The Park Sloper
Issue #4 · June 18, 2026
Park Slope this week: a new 5th Avenue bakeshop, a Gowanus housing lottery, and a Juneteenth weekend in the park
Two big nights spilled into the streets last weekend: the Knicks took their first title in 53 years, and the avenue threw its 30th Brooklyn Pride. The neighborhood earned a calmer week.
Not that it's empty. A family bakeshop just opened on 5th Avenue, a Gowanus lottery is offering $1,238 two-bedrooms if you apply by June 23, and the weekend tips into Juneteenth, with free performances and tours across Prospect Park and Green-Wood. Here's the week.
Victor, founding editor
01 · This week
A family bakeshop, Mellow & Melt, opens on 5th Avenue
Mellow & Melt Bakeshop opened June 12 at 412 5th Avenue, between 7th and 8th Streets. It is run by Hilmer Garcia, a Little Cupcake alum, with his wife Irma, brother Leo, and family. Opening discounts run through June 18, so this is the week to wander in.
Park Slope Walk · 412 5th Ave
A Gowanus housing lottery has $1,238 two-bedrooms. Apply by June 23
A new 14-story building at 282 4th Avenue is running an affordable-housing lottery through NYC Housing Connect: five two-bedrooms at $1,238 and one-bedrooms from $1,051, all rent-stabilized. Income caps apply, roughly 40 to 60 percent of area median for most of the units. The deadline is June 23.
Brownstoner · via NYC Housing Connect
Brooklyn Pride's 30th drew tens of thousands to the avenue
The 30th annual Brooklyn Pride filled 5th Avenue on June 13, from the daytime festival to the twilight parade. If you missed it, Brooklyn Paper's photos caught the scale of it.
Brooklyn Paper · Jun 13
The Knicks' first-ever ticker-tape parade rolls Thursday
After their first title in 53 years, the Knicks get the first championship parade in franchise history on Thursday, June 18. It steps off around 10am near Battery Park and heads up Broadway through the Canyon of Heroes to City Hall, where the team receives the Key to the City. An easy subway ride from the Slope if you want in.
Thu Jun 18 · 10am · Canyon of Heroes, Lower Manhattan
02 · Worth a visit
484 14th St · by appointment · 718-768-3953
The Lesbian Herstory Archives, by appointment on 14th Street
Pride month is a fitting time to visit the Lesbian Herstory Archives, housed in a 1908 limestone townhouse at 484 14th Street. It welcomes visitors for casual browsing by appointment, so call ahead at 718-768-DYKE and the volunteers will set a time.
03 · One vetted pick
Best for households with kids and pets · NYS DEC #13626 · from our exterminators guide
The pick when the treatment has to be safe around a toddler and a dog. Alternative has worked the city since 1992, and its owner, Ernie Schicchi, is a certified entomologist and rodent specialist, so the approach is considered rather than spray-and-go. It covers insects, bed bugs, and rodents. Skip it if you just want the cheapest same-day one-off.
Late June is when the bugs arrive, so this week's pick is from our exterminators guide. Every business on it is verified against the state pesticide registry, and nobody paid to be there.
See the pick →04 · The calendar
Fri Jun 19 · 6pm ET · Boathouse + Audubon Center, Prospect Park · Free
Ogemdi Ude: MAJOR, a Juneteenth dance performance
A celebratory work on majorette dance, performed by an all-Black femme cast, staged outdoors at the Audubon Center for Juneteenth.
Fri Jun 19 · 11am ET · Green-Wood Cemetery · Free
Brooklyn's Black Trailblazers Trolley Tour, Juneteenth edition
A guided trolley through Green-Wood's Black history, with stops at the memorials of Jean-Michel Basquiat, James and Grace Nail Johnson, and Charles L. Reason. Check-in is at the Gothic Arch by the main entrance.
Sat Jun 20 · 5pm ET · Grand Army Plaza · Free
A solstice walk from Grand Army Plaza that mixes LGBTQ+ history in Brooklyn with the queer biology of the park's native plants and animals. One hour, easy pace.
Sun Jun 21 · 11am-6pm ET · Breeze Hill, Prospect Park · Free entry
Smorgasburg returns to Breeze Hill
The open-air food fair brings more than 60 local vendors to Breeze Hill, near the Lincoln Road entrance. Come hungry.