ROCKIN’ STROLLERS
Park Slope’s 5th Ave. NYC’s ‘coolest street’
It’s cool to wipe drool. Changing diapers and pushing strollers have apparently become the hottest new craze — as Time Out has picked family-friendly Fifth Avenue in Park Slope as this year’s coolest street in New York City.
The magazine says it chose the quiet central Brooklyn boulevard — which runs south from Barclays Center — because of its cafes, mom-and-pop shops and a parenting scene it described as a “mommy Mafia.”
“This is not a strike against it in our book,” the mag said of the strip’s Lululemon-clad, PTAmember denizens. “If anything, it means the area is walkable, safe and has something for everyone.”
The selection of Fifth Avenue — which ranked 13th globally on Time Out’s annual Coolest Streets in the World list — shocked parents strolling the area Thursday.
“That’s kind of surprising to me. I don’t think I would describe this as one of the coolest neighborhoods in New York, but that’s just me personally,” said Miles Spilliane, 35, a musician who was walking down Fifth with his pink-scooter-riding 4-year-old daughter.
“I think it’s a nice neighborhood. There’s a lot of great restaurants and bars and cafe,” he said. “There’s a lot of really nice stuff. It’s good for kids and families.”
The staff of Time Out raved about Fifth’s homey atmosphere and fine dining at eateries like Masalawala & Sons, Ginger’s Bar and Good Judy.
The area is also flooded with indie shops like the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Store, which sells clothing and gifts, the Community Bookstore, one of borough’s oldest bookstores, and Sip N Play, a board-game café.
East Village dissenter
Manhattanites were quick to turn their noses up at Time Out’s ranking.
“I thought like, ‘Oh, Brooklyn? Oh, forget it, I don’t care,’ ” Thomas Harris, who lives on the Lower East Side, told The Post. “It’s very neighborhood-y there.”
East Village resident Sharon
Bechor said she was “surprised” to hear the sleepy Park Slope street got the accolade when she thinks the “East Village is way cooler.”
“Honestly, a street needs to have a little more grit if it’s going to be named the coolest street in New York City,” she said Thursday.
Another East Village diehard, Thieyacine Fall — who has lived in the neighborhood since 1986 — said Park Slope turns him off due to its elitist parents and wealth and says Brooklyn is “cliquey.”
“I have friends that make $1 million a year. I have friends that are on food stamps. It just gels a bit more diversity-wise,” he said of Manhattan. “They [Brooklynites] have their brownstones.”
This year’s top street in the world according to Time Out was High Street in Melbourne, Australia, followed by Hollywood Road in Hong Kong and East Eleventh in Austin, Texas — the only US street to come in ahead of Fifth Avenue.