News Round-Up

Park Slope's 'Neighborhood' Artist Wins Shot at Brooklyn Museum Show [DNA Info]

Bartoonist Finds a Deal at Pork Slope [Brooklyn Paper]

CB6 Votes Against Lightstone Gowanus Project [PS Patch]

Park Slope Civic Council to Raise Dough with Food Tasting Event Updated [DNA Info]

Kings County Fiber Festival

Calling all crafty New Yorkers:

Coming up in just over 1 week, the Kings County Fiber Festival at The Old Stone House!

Saturday, October 6 
10am - 6pm 
@The Old Stone House in Washington Park

The event will feature "crocheters, dyers, felters, knitters, quilters, spinners, and weavers, as well as artists creating design works that incorporate fiber as an integral material."

Sounds like a great event! For a list of vendors, click here.

Have An Easy Fast

If you are observing Yom Kippur today, we hope you have an easy fast.

Food For Thought: Get Your Tickets Now!

Just a reminder that next Monday, ticket prices for the Park Slope Civic Council's Food For Thought event go up from $75 per ticket to $100 per ticket. If you are interested in attending, get your tickets now via Brownpapertickets.com!

Food for Thought

Wed., Oct. 10, 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. at the beautiful Prospect Park Picnic House

The event will be a fun night out — guests will be able to sample an array of delicacies and beverages from popular local restaurants while they mingle with their neighbors and learn about the Civic Council’s many contributions to the community. In addition to the food tastings, there will be short presentations made by top chefs, food critics, writers, and movers and shakers in the local farm-to-table food movement. If you appreciate fine food, fine dining, and are passionate about supporting your community, this event it not to be missed!

New: Prospect Bar

The latest newcomer to a growing stretch of Fifth Avenue is Prospect, on Fifth Avenue and 15th Street. The owners know a thing or two (or four) about opening successful, comfortable neighborhood pubs - these are the same guys who opened Williamsburg’s Harefield Road and Matt Torrey’s, partnered with one of the owners of South's and 11th Street Bar in Manhattan.

The Prospect quietly opened in July, serving twenty-two drafts of mostly American craft beers and featuring several American and international whiskies. They also serve more familiar spirits and a small wine list. The owners definitely have a point of view in terms of design details, and fans of their other bars will recognize the characteristic modern woodwork, huge windows and simple, but distinctive lighting design (not to mention a roster of friendly, experienced bartenders). They also have a lovely garden out back!

Need to soak up that booze with a burger? Well, good news! This week, they’ll start serving food. The menu will feature pub comfort classics like shepherd’s pie, curried fries, sandwiches and yes, burgers, all made with fresh, organic ingredients. Devotees of Harefield’s wildly popular brunch will be pleased to know the Prospect will also be serving one to rival it in South Brooklyn, as well. With fall now upon us, the Prospect is a welcome place to make your new, cozy local up the Avenue.

Drinks and dinner from 5pm on weekdays. Open all day starting with brunch on weekends. -Amanda Schuster

News Round-Up

City Hopes Speed Bumps Help to Slow Barclays Center Traffic [PS Patch]

Patrick Stewart’s Battle for Cable Saps His ‘Will to Live’ [ABC News blog]

High-End Scottish Whiskey Bar Headed for Park Slope [DNA Info]

DOT Places New Bike Lane Symbols throughout Park Slope [PS Patch]

Just Over a Week to Go

Well Brooklyn, the time is almost upon us. The long-anticipated (and controversial) Barclays Center is nearly complete and opening night is just over a week away (Jay Z will perform the opening show on September 28th).

This is one of these moments in life where things will never be the same, once the date passes. The site has been a train yard and a construction project for as long as most of us can remember. And soon, it will be a busy destination for sports fans and concert goers, right at the end of our commercial district.

So, how do we feel about this big change with just 8 days to go?

Tomorrow Night: Librarian Olympics

Here's a great Brooklyn Book Festival "Bookend" event taking place in the neighborhood this week!

