squeezey cup an acceptable replacement for a water pail?

In point of fact, there is only one thing I know for sure about the sprinkler, one golden inviolable rule that must never, ever be broken.

That rule is:

Do not drink the sprinkler water.

DO NOT DRINK THE SPRINKLER WATER.

“Why not?” asked my four-year-old daughter, when I bellowed these words at her one afternoon. She was in her underwear and a T shirt, barefooted, splashing happily in a gargantuan sprinkler puddle at our playground. It’s never been clear to me whether these puddles are intentional, a purposeful part of the “natural landscape” aesthetic, or accidental, the result of unspeakably gross things clogging the drain. Either way, it’s not the sort of puddle you want your child to submerge herself in. So, my skin was crawling when she plopped down right in the middle of it, as if she was in an infinity pool in the Bahamas. But when she lowered her mouth to the surface of the puddle and readied to take a big slurp, I jumped to action.

“No! Stop! DO NOT DRINK THAT WATER!”

And she asked, “Why not?”

“It’s dirty,” I told her. Stupidly. Like a rookie.

“No it’s not,” she retorted, lowering her head again. I guess her thinking was that because she could still see through the water, it was clean enough to consume.

“It’s full of COXSACKIE!” I told her urgently. “You don’t want to get coxsackie, do you? Again?”

When the going gets tough, the tough invoke coxsackie.

I’ve been parenting for over 12 years, and in that time, we’ve had our fsir share of inconvenient illnesses. We had emergency appendicitis on the eve of an international trip. We’ve had Scarlet fever on a trans-continental flight. We’ve had the All-Family Stomach Bug on Valentine’s Day. But the time my youngest daughter developed coxsackie on our 12-hour drive to North Carolina, well, that will live in infamy. It wasn’t something any of us would like to repeat.

I have no evidence that my daughter contracted coxsackie from the sprinkler. I’m not an infectious disease expert. I can barely even spell coxsackie. But I know the bodily excretions through which the virus is transmitted and considering how many kids I’ve seen relieve themselves directly into the sprinklers, it seems likely there’s other evacuations happening in that vicinity too.

The sprinklers are like kiddie Las Vegas. What happens in the sprinklers stays in the sprinklers. Unless it’s coxsackie. That, you take with you.

So, there will be no drinking of sprinkler water. And besides that, well, really anything goes.

After all, it’s triple digits and this is what we city folk have for splish-n-splash fun. This is our seashore. This is our water park. It gets the job done, cooling kids off, and it keeps them busy too. Whether they’re in swimsuits and water shoes or just barefooted and dripping like sewer rats. Either way.

Nicole C. Kear is the author of Have No Fear! and Sticks and Stones, the first two books in The Fix-It Friends, a chapter book series for children. You can find our more at nicolekear.com.

Lovely illustration by Heather Heckel

We Stoop

September 6, 2016 By Rachael Olmi Filed Under: A Thousand Words Tagged With: Brooklyn, brownstone, children, culture, family, photography, stoop, summer

stoop.

noun. steps in front of a house or other building.

verb. to bend one’s head or body forward and downward. to lower one’s moral standards so far as to do something reprehensible.

actually, scratch
that …

verb. to gather and visit and play and hang out on the stoops of our buildings..

in brooklyn we have redefined the verb

to stoop.

we have turned it into an utmost positive.

an act of happiness and joy, filled with laughter.

we stoop..

our children are raised playing on the stoops, in the front yards.

we gather on our stoops to chat.

we stoop.

stooping … it is not a lowering, there is nothing reprehensible about it.

in fact, it is the exact opposite of those things …

we gather on our stoops, to stoop, to visit and to watch our children play and laugh with each other …

to lift each other up.

we stoop.

There’s No “They”

August 23, 2016 By Mirielle Clifford Filed Under: The Reader Interview Tagged With: Alice in Wonderland, Brooklyn, events, free, history, July, King Lear, Old Stone House, Park Slope, performance, Piper Theatre, showcase, summer, The Iliad

THE READER Interview with Kim Maier on our Cultural Patrimony

The Old Stone House has been many things a baseball clubhouse, a warm place for nineteenth century gentleman to gather after iceskating, a casualty of urban blight, a rallying cry that brings neighbors together, and now, a vibrant public space. In May, I spoke with the Executive Director, Kim Maier, about the Old Stone House’s summer programming, its history, and its commitment to accessibility in a changing Brooklyn.

