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Please add profiles of people who were born, lived or died in (or were notable for their ties to) Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Park Slope is a neighborhood in northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park and Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Avenue to the north, and Prospect Expressway to the south. Generally, the section from Flatbush Avenue to Garfield Place (the "named streets") is considered the "North Slope", the section from 1st to 9th Street is considered the "Center Slope", and south from 9th Street, the "South Slope". The neighborhood takes its name from its location on the western slope of neighboring Prospect Park. Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue are its primary commercial streets, while its east-west side streets are lined with brownstones and apartment buildings.
Park Slope was settled by the Lenape before Europeans arrived in the 17th century. The area was mostly farms and woods until the early 19th century, when the land was subdivided into rectangular parcels. The western section of the neighborhood was occupied in the mid-19th century, being located near the industrial Gowanus Canal and ferries. After the completion of Prospect Park, numerous mansions and rowhouses were developed in Park Slope's eastern section in the 1880s. Park Slope faced social and infrastructural decline in the mid-20th century, but the building stock was renovated after the area became gentrified starting in the 1960s. Much of the neighborhood is overlaid by the Park Slope Historic District, which is composed of a National Historic District and a New York City landmark district.
Park Slope features historic buildings, top-rated restaurants, bars, and shops, as well as proximity to Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and the Central Library and Park Slope branches of the Brooklyn Public Library. The neighborhood had a population of about 62,200 as of the 2000 census. Park Slope is generally ranked as one of New York City's most desirable neighborhoods.
Park Slope is part of Brooklyn Community District 6, and its primary ZIP Codes are 11215 and 11217. It is patrolled by the 78th Precinct of the New York City Police Department. Politically, it is represented by the New York City Council's 33rd and 39th Districts.
Notable people with ties to Park Slope, Brooklyn, from Wikipedia:
Actors
- Jon Abrahams (born 1977)
- Paul Bettany (born 1971), actor
- Steve Buscemi (born 1957)
- Jennifer Connelly (born 1970), actress
- David Cross (born 1964)
- Kathryn Erbe (born 1966)
- Laurence Fishburne (born 1961)
- Maggie Gyllenhaal (born 1977), actress
- John Hodgman (born 1971), author, actor, and humorist
- Robin Johnson (born 1964), actress
- Terry Kinney (born 1954), actor and theatre director, who is a founding member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company
- Athan Maroulis (born 1964), actor, vocalist and record producer
- Kelly McGillis (born 1957), actress
- Wentworth Miller (born 1972), actor, model, screenwriter and producer
- Sarah Paulson (born 1974), actress
- Colin Quinn (born 1959), stand-up comedian, actor and writer, best known for his work on Saturday Night Live
- Keri Russell (born 1976), actress and dancer
- Peter Sarsgaard (born 1971), actor
- Streeter Seidell (born 1982), comedian, writer, actor, and TV host
- Michael Showalter (born 1970), comedian, actor, producer, writer, and director
- Patrick Stewart (born 1940), actor whose career has included roles on stage, television, and film
- Julia Stiles (born 1981), actress
- John Turturro (born 1957), actor, writer and filmmaker
- John Ventimiglia (born 1963), actor best known for his role as Artie Bucco in the HBO television series, The Sopranos
Athletes
- Adam Ottavino (born 1985), Major League Baseball player
- Joe Pepitone (1940-2023), MLB first baseman and outfielder who played for the New York Yankees
Musicians
- Foxy Brown (born 1978), rapper, model, and actress
- Jim Black (born 1967), jazz drummer
- Vince Clarke (born 1960), musician and songwriter
- Ravi Coltrane (born 1965), Jazz saxophonist
- Jonathan Coulton (born 1970), singer-songwriter
- Simone Dinnerstein (born 1972), classical pianist
- Dave Douglas (born 1963), jazz trumpeter and composer
- Mark Feldman (born 1955), jazz violinist
- Michael Hearst (born 1972), composer, multi-instrumentalist, writer, producer and founding member of One Ring Zero
- Angélique Kidjo (born 1960), singer-songwriter
- Scott Klopfenstein (born 1977), musician and a former member of the band Reel Big Fish
- Talib Kweli born 1975), hip hop recording artist
- John Linnell (born 1959), singer-songwriter of They Might Be Giants
- Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (born 1975), songwriters / composers who wrote the song "Let It Go" for the movie Frozen
- Ingrid Michaelson (born 1979), singer and songwriter
- Pumpkinhead (1975-2015), rapper and hip hop artist
- Geoff Rickly (born 1979, lead singer and songwriter of Thursday
- Chris Speed (born 1967), saxophonist, clarinetist and composer
- Smoosh, band
- Scott Tixier (born 1986), jazz violinist and recording artist
