The Park Sloper
Issue #17 · September 17, 2026
Park Slope this week: Jabal the bodega cat comes home, P.S. 372 moves classes out of the basement, and Smorgasburg starts its Sundays in the park
The neighborhood spent five days looking for a three-month-old cat, and on Tuesday it got him back. That is the week in one sentence, and it is a better week than most.
The harder story is at P.S. 372 in Gowanus, where pre-K and kindergarten have been moved up out of the annex basement while the state installs ventilation that works. The short version: the first fix went in early last year and testing showed it was not doing the job.
Elsewhere, Sakul Thai has an opening month at last, four homes listed nearby in the spring have closed and we know the selling prices, and the library's new teen floor is open at Grand Army Plaza. It is also the week the weather turns, which is when mice start looking for somewhere warm, so this week's pick is an exterminator.
Victor, founding editor
01 · This week
Jabal is back at the Eighth Street Mini Market
The three-month-old bodega kitten went missing on September 10, and surveillance video showed a man and a woman picking him up outside the store and walking off. Owner Imad Innab and his family put up a $500 no-questions-asked reward, neighbors papered the blocks and canvassed, and on Tuesday the cat was dropped at a Park Slope precinct and handed back. Police arrested a 58-year-old Bushwick woman and charged her with petit larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and companion animal stealing; she denies it. Jabal had been at the store about a month, brought in after Victoria, the shop cat of 17 years, died in June.
BK Reader · Eighth Street Mini Market · taken Sep 10, back Sep 15
P.S. 372 moves pre-K and kindergarten out of the annex basement
The Children's School in Gowanus has shifted its youngest classes to higher floors while the state installs a heat recovery ventilator in the annex. Air testing found volatile organic compounds above state limits, including ethylbenzene and xylenes, with smaller amounts of benzene, trimethylbenzene and toluene. High levels turned up in 2024, a sub-slab depressurization system went in early in 2025, and summer testing that year showed it had not moved the numbers. Parents learned in June that a year of findings had not been passed along. Superintendent Keisha McCoy says the classes return once the new system is in; running the HVAC at full capacity has brought levels down in the meantime.
Brooklyn Paper via Brownstoner · P.S. 372, 512 Carroll St
Sakul Thai now has an opening month
We flagged this one in July with no date attached. It opens in October at 61A 7th Avenue between Union and Berkeley, the old Lemongrass Grill space. Chef Treerawat Rachakeaw, who goes by Tree, runs it with his husband Tenzin Shamphel. Both of Tree's grandmothers had noodle shops in Phichit, which is where the name comes from: sakul means lineage. Egg noodles are made in house, and the beef boat noodles are his signature.
Park Slope Pulse · 61A 7th Ave · opens October
What four spring listings actually sold for
Brownstoner went back to listings it featured six months ago. In Park Slope, the two-family brownstone at 420 8th Street asked $3.995 million and closed in May at $4.075 million, slightly over. The one-bedroom co-op at 140 8th Avenue asked $875,000 and closed in August at $780,000, about eleven percent under. Nearby, 16 Temple Court in Windsor Terrace asked $1.795 million and went for $2.025 million. All four sold, which is the headline; how far from ask depends on what you are selling.
Brownstoner · six-month comps
02 · Worth a visit
Brownstoner · 10 Grand Army Plaza · opened Sep 9
The teen floor at Central Library
Brooklyn Public Library opened a 4,700 square foot teen center at 10 Grand Army Plaza on September 9, on the second floor of the Eastern Parkway wing, and it is for ages 13 to 18 only. Inside: a young adult collection with staff picks, a gaming center, listening and recording pods, the Robin K. and Jay L. Lewis Teen Tech Center with a maker space, cafe-style seating, and a craft tool library you can borrow from for bookbinding, screen printing, metal stamping and hand embroidery. Talking is encouraged, which is the point. The renovated wing around it holds the art, music and sports collections, quiet nooks, study booths and an art studio. It is part of a $67 million revitalization. BPL president Linda E. Johnson called the teen floor a safe haven just for them.
03 · One vetted pick
Best for mice and rats, owner-run, no upsell · DEC #10920 registered · from our exterminators guide
The pick when you have mice or rats and want someone straight with you about it. Alley Cat is an owner-run Brooklyn firm, Don Clark's, and what neighbors on Park Slope Parents praise is the absence of a hard sell: thorough work, care around kids, a text back when you need one, and at least one report of refusing payment when results were not guaranteed. It handles rats, mice, bed bugs and general pests. DEC registration #10920 confirmed currently registered, through February 2027. Skip it if you want a big-name firm with 24/7 dispatch, an online portal and a commercial contract.
Cold nights are when mice come indoors, and the first sign is usually droppings under the sink rather than anything you see. This week's pick is from our exterminators guide: every firm on it holds a New York State DEC pesticide-business registration we confirmed current in state records. Nobody paid to be there.
See the pick →04 · The calendar
A free Molière on Friday, dogs on a runway Saturday afternoon, and Smorgasburg starts its Sundays.
Fri Sep 18 · 7pm to 9pm ET · LeFrak Center at Lakeside, Prospect Park · Free, RSVP
Molière in the Park stages Don Juan outdoors at the LeFrak Center at Lakeside. Free, with an RSVP through the event page. Two hours, so it is a late one for younger kids.
Sat Sep 19 · 1pm to 5pm ET · Freddy's Bar, 627 5th Ave
Four hours of neighborhood dogs on a runway at Freddy's on Fifth Avenue. It is exactly what it sounds like, and it is the most South Slope event of the season.
Sat Sep 19 · 7:30pm to 10:30pm ET · Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park · Ticketed
Liz Phair and Sleater-Kinney at the bandshell
BRIC's Celebrate Brooklyn benefit show closes out the bandshell season at Lena Horne. Ticketed, and the money pays for the free programming the rest of the summer runs on.
Sun Sep 20 · 11am to 6pm ET · Breeze Hill, Prospect Park · Free
Smorgasburg starts its Sundays at Breeze Hill
More than 60 food and drink vendors, free to walk in, near the Lincoln Road entrance. This is the first Sunday of the run, which goes through October 25.
Mon Sep 21 · 10am to 5pm ET · Audubon Center, Lefferts Historic House and the Children's Corner · Free, carousel $3
Schools are closed Monday, and the park has a plan
Yom Kippur, so no school. The Audubon Center runs nature discovery stations from 10am, with fall leaf identification from 2pm. Lefferts Historic House opens free from noon with its indoor and outdoor exhibits. The carousel runs from noon, $3 a ride or $13 for five.