Perhaps one of Brooklyn’s most desirable and iconic neighborhoods, Park Slope’s central defining feature is the beautiful, 526-acre, Prospect Park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who also designed Manhattan’s Central Park. Park Slope derived its name from being located on the downward slope emanating from the Western border of Prospect Park. The Park Slope Landmark Historic District was designated in 1973, and expanded in 2012 and 2016. Originally a neighborhood of wealthy and middle-class families, the took on a more working-class character by the 1950’s, with a period of racial unrest in the 1960s. By the 1970s and 80s the area had started to draw young professionals attracted to the picturesque architecture, tree lined streets and the park itself. Home to “pioneers” who started grass root organizations and retail stores which exist today – Park Slope Civic Council, Park Slope Parents, The Park Slope Food Coop and The Community Bookstore among others. It has a long history of being a diverse, welcoming community. It has counted among its residents Senator Chuck Schumer and Mayor Bill DeBlasio. I’m a Brooklyn Native and Park Slope is where we lived when I was a very young child, and I later moved into my own first apartment here after my college days. Corcoran’s Park Slope office where I’m based today, is a block away from my childhood home.  Park Slope is roughly bounded by  Prospect Park West on the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Avenue to the north, and the Prospect Expressway to the south. It is a very large neighborhood with three general location sub-sets of it that you’ll see in descriptions of homes for sale, which run north to south. The ‘North Slope’ runs from Flatbush Avenue to Garfield Place where the streets have names, the section from 1st Street through 9th Street is ‘Center Slope’, and south of 10th Street is called the ‘South Slope’.

Next door, Prospect Heights which sits north of Prospect Park, is a perfect companion and somewhat of an extension to Park Slope. Sharing the Grand Army Plaza Farmer’s Market on Saturdays, it holds a lot of the same characteristics as the Slope while still having its own distinct identity and its own Prospect Heights Landmark Historic District (). Homes are built on extra-large lots with large backyards containing gardens and even small farms. Vanderbilt Avenue its main commercial strip is one of the borough’s most vibrant featuring wonderful restaurants, shops, and bars.