Maier in front of the Old Stone House, which proudly displays a Maryland flag. Credit: Mirielle Clifford

What’s happening at the Old Stone House this summer?

As Park Slope’s town square, we’re always trying to create great programming. In July we open with our annual summer programming with Piper Theatre. Our Equity Showcase production is Psycho Beach Party by Charles Busch, which is a fantastic take on the early 60’s beach blanket bingo movies, looking at different views on gender, personality, and psychosis. These Equity Showcase Productions have been a wonderful way for us to support young emerging Equity actors, and non-Equity actors as well, and to bring a high quality of performance to an actor’s space that’s not usually accessible.

The Piper Theatre workshop shows are also very exciting. We’re doing two musicals this summer: Blood Brothers and Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, along with Alice in Wonderland, Beastmaster, and King Lear, which will be directed by Rob Parker from Scotland’s Gordonstoun School. The younger kids are doing The Iliad and The Odyssey.

You have an exhibit on view in the gallery until June 20, called “Partners/Parents/Pets.”

Our goal is to create a lot of avenues for entry and to attract a really wide audience. We have our history exhibit which focuses on life in 18th century Brooklyn. But we also have three contemporary shows a year looking at everyday life in Brooklyn, like our current, contemporary portraiture show.

The show considers who gets to have their portraits painted and explores the link between economic privilege and art. Does the House explore this theme often?

One thing we focus on here is access. We’ve looked at park space and play space, how parks are developed and how land is taken, how parks are maintained—based sometimes on the economic levels of communities—and how vocal community participation can lead to good public programming. Though that’s something any community could take on, it tends to happen in more affluent communities where people feel they have a voice. So we try to encourage people everywhere to have a voice, and set a model that can be replicated in any community.

In a 2014 interview with the Park Slope Stoop, you said “The Battle of Brooklyn today is a battle for a sense of place.” Do you think that battle has changed since then?

It’s the same. The history of New York is one of constant development and continuous change. But for me, having lived in Park Slope since 1983, it used to be a community of writers and artists and was much more affordable. It’s still a wonderful family community, but not as accessible to the creative class. I think a lot about Brooklyn and its sense of itself as a creative community, and how we can continue to support that.

How do you view the Old Stone House’s position in that “battle”?

The park’s improvement has created a lively, welcoming public space that allows for a very heavy level of interaction, from handball and soccer to concerts. In one space, you’re able to access a lot of different kinds of activities that aren’t necessarily available elsewhere … not to mention the fabulous history.

Creating a beautiful space is for the benefit of the many. The few benefit more richly, in a way. But working to benefit the larger community through accessible programming is one way of balancing out the inevitable facts that if you create a beautiful park, the housing around it will flourish, more people will want to live here, and that creates an economic impact that might shut other people out. It’s hard. We’re very aware of it, and that’s partly why we do a lot of free or low-cost public programming.

The Old Stone House couldn’t fix that economic issue.

Right. We support affordable housing and we’re focused on issues of income inequality. But we can’t change the fact that the city is Supply and Demand.

And always has been.

Since 1683.

Have you always been interested in Revolutionary history?

I grew up in Massachusetts and probably visited every historic home on the Eastern Seaboard, but I wasn’t really interested in pursuing history. These historic homes were off-putting. I never had a sense of the families that lived there. The issue of class was never directly addressed. You never got a true look at how the economy of these homes was managed. I remember thinking at Monticello that that beautiful site was run on the backs of enslaved people. That was certainly never talked about when I was a kid.

Coming in here, it feels warm, welcoming, and lively. But how would you address a reader who’s thinking, “hmmm, an historical house … maybe not.”

You should always feel free to walk in the door, because these public institutions are yours. They’re supported by all of us through our tax dollars, by individual donations, and by our programming. They belong to all of us. They’re our cultural patrimony. Today more than ever, this idea of engaged citizenship is really important. The Revolution was the start of that. The Battle of Brooklyn was fought by people who came from all over to fight for an ideal they had no idea was going to evolve and triumph, but they came anyway.