- Michael Weiss (born 1958), jazz pianist and composer
- Dan Zanes, member of the 1980s band The Del Fuegos
Artists
- Janine Antoni (born 1964), contemporary artist, who creates work in performance art, sculpture and photography
- Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988), artist best known for his neo-expressionist paintings
- Alex Grey (born 1953), visionary artist, author, teacher and Vajrayana practitioner
- Brett Helquist (born 1966), illustrator best known for his work in A Series of Unfortunate Events
- Paul Ramirez Jonas (born 1965), contemporary artist and arts educator
- Byron Kim (born 1961), contemporary artist
- Joe Mangrum (born 1969), artist best known for his large-scale colored sand paintings
- David Rees (born 1972), cartoonist, humorist and cultural critic
- Lisa Sigal (born 1962), contemporary artist
- Joan Snyder (born 1940), painter
- Lane Twitchell (born 1967), contemporary visual artist
Writers
- Paul Auster (born 1947), author whose works include The Brooklyn Follies
- Franco Ambriz, playwright and director
- Joan Bauer (born 1951), author of young adult fiction
- Richard Bernstein (born 1944), journalist who writes the Letter from America column for The International Herald Tribune
- Peter Blauner (born 1959), author, journalist and television producer
- Howard Bloom (born 1943), publicist and author
- Charles M. Blow (born 1970), columnist for The New York Times
- Helen Boyd (born 1969), author of two books about her relationship with her transgender partner
- Arthur Bradford (born 1969), writer and filmmaker
- Jane Brody (born 1941), author on science and nutrition topics
- Bruce Brooks (born 1950), writer of young adult and children's literature
- Rudolph Delson (born 1975), author best known for his 2007 debut novel, Maynard and Jennica
- Andrea Dworkin (1946-2005), radical feminist and writer best known for her criticism of pornography
- Dave Eggers (born 1970), author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
- Jennie Fields (born 1953), novelist
- Jonathan Safran Foer (born 1977), author whose novels include Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
- Rozanne Gold, chef, journalist and cookbook author
- Ben Greenman (born 1969), novelist, author and magazine journalist
- Pete Hamill (1935-2020), journalist who was a columnist and editor for the New York Post and New York Daily News
- Colin Harrison (born 1960), author whose books include Manhattan Nocturne
- Kathryn Harrison (born 1961), author
- Lindsey Kelk, chick lit author and journalist
- John Hodgman (born 1971), author, actor and humorist
- Siri Hustvedt (born 1955), novelist and essayist who wrote The Sorrows of an American
- Steven Berlin Johnson (born 1968), author
- Norton Juster (1929-2021), writer
- Jim Knipfel (born 1965), novelist and journalist
- Nicole Krauss (born 1974), author of Man Walks Into a Room, The History of Love and Great House
- Jhumpa Lahiri (born 1967), author whose story collection Interpreter of Maladies (1999) won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
- Jonathan Lethem (born 1964), novelist
- Clifford J. Levy
- Michael Patrick MacDonald (born 1966), anti-crime activist
- Daisy Martinez, actress and author
- Rick Moody (born 1961), novelist
- Mary Morris (born 1947), author and professor at Sarah Lawrence College
- Itamar Moses (born 1977), playwright, author, television writer
- Melissa Holbrook Pierson (born 1957), writer and essayist of non-fiction
- Robert Reuland (born 1963), writer and criminal lawyer
- Adam Roberts (stage name Amateur Gourmet)
- Elizabeth Royte, writer
- Lucy Sante (born 1954), writer and critic
- Brian Selznick (born 1966), illustrator and writer
- Jon Scieszka (born 1954), children's writer
- David Shenk, writer and filmmaker
- Marilyn Singer (born 1948), children's writer
- Amy Sohn
- John Stoltenberg (born 1944), magazine editor
- Darin Strauss (born 1970), writer
- Penelope Trunk (born 1966), author, blogger and entrepreneur
- Ned Vizzini (1981-2013), novelist
- Brian Wood (born 1972), comic book creator
- Jacqueline Woodson (born 1963), writer
- William Upski Wimsatt (born 1972), author and political activist
Politicians
- Carol Bellamy (born 1942), former New York state senator and New York City Council president
- James F. Brennan (born 1952), former New York State Assembly member
- Hugh Carey (1919-2011), former governor of New York and U.S. representative
- Robert Carroll, New York State Assembly member
- Bill de Blasio (born 1961), former New York City mayor
- Francis Edwin Dorn, former U.S. representative
- Helen Gahagan Douglas, actress and former U.S. representative
- Patrick Gaspard, diplomat
- William Jay Gaynor, former New York City mayor
- Chris Hayes, journalist
- Brad Lander, New York City Council member
- Marty Markowitz, former New York state senator and Brooklyn borough president
- Chirlane McCray, writer and activist, married to Bill de Blasio
- Max Rose, U.S. representative
- Gene Russianoff, attorney and chief spokesman for the Straphangers Campaign
- Chuck Schumer, U.S. senator, former U.S. representative
- Anthony Weiner, former U.S. representative
Scientists
- Henry Petroski
Chess players
Criminals