Openings: PKLYN, Pasta Night, Woof Gang, Miolin Bakery; Atlantic Antic, CiderFeast, Downtown Brooklyn Arts Festival, Brooklyn Book Festival, & Curios in the Catacombs
Park Slope's first weekly newsletter since 2021
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Welcome to Park Slope’s weekly newsletter, Park Slope Pulse. We spend hours curating the most important news and events each week ✨ for free ✨ to save you time sifting through listings and articles! Park Slope Pulse gives you the first insights to make plans or start conversations.
Here’s what’s happening this week:
Openings: Pasta Night, Italian market by day & pasta bar by night, will open at 575 Vanderbilt Ave between Dean and Pacific St on October 1st. PKLYN, a five court, 18,000 square-foot pickleball club with a full bar and lounge has soft opened in Gowanus, and will officially open October 6th. Woof Gang, a bakery, groomer, and supply store, will open soon in Park Slope. Miolin Bakery, on 7th Ave between 13th and 14th St, held their soft opening yesterday. They will offer a limited menu to start and drop new items daily!
📸 : PKLYN The MTA unveils proposal for Inter-borough Express with service between Brooklyn & Queens: Last week, the MTA announced its future plans to spend over $2 billion on an electric train that will transport riders from Brooklyn to Queens in forty minutes. The inter-borough express— or IBX— would run from Bay Ridge to Jackson Heights and is expected to service 19 stations and connect to 17 subway lines. [TimeOut].
Brooklyn Public Library takes action against censored books: In 2023, 4,240 unique book titles were targeted for censorship in the US. Brooklyn Public Library’s Grand Army Plaza branch, along with several neighborhood libraries, will host over 80 events during Banned Books Week from September 22 to 28, followed by a “Freedom to Read Day of Action” on Oct. 19. [Brooklyn Paper]. See the schedule of events here.
— Mychal & Viv
Special Feature: Step into fall at CiderFeast NYC!
On October 5th at Industry City, celebrate hard cider at CiderFeast NYC with pours from more than 20 hand-picked cideries and producers. Meet cider makers as you sip and sample their best, featuring New York’s own Eden Ciders, Wayside Cider, Orchard Hill Cider, and many more from the region, plus international selections like Aval Cider from France and Barrika Basque Cider from Spain. Pair every sip with delectable bites—think 24-month-aged Kentucky ham from Dakota Hams, paella from Chef Rafa de la Rosa, and more. Vip and General Tickets are available now at ciderfeasthq.com.
[To get featured here as a Sponsor, email info@parkslopeliving for more info]
Our Top Picks
Events with an asterisk* tend to sell out- reserve tickets early!
Thursday, September 26th (Today)
Landline Comedy @ Wild East Brewing, 8-10pm: Landline Comedy brings together NYC’s funniest comedians to perform at this free show. Special guest host Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell, cartoonist & comedian for The New Yorker, welcomes an exciting line up including Mike Brown (MTV, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee) Amanda Vasco (Jersey City Comedy Festival, New York Comedy Club), Justin Rubenstein (West Side Comedy Club), and more. Reserve a spot for a chance to win a drink. FREE.
Friday, September 27th
Free Climb Friday @ Brooklyn Bouldering Project, 6pm-close: Enjoy free entry and climb gear (shoes, chalk) today at BBP! Lite bites will be served and a live DJ will provide a soundtrack for the evening. FREE- ticket required.
Downtown Brooklyn Arts Festival @ 300 Ashland Plaza, 5pm-8pm : Take part in this annual weekend celebration of Downtown Brooklyn’s cultural community and the artists who inspire the borough’s creative spirit. Enjoy musical and dance performances, DJ sets, and a moderated conversation between five contemporary writers, which will honor the legacy of James Baldwin. FREE.