Tomorrow night (7/20) at Union Hall (702 Union Street), don't miss:

Librarian Olympics 

"David Rees (How to Sharpen Pencils, Get Your War On) hosts a night of bare-knuckled bookishness that will test the mental and physical endurance of librarians. Help Rees and Dan Wilbur (How Not to Read; Betterbooktitles.com) judge contests like Sharpest Pencil and Name that Novel. Special guest, author Carmela Ciuraru (Nom de Plume) leads a round of Guess the Pseudonym."

Get your tickets ($5) here.

This Sunday: Brooklyn Book Festival

This Sunday, after grabbing some brunch on Park Slope's Fifth Avenue, you might want to head downtown to Borough Hall (209 Joralemon Street) for the Brooklyn Book Festival. Book sales, author panels, discussions and poetry readings will be part of the big festivities. Oh, and Park Slope's own Pete Hamill will receive the "Bobi" award for his excellent fictional writing about Brooklyn (see the video above).

Check out the full list of activities (which actually take place in multiple downtown locations) here. You can also attend associated "Bookend" events throughout the week! [Schedule]

Shana Tova

- from the merchants of Fifth Avenue and the Park Slope Fifth Avenue BID.

News Round-Up

Park Slope Library Reopens With 20,000 New Books [DNA Info]

Bartoonist Checks Out a German Beerhall in Park Slope [Brooklyn Paper]

The (Non-) Homophobic Lesbian Auteurs of Park Slope [L Magazine]

Park Slope Memorializes 12 Fallen Brothers from Squad 1 [PS Patch]

Brides on Fire at Freddy's

When you read the title of this post, you probably thought that Freddy's was hosting either a) a provocatively-named punk rock band or b) a performance artist that sets wedding dresses on fire. But, would you believe it actually refers to an opera performance? We thought not.

Tonight at 9:00, drop by Freddy's Bar to see Opera on Tap (if you haven't been to one of their performances, you may have seen them sing on Fifth Avenue during special events) for a tribute to the "burning brides of opera!"

Nobody puts the drama in a wedding like opera brides! And in celebration, we’re busting out our wedding dresses one more time and we invite you to do the same. Join us at Freddy's, wear your wedding gown (or hell, that perriwinkle bridesmaid’s dress that’s hanging in the back of your closet) and throw back some beers as we regale you with wedding-centric arias. Boys, feel free to bust out your best monkey suit!

We bet you've never been to an opera performance dedicated to burning brides in the back room of a bar while holding a beer. If not, you need to be there! Details here.

Open Hearth Cooking

Yeah, we know, Fifth Avenue is full of restaurants and you like to eat dinner out every night. We get it and we thank you for supporting our BID's businesses!

Still, you're going to have to cook at home from time to time and this Urban Hearth Cooking With Sarah Lohman series coming up at The Old Stone House sounds really useful, interesting and fun!

Sarah will cover the four basic cooking techniques: baking, roasting, frying and boiling. While preparing a meal on an outdoor hearth, you’ll learn how to tell temperature without a thermometer, how to tell the doneness of food by using all of your senses, and how to build a bad-ass fire.

How cool is that? Get more details and purchase tickets here. Also, watch the video, above, to get a sense of Sarah's cooking and to see her in action on the open hearth.

11 Years Ago Today...

Photo by Bharat S. Rao via [Flickr]

Recent Changes on Fifth

There's plenty of change taking place along Park Slope's Fifth Avenue, this month. Here's what we found, during our walk last Friday:

Storefronts under construction:

203 Fifth Avenue
205 Fifth Avenue
237 Fifth Avenue
289 Fifth Avenue

Coming Soon:

291 Fifth Avenue: Bagels (name N/A)
278 Fifth Avenue: Calexico
 284 Fifth Avenue: Terroir Wine Bar
 482 Fifth Avenue: Frozen Yogurt (name N/A)
125 Fifth Avenue: NY Kids Club
217 Fifth Avenue: Poppy
492 Fifth Avenue: Mezzini Restaurant

Recently opened:

365 Fifth Avenue: DuJour Bakery
169 Fifth Avenue: Brooklyn Crepe & Juice
525 Fifth Avenue: Subway

That's right, 11 storefronts will soon be newly occupied over the next few weeks (or months). The vacancy rate is holding steady at 6.5%, so things seem to be moving in the right direction!