The House was the clubhouse for the original Brooklyn Dodgers, right?

Yes. The Brooklyn Baseball Club had a few different names—the Bridegrooms, the Superbas—but they were all part of this corporation that became the Dodgers. Hopefully, in our next phase of exhibit development, we’ll be able to do an outdoor exhibit on our baseball history.

By 1883 there was a ballfield here, a big grandstand, and an elevated train. By the late 1800s, the ballfield had fallen into disrepair, and they built a new one, which they used for ice skating. They would flood the field in the winter and skate by gaslight. The House, still in its original location, was both the clubhouse for the baseball team and also the gentleman’s club for winter skating. But it had gotten quite decrepit. By the time they had finished using the field, they were climbing in and out of the windows to get in.

Gradually the tenements along 5th Avenue were built up, and the House became a fill site. It was still used for recreation, though. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show came through. It was a very active open space, with a really active working-class community.

Has anything in the House’s history surprised you?

I’m surprised it fell into such disrepair. When it was originally built in the 1930s, it was a Robert Moses-Jane Jacobs kind of smackdown because Moses wanted to build this playground as part of an enormous expansion plan. Residents who knew the site’s history wanted a formal memorial to the Maryland soldiers who had taken a stand here. Moses was not interested in this kind of preservation at all. But they persevered and made him compromise by digging up the foundation stones and constructing this building that mimicked the original. But like so many other parts of the city, the House went by the wayside and was really destroyed. It wasn’t until the late 1980s, when a small group of neighbors came together and lobbied the Borough President for funding, that it was repaired. If not for them, this whole history would have disappeared. When I moved to this part of the neighborhood in 1991, I had no idea of this site’s history. I was a typical user in a lot of ways. I was surprised by the disrepair, too, given that the Battle of Brooklyn was the first official battle fought by the United States Army in August of 1776.

Do you have any advice for the “typical users” of Brooklyn on why it’s important to preserve Brooklyn’s historical sites? How can they help?

We’re responsible for the well-being of our communities. There’s no they—we are the voters and the engaged citizens. If you care about the cleanliness of your block, the stability of your home, or the giant development coming in, you need to pay attention to what’s going on around you.

It doesn’t require going to every community board meeting. But it behooves you to read the local paper, to meet your neighbors, and to understand who lives on your block. In the end this is your home. The reasons you moved here will only continue to exist if you take responsibility for it.

As I left the Old Stone House, I was grateful to have been reminded of what engaged citizens can achieve.

Summer Reading

August 9, 2016 By Darley Stewart Filed Under: Books Tagged With: author, books, de Silva, de Witt, family, indie press, Larsen, Leibowitz, novel review, reading, Solomon, summer

Summer reading is better than ever.

It’s true that most of us would rather spend our time during the summer eating BBQ, visiting Aruba, or finding any excuse to avoid our professional obligations. But summer reading at its finest isn’t work. It’s a clear, pure moment we find for ourselves as the weather gets hotter, muggier, messier. Some of us can’t afford anything other than a staycation, anyway!

Without a good summer book to fall into, we are minimizing introspective pleasures that are as good as an intoxicating (or intoxicated) night by the blissful waterfront. A subway ride is almost intolerable without a good book, no matter the season, but especially summer as the tourists flood the city and every good urban citizen needs to bury their eyes in an alternate reality. Even more convenient when the alternate realities are as seductive as the ones I have listed below. The list doesn’t end — it merely begins here. Think of a good summer read as a new pair of shades, a really good pair, blocking out the sun in style. Substitute sun with urban idiocy and style with … style.

Leaving Lucy Pear by Anna Solomon

Fiction

Sink into Park Slope author Anna Solomon’s novel, about the entangled lives of two women in 1920s New England, who share their status as mothers of Lucy Pear, the beating heart of a novel that may be set in a historical framework but feels satisfying outside of the solidity of this composition, as the narrative moves with the force from its subtle substructures. You aren’t going to run into any comparisons to Rachel Cusk’s A Life’s Work or Pamela Erens’ Eleven Hours here. You aren’t going to find any comparisons from me, at least, as I think this is a rare novel, not for subject matter or technique (an omniscient narrator tells the story in order to bring clarity to how all the lives in the novel are changed by Lucy Pear), but for a fullness and hyper-dimensionality that heats up the page.