Saturday, September 28th
Pretty Horse’s Chicken Caesar Wraps @ Prospect Park Farmer’s Market 11:30am-5pm [Sponsored]: Soak up the last few rays of summer and head into fall with a chicken Caesar wrap from PrettyHorse BK. This food stand has taken the farmer’s markets at Grand Army Plaza and 5th Avenue by storm with what many have called the “best chicken Caesar wrap in NYC”. They’ll be featuring a fall twist on their signature lemonade: a dash of homemade cranberry juice to prepare for the fall. Wraps are $15
Downtown Brooklyn Arts Festival @ 300 Ashland Plaza, 12pm-8pm : On the second day of this annual celebration of Downtown Brooklyn’s cultural community, enjoy interactive art installations and musical performances scheduled throughout the afternoon and evening. FREE.
Wine 101 @ Gowanus Wine Studio, 3-4pm*: Join Gowanus Wine Studio for a 3 flight wine class & tasting at their tasting table. This Sommelier/ Owner led tasting is limited to 8-12 people and covers topics such as production methods, buying, pairing, and tasting techniques. $40.
Fall Festival @ 6/15 Green, 10am-8pm: This South Slope community garden, located on 6th Ave and 15th St, is celebrating their 30th anniversary with live music, children’s activities, a bake sale, plant sale, and a potluck BBQ! FREE.
Unheard Of @ The Gowanus Dredgers, 6pm: This musical experience will be the last performance of the 2024 Cultural Ecologies season. For $17.85, reserve a seat in a canoe, or enjoy the music from the shore for free. Cultural Ecologies features world premieres and cutting- edge music by artists exploring climate change, race, technology’s impact on our mental health, and feminism presented in a setting that brings people closer together in an open and adventurous way. FREE.
Oktoberfest Party @ Black Forest Brooklyn, 8pm: Celebrate Oktoberfest in Fort Greene with a live German oompah band, drink & food specials, and a mug holding & costume contest. For those closer to the Smith Street location, a similar event is being held there! $10 in advance/ $15 at door.
Sunday, September 29th
The 49th Annual Atlantic Antic™ @ Atlantic Avenue, 12-6pm: Brooklyn’s oldest and largest street festival in Brooklyn returns to Atlantic Avenue with over 50 local merchants and 300 vendors! Stroll Atlantic from Fourth Ave to the waterfront, and check out fashion, crafts, jewelry, and delicious eats from all over the world. Families will enjoy Playtopia, on Atlantic between Hicks & Henry St, which will feature a cardboard maze, obstacle course, balloon twisting, arts & crafts, games, rock painting and more! Park’s Slope Living’s sister page, Cobble Hill Collective, is a media sponsor for the event— stop by our booth between Henry & Clinton St. We’d love to meet you! FREE.
Brooklyn Book Festival @ Downtown Brooklyn, 10am-6pm: Brooklyn Book Festival is New York’s largest free literary festival, and this year’s Festival Day & Literary Marketplace features a full-day lineup of more than two hundred local and international established and emerging authors presented in panel discussions and book-signings. The event is held in Brooklyn Borough Hall and surrounding buildings. FREE.
Summer Jazz @ Brooklyn Museum, 2-4pm: This series, held in the Brooklyn Museum’s lobby, showcases some of the city’s best jazz musicians! This week’s performance features Siren Xypher, a musical collective of three performing composers. Together they present intricate original works that combine art songs, spoken word, and free-flowing improvisation. FREE.
Wednesday, October 2nd
Curios in the Catacombs @ Green-Wood Cemetery, 6:30pm & 8:30pm*: Step into the Catacombs for a bizarre, bewitching journey into the world of the carnival. Experience a dizzying showcase as musical performer Margaret Lang Tan navigates the subterranean space, performing with a series of unconventional instruments & accompanied by a trove of masks and a whirlwind of projections. The centerpiece of the evening will be the NY premiere of Curios by Phyllis Chen, inspired by a haunting 1920s photograph of three clowns. $25 for members/ $30 for non-members.
Slope Steal of the Week: Koi Omakase
We find the best deals happening in the neighborhood so you don’t have to!
