The Park Sloper
Issue #10 · July 30, 2026
Park Slope this week: Puppetworks says goodbye after 36 years, a Food Coop board upset, and Union Hall turns 20
Thirty-six years of marionettes on Sixth Avenue end this month. Puppetworks lost its lease to a building sale and is bound for Industry City; the farewell show is Friday night, and U. Santini, a neighborhood mover since 1930, gets the puppets there safely.
The week's other institution news runs happier: Union Hall turns twenty with a party Thursday, and the Food Coop just voted a co-founder off its board, which is about as Park Slope as news gets. Here's the week.
Victor, founding editor
01 · This week
Puppetworks finds a new stage after 36 years
The marionette theater at Sixth Avenue and Fourth Street, its home since 1991, lost its lease when the building sold to a developer. It reopens September 12 at 51 35th Street in Industry City with Hansel & Gretel and a 75-seat house; the final Park Slope performances run through August 9, with a founder-led nostalgia show July 31. U. Santini Moving & Storage, itself a neighborhood business since 1930, is moving the two hundred puppets.
Brooklyn Paper · 6th Ave at 4th St
Taylor Pate wins a Food Coop board seat, unseating co-founder Joe Holtz
Members elected Taylor Pate to the Park Slope Food Coop board of directors at the annual meeting, defeating Joe Holtz, who co-founded the Coop at its start in 1973. However you feel about the produce line, a member vote unseating a founder is a neighborhood moment.
Linewaiters' Gazette · Jul 28
Sea & Soil, a worker-owned sandwich shop, takes root on Atlantic
The worker-owned cooperative is up and running at 388 Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill. Its liquor-license filing crossed the state's desk in early July, which is how we first spotted it; the Linewaiters' Gazette has the full story of the cheery shop it became.
Linewaiters' Gazette · 388 Atlantic Ave, Boerum Hill
02 · Worth a visit
317 3rd Ave, Gowanus · opened Jul 30
Shania's Max Bet, an Atlantic City bar for Gowanus
Three friends who met working at the Royal Palms shuffleboard club opened an Atlantic City-themed cocktail bar Thursday at 317 3rd Avenue at 1st Street, in the old Dirty Precious space. The name is the horse that saved Jericho Davidson's Thanksgiving trip: down to his last $20 in Atlantic City, he bet it on a race called Shania's Max Bet and the horse came in. Midori Sours, Mind Erasers, and natural wine, played straight.
03 · One vetted pick
Best for general and family care · NYS license verified · from our dentists guide
The everyday-dentist default: a general practice on 5th Avenue led by Dr. Yanina Kravets, with the broadest public review volume of any dentist in our pool and a calm, low-pressure reputation. Cleanings, fillings, crowns, whitening, and Invisalign under one roof. Dr. Kravets's state license (#045512) is active with no disciplinary action on record; we checked. Skip it if you need a board-certified pediatric specialist for a toddler; that's Park Slope Kids Dental Care's lane in the guide.
School starts in five weeks, which makes this the week to book the checkups. This week's pick is from our dentists guide: every dentist on it is New York State-licensed with a clean disciplinary record in the NYSED registry, and nobody paid to be there.
See the pick →04 · The calendar
Thu Jul 30 · 4pm ET · Union Hall, 702 Union St
Twenty years of the Union Street institution, celebrated where it happened. The anniversary party starts at 4 and rolls into the evening.
Fri Jul 31 · Puppetworks, 6th Ave at 4th St · $36 minimum donation
Puppetworks: the farewell nostalgia show
The goodbye performance: classic marionette scenes from 36 years on Sixth Avenue, with founder Nicolas Coppola, before the move south. Afterparty at Park Slope Ale House.
Thu Jul 30 · 7:30pm ET · The Bell House, 149 7th St, Gowanus · Ticketed
David Cross plays the Bell House for one night, with an early show Thursday.
Sat Aug 1 · 7:30am ET · Prospect Park · Free
The early-morning coffee meetup for the park's off-leash crowd and their dogs. Saturday, before the heat.
Sat Aug 1 · 6pm ET · Lakeside, Prospect Park
Live music by the water: Fish in a Birdcage, with Sparkbird and Malinda.