Though there are always twenty other writers a stone’s throw away, Anna Solomon is proud to call herself a local author. She has worked at the Brooklyn Writers Space for a number of years, where writers forge a community of genuine literary support. Perhaps some of the intense energy of returning to Park Slope after a few brief years in Providence, constantly surrounded here by other writers, has filtered into this gorgeous novel. Pack this novel with you on your next vacation, and don’t miss Anna’s summer readings at BookCourt on Wednesday, July 27 and at Community Bookstore on Thursday, July 28. There will be perry available, an alcoholic pear cider that is featured in Anna’s Prohibition era-based novel.

Stranger, Father, Beloved by Taylor Larsen

Fiction

Who says summer reading has to be light? In this novel about the American family and its deepest, most sordid secrets, nothing is as it appears. Michael wants to have himself replaced. He sees no redemption for his family as long as he is the head of it. Pure language you can sink into, knowing that while all that perfect summer scenery rolls in your view of emotion, memory and family will never be quite the same. This is more than a marriage falling apart, an ode to a fancy house with unhappy people in it, or a man fighting with the fragilities of his own mind. Taylor Larsen, based in Brooklyn, has written a searing first novel that takes us on a journey into the most fearful chambers of our own hearts.

Square Wave by Mark de Silva

Fiction

Mark de Silva’s debut novel on indie press Two Dollar Radio is a literary gem you won’t want to miss this summer. de Silva, who writes both from and beyond an academic background in philosophy, is not necessarily taking an obvious “cerebral” approach to his narrative structures, though the novel has been noted for its difficult prose. Dystopian fiction is a term that you can leave behind at the beach. If you want rewarding, brain-battering prose with flashes of heart, Square Wave has at its center a crumbling America in which Carl Stagg investigates an assault and prepares a series of lectures about his ancestors’ exploits in 17th-century Sri Lanka.

White Nights in Split Town City by Annie de Witt

Fiction

Tyrant Books is run by Giancarlo Trapano, who has published father and son Lish (Gordon and Atticus) and here we have Annie de Witt’s first novel, White Nights in Split Town City, a slender elegant beast set to cure your summer wanderlust. Not all of us have the luxury of leaving town this summer, but the pages of this novel will penetrate your notion of what it means to belong to a place. Praised by Ben Marcus as a “word-drunk novel,” you will read Jean’s thirteen-year-old “coming-of-age” story that fully possesses the lyricism you would expect from a tale set on the last unpaved road in a rural American town in the summer of 1990. What you may not be prepared for is how strangely and (at first glance) simply the prose disintegrates any ideas you might have about fixed identities and escapist fantasies — in less than two-hundred pages, you will be coldly pressed into dialogue and lifted up into shards of light. Take a risk.

The Fran Lebowitz Reader

Vintage, Non-Fiction

Laugh a little. Fran Lebowitz will take you there. You can’t always read new books. In Fran’s own words, “Summer has an unfortunate effect upon hostesses who have been unduly influenced by the photography of Irving Penn and take the season as a cue to serve dinners of astonishingly meager proportions.” Revise your summer literary menu with these short, crisp essays on everything from water chestnuts to conceptual art.

A Musical Trip Around the World

July 26, 2016 By Florence Wang Filed Under: Music Tagged With: bandshell, bargemusic, BRIC arts, concert, dance, David Bowie, festival, free, jazz, Labyrinth, music, Prospect Park, summer

The summer concert season in New York City is phenomenal. Every year I wait with baited breath for BRIC arts and SummerStage lineups to be announced. And I’m always blown away. The sheer diversity is amazing, so hats off to the people who organize and schedule these events because it can’t be an easy task.

Now, we all know about some of the larger acts, but my favorites are the lesser known international acts that come to swelter in our summer heat. It’s a musical voyage around the world, with all points on the globe represented – even Iceland (though sadly, not this year). Here are some of my favorite upcoming events. They are all FREE, and (for the most part) in Brooklyn. If you want to dance, dance; if you prefer to just sit back and take in nature, go for it! Embrace a new language, or just chill out. It’s all here, right at your doorstep.

