Block Envy

I live in a tall building on the intersection of 2 avenues.  We are never gonna have a block party.  We can't get our street closed.  We also see more than enough of each other in the laundry room,  But my son's BFF lives in a little house on one of the best blocks in the neighborhood.  Wait, not one of the best blocks, I would actually say that by design they live on the best street in Park Slope.

Let me tell you a story.....

Back in like 1860 there was the guy named Edwin Litchfield.  He owned most of what is now Prospect Park and Park Slope.  It was a lot of land, but nothing was really going on on it.  But he was smart.  He saw that the Brooklyn Bridge was going to be built and that people were going to want to live in this part of Brooklyn.  So he donated the hilly half of it to the City of Brooklyn so they could put a park on it. He also laid out a grid of roads on the flatter half so that it can be developed into a residential housing. This is still how rich people become filthy rich.

It can be argued that Park Slope was Americas first suburb.  People lived here and worked somewhere else


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His home is now called the Litchfield Villa at the top of 3rd Street.    His office was a mile down the "slope" closer to the Gowanus Canal.  The building below was used to keep track of all the stuff that became Park Slope.


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When Litchfield actually put streets on the land that was to become Park Slope he made 3rd street nicer.  Why not, it was his commute to work.  The houses on 3rd Street were also the model homes for the rest of Park Slope.

So, 3rd Street is wider than any other street in Park Slope.  But the wideness is not in the street, it has wider sidewalks (on some blocks).  Sweet.  It in now the perfect street for a block party.

<<<< Look at this attractive spread

From that green chair I took this photo of a blue grass band

There was also a bouncy house, pony rides a double dutch demo and a visit from the local fire fighters (with their rig).  My son did not care about any of it because for him is was a rematch of the "Epic water gun fight of 2010"

When it got dark they hung up a sheet and showed a movie.  There was room to set up a seating on the sidewalk.