The Park Sloper
Issue #9 · July 23, 2026
Park Slope this week: the 5th Avenue Record Shop closes after 58 years, Kings Co Imperial opens on 3rd Street, and $1,087 studios on the Gowanus
Fifty-eight years is a long time to sell records on one avenue. The 5th Avenue Record Shop, open since 1966, has closed its doors, and that's the kind of loss a neighborhood feels more than a dozen openings make up for.
The openings keep coming anyway. A Williamsburg Chinese favorite lands on 3rd Street next week, an oyster bar is days away over in Prospect Heights, and there's an affordable-housing lottery on the Gowanus Canal with $1,087 studios if you move by Monday. Here's the week.
Victor, founding editor
01 · This week
The 5th Avenue Record Shop closes after 58 years
Tony Mignone opened the 5th Avenue Record Shop in 1966 and moved it to its longtime home on 5th Avenue, between 8th and 9th Streets, in 1972. After nearly 58 years it has closed. Not much replaces a record store that watched the avenue change around it for that long.
Park Slope Pulse · 5th Ave at 8th St
Kings Co Imperial opens on 3rd Street July 27
The Williamsburg Chinese-American mainstay opens a Park Slope location at 357 3rd Street near 5th Avenue on July 27. It is run by Josh Grinker and Tracy Jane Young, who ran Stone Park Cafe in the neighborhood starting in 2004, so they are not exactly strangers to the block.
Park Slope Pulse · 357 3rd St
A Gowanus housing lottery with $1,087 studios, apply by July 28
The affordable-housing lottery for Nevins Landing South, a new tower at 417 Carroll Street on the Gowanus Canal, is open: 64 income-restricted apartments, including studios from $1,087, for households at 40 to 60 percent of area median income. Applications close July 28 on NYC Housing Connect.
Brownstoner · 417 Carroll St · deadline Jul 28
02 · Worth a visit
Through Aug 16 · participating Park Slope restaurants
Restaurant Week is on in the Slope
NYC Restaurant Week runs through August 16, and a good stretch of Park Slope is in: Palo Santo, Alta Calidad, Masalawala & Sons, Miriam, Morgan's Brooklyn BBQ, Chela, Wayward Fare, Baciccia, The Dram Shop, and La Fleur Rouge are all doing prix-fixe menus. A rare window to try the pricey one for less.
03 · One vetted pick
Best for flat-roof repair and re-coating · HIC license active · from our roofers guide
The most-recommended roofer in our pool, and the one to call when a brownstone flat roof springs a leak or the membrane is worn enough to re-coat rather than tear off. Neighbors on Park Slope Parents and the Brownstoner forum keep coming back to Mike at Roofmaster; the South Slope base on 19th Street keeps it genuinely local. The HIC license (#2069848) is active through February 2027; we checked. Skip them if you want the cheapest quote or you have a pitched-slate roof, which isn't their lane.
Summer storms find every soft spot in an old flat roof, so this week's pick is from our roofers guide. Every roofer on it holds an active NYC Home Improvement Contractor license we confirmed, and nobody paid to be there.
See the pick →04 · The calendar
Fri Jul 24 · 6pm ET · Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park · Free
Celebrate Brooklyn: Jazz at the Bandshell
The free summer series gives Friday night to jazz at the Lena Horne Bandshell: drummer Cindy Blackman Santana headlining, with the Patricia Brennan Septet and Lucía. Free, outdoors, in the park.
Sat Jul 25 · 7am ET · Prospect Park · Registration required
One loop of Prospect Park, a sprint down Center Drive, and ice cream at the finish. Paid registration, and a good excuse to run 3.1 miles you can immediately undo.
Sun Jul 26 · 11am-6pm ET · Breeze Hill, Prospect Park · Free entry
The Sunday food market is back at Breeze Hill, dozens of vendors deep. Come hungry and with a plan, or don't and wander.
Thu Jul 23 · 7:45pm ET · Green-Wood Cemetery, 500 25th St · Ticketed
Rooftop Films: The Oldest Person in the World
Sam Green's decade-long documentary chasing the ever-changing title of oldest living person, screened outdoors at Green-Wood with a director Q&A and an afterparty. Doors 7:45, film at 8:45.
Sat Jul 25 · 12-6pm ET · Lefferts Historic House, Prospect Park · Free
The Shirley Chisholm Way at Lefferts Historic House
A free exhibit on the Brooklyn congresswoman who became the first Black woman elected to Congress, told through seven life lessons, Al Johnson portraits, and campaign memorabilia. Part of the Alliance's ReImagine Lefferts project.