Bargemusic

Saturdays through Labor Day, 4pm

Fulton Ferry Landing near the Brooklyn Bridge

2 Old Fulton St, Brooklyn Waterfront

Bargemusic moored at Fulton Ferry Landing

Brooklyn truly offers everything, and in this case, it presents chamber music on board a renovated coffee barge alongside the Brooklyn waterfront. Bargemusic provides the rare opportunity to witness virtuoso talent in an intimate setting – a wood-paneled room with a view of the Manhattan skyline. The ensemble performs various dates year-round, but through a partnership with Brooklyn Bridge Park, Saturday afternoons are offered gratis to the public. Advance tickets are not available for these free events and doors open 15 minutes prior to show time. To learn more about the Saturday afternoon engagements, visit www.brooklynbridgepark.org/events/bargemusic. Bargemusic is a non-profit organization with a unique history, which is detailed on their website, www.bargemusic.org.

Rachid Taha / Krar Collective

July 15, 6:30 gates open/ 7:30 show

Prospect Park Bandshell

9th St & Prospect Park West, Park Slope

The songs and albums Rachid Taha creates are perhaps the perfect embodiment of “World Music.” The Algerian-born performer embraces every influence from rock to gypsy to flamenco to RaЇ, Algeria’s indigenous pop music. His vocals, sung in Arabic, English, and French, are intense and emotive; his expressions transcend words. A solo artist since 1989, he has performed around with world with acts such as Dengue Fever, Fela Kuti, and Brian Eno. His passionate and sometimes political approach has led him to be compared to the late Clash front-man, Joe Strummer. The London-based Ethopian band Krar open the evening with their hypnotic grooves. More information about these performers can be found at www.rachidtahaofficial.com and www.krarcollective.com.

SummerStage Kids: Sonia De Los Santos

July 27, 10:30 – 11:30am

Sunset Park

41st St, between 5th Ave 7Th Ave, Sunset Park

Sonia De Los Santos Band 1 (credit Quetzal Photography) copy — Sonia De Los Santos Band, Credit: Quetzal Photography

Sonia De Los Santos plays a variety of Mexican music for kids that can best be described as delightful. One of Dane Zanes’ Friends, she recently released her debut solo album, Mi Viaje: De Neuvo Léon to the New York Island, in which she shares the experiences of growing up in Mexico and moving to New York City. Her songs are in the of the regional son jarocho style, drawing on Spanish and African sounds. In her performances, as she plays her jarana (a small guitar that looks like a ukulele), she encourages children to dance, and sing in Spanish. To learn more about Sonia, visit www.soniadelossantos.com.

The Hubble Cantata / Tigue

August 6, 6:30 gates open / 7:30 show

Prospect Park Bandshell

9th St & Prospect Park West, Park Slope

Perhaps the most intriguing show this summer, and the one that’s hardest to wrap my head around is The Hubble Cantata’s performance. Composer Paola Prestini collaborates with multi-media artists to create a soundscape and full sensory experience – a portion of the performance is to be viewed via Virtual Reality headsets – sharing footage from the Hubble telescope and taking the audience through the universe. I’m prepared to be awestruck. There doesn’t appear to be a lot of information about this show available online, and perhaps it’s best to go and enjoy without preconceptions. Art trio Tigue open with their minimalist, ambient contemporary chamber music.

Labyrinth / Donny McCaslin Group

August 10, 7:30pm

Prospect Park Bandshell

9th St & Prospect Park West, Park Slope

Donny-July-2012-2-Mirroring-Fixed_0 — Donny McCaslin. Credit: courtesy of artist

I say with complete lack of irony that Jim Henson’s 1986 masterpiece Labyrinth is one of my all-time favorite movies. It has everything: muppets, music, and David Bowie sporting one of the most amazing costumes to come out of the eighties (and that’s saying a lot). I was fifteen years old when this movie hit the theaters and thereafter wanted to be Jennifer Connelly. I can’t wait to watch it once again with a group of eager movie-goers. Opening act, The Donny McCaslin Group, backed Bowie on his final release, Black Star; so the evening comes full circle. With David Bowie’s passing this year, it seems a perfect tribute.

