What We Love About Summer in the Slope

It is the Friday before Memorial Day weekend and Seventh Avenue is filled with Slopers in a jovial summertime mood. You can’t miss it: locals in shorts, tank tops and exotic European sandals carrying iced coffees or cones from Uncle Louie G’s, Haggen Daz or Yogo Monster.

On this festive Friday, the temperature is in the eighties, the sky is a fetching shade of blue and the vibe on Slope’s main drag is decidedly low key and recreational.

Really, what’s not to like about Park Slope in the summer? We’ve got park, we’ve got trees, we’ve got the Prospect Park West bike lane and a nearby botanical garden filled with all manner of flowers and plants.

There are brownstone backyards, rooftops and stoops for sitting and sunbathing and more than a few public pools in the vicinity, as well as the beach and the Atlantic Ocean not that far away in Coney Island.

But what is it that Park Slopers like to do in the warmer months? What are those distinctly Slope summer sensations that Slopers savor?

For many, close proximity to Prospect Park is a big part of what makes summer swell. I saw Assemblymember Jim Brennan at Thursday night’s rally to protest the proposed closing of Ladder 220 and asked him what he loves about “

The park,” he said without hesitation. “I like the access to the Park, to the all the events that go on in there, including Celebrate Brooklyn, the Philharmonic, the films. Love all that stuff.”

Camilla Brooks, who lives in Park Slope with her partner and teenage daughter, also looks forward to all the culture Park Slope has to offer in the summer.

“Celebrate Brooklyn and sometimes the Met or Philharmonic in Prospect Park. I also like Piper Theatre [in Washington Park.] and we can walk home,” she wrote.

Walking is definitely an activity that Slopers savor in summer.  Writer Nancy McDermott, who is the editor of the Park Slope Parents blog and lives in the vicinity with her husband and two young sons, loves walking on summer nights.

She said that “strolling along a bustling Seventh Avenue on summer evenings to buy ices at Uncle Louie G's” is her idea of a fun summer activity. Concerts in the park, the smell of barbecues, the drowsy sound of cicadas, babies in sun hats and street fairs were also on her list.

For Brenda Becker, who writes the blog, A Year in the Park, fresh summer produce is what gives her pleasure.

“The Green Market and then an instant picnic in the park with whatever we just bought.”

Certain foods do taste delicious in the summer especially eaten alfresco. Omar Aviles, an online marketing consultant, enjoys barbecues in front of a brownstone and roasting marshmallows.

Speaking of brownstones, Leah Hartog, who just moved to San Francisco, but is already back for a visit, wrote me that she enjoys sitting with friends and a bottle of chilled wine on a stoop.

And speaking of stoops, Susan Karwoska, the editor of Teachers and Writers Magazine, tells me that she loves “hanging out on my stoop, drinking wine and watching my kids.” A few others mentioned Saturday morning stoop sales as a fun summer diversion.

Educator Renee Dinnerstein enjoys the quiet, slower mood on the streets.

“I just love meandering around the neighborhood. There's a slower (more European) feel to the neighborhood in the summer. There's more time to notice the details of daily life.”

For lawyer Robin A. Smith, it’s the people who don’t go away that she appreciates.

“I like the Park Slopers who stay in town. The vibe here is so kind, even in 100 degree weather,” she wrote.

When I asked Eliot Wagner, a retried lawyer who writes the music blog Now I’ve Heard Everything, my question was followed by a long silence. Finally just one word came out of his mouth.

 “Parking,” he said. And I knew exactly what he meant.

When all those Park Slopers go on vacation there really are more parking space for those lucky ones who stay behind.