News Round-Up

Park Slope Bookstore Worker Releases Book on His Blog About Books [DNA Info]

powerHouse Books to Open in Park Slope [NY Daily News]

Open for Business: Pinto Express, 447 Seventh Avenue [Here’s Park Slope]

Getting Sloshed on a Budget [FIPS]

Go Brooklyn Weekend

This weekend, on September 8th and 9th from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm, hundreds of artists across Brooklyn will open their studio doors so that you can decide who will be featured in an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum.

Here's what you need to do: Register to vote at gobrooklynart.org and then be sure to check in to at least 5 Brooklyn studios. By doing so, you'll be eligible to nominate 3 studios for inclusion in a Brooklyn Museum exhibition. Confused? Check out the video, above. It's an easier process than you think.

Fifth Avenue's own Jonathan Blum will be holding an open house/party all weekend so drop by, check in and vote for him!

Food For Thought

Some of Park Slope's (and, therefore, Fifth Avenue's) best restaurants will be participating in a great fundraising event next month to benefit the Park Slope Civic Council:

Food for Thought Wed., Oct. 10, 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. at the beautiful Prospect Park Picnic House

The event will be a fun night out — guests will be able to sample an array of delicacies and beverages from popular local restaurants while they mingle with their neighbors and learn about the Civic Council’s many contributions to the community. In addition to the food tastings, there will be short presentations made by top chefs, food critics, writers, and movers and shakers in the local farm-to-table food movement. If you appreciate fine food, fine dining, and are passionate about supporting your community, this event it not to be missed!

Tickets for Food for Thought are on sale for $75 a person if purchased before Oct. 1 ($100 after that date). Buy your tickets now, via Brownpapertickets.com.

September Events Calendar

We just finished updating our Fifth Avenue events calendar. It's pretty full but if you see something missing, please let us know in the comments, below, or email us at whatsupon5thave@gmail.com.

[Calendar Link]

Happy Labor Day

-from the merchants of Park Slope's Fifth Avenue and the Park Slope Fifth Avenue BID. We hope you enjoy your day! Here are a few things to check out on Fifth Avenue, today.

Labor Day Weekend Goings-On

We received a few of emails from merchants about specials and events running this weekend. We thought we'd share them with you. We'll add more as we get updates today and tomorrow. And, of course, there is a lot going on along Park Slope's Fifth Avenue, every day. Check out the BID'sBusiness Directory to find everything you need for your holiday weekend. Or, go to Parkslopefifthavenuebid.com on your smartphone, for information on the go.

Melt (440 Bergen Street): will be OPEN Labor Day Weekend, BRUNCH and DINNER, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday 10am-11pm, Mon till 10pm.

Palo Santo (652 Union Street): This summer Palo Santo turned 6! Celebrate with them over Labor Day weekend. Come in for dinner Sunday, September 2 and have a drink on the house!

Call to reserve a table (718) 636-6311

Sunday, September 2 @ Palo Santo 5:00 PM - 10:30 PM Entire menu is available as $27 three course prix fixe and have a drink on them (house red, white or sparkling, sangria, or beer)

Backyard (388 Fifth Avenue): $10 for 2 pulled pork sliders w/ strawberry bbq and spicy slaw AND 2 deviled basil eggs $5, bourbon/lemonade AND well drinks BRUNCH UNTIL MIDNIGHT!

**UPDATE**

Uncle Barry's Bar (58 Fifth Avenue): Beefsteak Banquet! UB’s friend and regular Agustin will be grilling up sirloins and day-old bread beginning at 2:00 pm. Come on by and stuff your face with all the steak and Genny Cream Ale that you can shove down your gullet for just $25 a person.