Jazzmobile

August 16, 7pm

Harborview Lawn

334 Furman St, Brooklyn Waterfront

Founded in 1964, Jazzmobile was the first not-for-profit arts and cultural organization created for jazz. The group’s goal is outreach – to bring jazz, “America’s Classical Music,” to the community. At the heart of this award-winning ensemble is acclaimed Vibraphonist, Jay Hoggard. During this evening, their compositions create the soundtrack to the waters of New York Harbor and the Brooklyn and Manhattan skylines. What a beautiful, relaxing way to take in the mid-summer’s eve. Learn more about Jazzmobile’s mission and musicians by visiting www.jazzmobile.org.

Inukasuit / Rite of Summer Festival

August 27, 1 & 3pm (rain date August 28)

Governors Island at Nolan Park

Technically this event is not in Brooklyn. But a visit to Governors Island, the gem in the middle of New York Harbor, is mandatory during the summer. With everything happening during the short season, it’s sometimes easy to forget to plan a visit; so here’s the perfect reason to do so. “Inuksuit” refers to a grouping of large man-made markers used by Inuit and North American indigenous people, and is the composition created by John Luther Adams who finds inspiration for his music from nature. Hailed by the New York Times as “the ultimate environmental piece,” it is performed by more than 60 percussionists led by percussionist/Music Director, Amy Garapic. Amazing, right? Directions to and around Governors Island can be found at www.govisland.com.

Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards, playing at the Brooklyn Americana Music Festival, 23-24 September

THE FINDS: SUMMER IN THE SLOPE… The Heat is On Your Plate

July 19, 2016 By Beth Kaiserman Filed Under: Eat Local Tagged With: beer, beer garden, Brooklyn, cocktail, eating out, Prospect Heights, South Slope, summer, taco

Summer’s here and let’s face it, you’ve got about an hour of walking around before you need to unwind in an air-conditioned restaurant. Cool down and eat up at these fun local spots. By Beth Kaiserman / Pics by Beth Kaiserman

Freek’s Mill

285 Nevins Street

The actual Freek’s Mill was located on the corner of Union Street and Nevins Street in 1784. The 2016 menu aims to highlight the area’s industrial past – when everyone knew where their food was made. Fresh, seasonal and local all shined through on my visit, from crunchy julienned snap peas, candied almonds and mint with stracciatella cheese on my plate to the purveyor delivering a small container of scallops for Chef Chad Shaner. “You know what these are,” he assured Shaner. The chef, formerly of Union Square Cafe, BLT Prime and Le Zie, recommends 2-3 plates per person, and the dishes rotate often. Watch the magic happen in a beautiful, airy open kitchen in the back.

Threes Brewing

333 Douglass Street

If you can manage to tear yourself away from Freek’s Mill, one of my favorite places to unwind during any season is Threes Brewing. The beer menu is super solid, with mostly housemade brews and a handful of other carefully curated picks. There’s always a new beer to try, but you can’t go wrong with any of their refreshing saisons. Though it gets busy, there’s plenty of room both inside and in their spacious backyard. It’s an easy place to waste some time and catch up with pals. There’s a pop-up eatery that changes every few months, and the current one is Tortilleria Nixtamal from Corona, Queens, running through July 10.

El Atoradero

708 Washington Avenue

Over in Prospect Heights, we’re lucky enough to have another great taco spot that hails from the South Bronx. Chef Lina Chavez and her crew have been trying new dishes to suit Prospect Heights, while sticking mostly to the original menu from the Mott Haven days, partner Noah Arenstein said. They serve up daily specials, weekend brunch and will soon have a full liquor license, he said. Arenstein recommends the chicken tinga and chorizo tacos and mole poblano. On my visit, the barbacoa was so soft and tender it was like it didn’t even happen. Don’t forget the nachos and flautas de queso when you need a summertime snack.

Iron Station

683 5th Avenue

In one of my favorite neighborhoods for hanging out lies—you guessed it—the perfect place to hang out. Iron Station opened last June in South Slope and started out serving southern plates. They instead became more revered for their cocktail list, and a recent menu revamp has them creating dishes to pair with their libations, which utilize small liquor brands. The friendly atmosphere and jolly owners encourage chatting among guests. “I hate cliquey bars where you’re the outsider,” owner Alex Haskell said. Their large backyard is great for fresh summer mingling.