To celebrate their first anniversary, Koi Omakase is offering a special deal through October 5th:
$68 14-course, 60-minute omakase experience
Plus two additional courses
…And unlimited sake!
Visit Koi Omakase at 55 5th Avenue (between 12th and 13th St)
Q & A with Ana Costa from Esquina
Esquina, a community fitness & wellness center, opened this summer in Windsor Terrace. Founder Ana Costa says that their classes aim to “empower our community with evidence-based science so that individuals leave knowing more about their bodies.” The weekly schedule features strength, kettlebells, yoga, Kinstretch, and Capoeira Angola classes. Here, Ana talks about her inspiration for Esquina and her vision for the future.
Talk about you, and what inspired you to start Esquina.
Capoeira has been a huge transformational force in my life (and continues to be). I acknowledge that it is a very all-encompassing art form that might not be for everyone, but I deeply believe that the elements of capoeira can be hugely transformative in the lives of all humans. Esquina is an attempt to bring those elements to Brooklyn. The elements are: physical movement (personal training, strength, mobility, acrobatics, play), singing (a powerful and healing way to find one’s own voice and create beauty through the alchemy of collaborating in harmony with others), community/practice (motivation is fleeting, but having a place we show up for ourselves, our practice and our community whether we are up or down is extremely important in our modern world of cellphones and isolation).
I struggled throughout my teenage years with an eating disorder and finding a place of healing and peace with myself through these elements inspires me to want to share that information. If we each can do our individual work to care for our physical, mental and emotional health better, we can be better parents, partners, friends, workers, community members, etc.
What does the name of your business (“Esquina”) mean?
Literally, it means corner. The cool corner to be, where your friends are. Where you bring your whole self without fear of judgement, where you know you will be welcome whatever kind of day you are having. A place where you come to RE-connect with yourself and others and leave feeling better. But it also represents the crossroads that we face every single day MULTIPLE times— decisions we make that can influence other decisions. We call these KEYSTONE habits. Sometimes, just choosing to start or end your day at Esquina with a strength training class means you make better decisions about nutrition, sleep, your mood is better, you’re more focused at work and you feel better all around.
Talk about your classes and their inspiration or origins.
Muscle is the organ of LONGEVITY. Most of our metabolism is actually occurring in our skeletal muscle. 85% of the heat we generate is coming from skeletal muscle. It is also the primary place that we dispose of and regulate blood glucose, which is one of the many reasons why musculoskeletal muscle is important for short-term performance and long-term health. So regardless of how we define human performance: whether to hit a golf ball 300 yards, fix your low back pain, have more focus at work, or alter how you physically appear, skeletal muscle is going to be at the center of that conversation. I desperately want to impart this to all adults.
Esquina is a place of EDUCATION, not just random, mindless workouts. We aim to educate our community members in our classes so that individuals feel self empowered and leave knowing more about themselves and their bodies. I’d love to highlight our Fall Semester of Youth Classes. Mondays we’re teaching teens how to properly and safely lift weights and train to supplement their sport and to empower them for life with good body mechanics. Tuesdays we’re teaching dancers and performers about the power of strength training for the LONGEVITY of their art, as well as dismantling the false information about weight lifting creating bulky bodies. Wednesdays we are offering the playful, amazing and culturally rich art of Capoeira Angola to 7-12 year olds!
What are you working on right now, and what is your vision for your business moving forward?
I am working on listening to the community to hear what time slots work best for them to attend regularly. Do you know what the most magical and transformative time to workout in? The time that YOU can do it most consistently. I want people to commit to a weekly schedule and show up for 3-4 months before analyzing. My vision is to have a regular singing class for people of all ages and abilities, a senior chair-based strength class, a partner dance forró class, monthly nutritional check-ins, and a weekly calendar that feels accessible to everyone. I want Esquina to be a place that serves the community for transformation and healing.
You can visit Esquina at 559 17th Street at 10th Ave.
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