Park Slope then and now: 15-cent burgers, $12,000 homes
PARK SLOPE, Brooklyn (PIX11) – When John Lee thinks of Park Slope, he pictures darting around open roads on his bike, 15-cent burgers and $12,000 brownstones.
Now, the community looks completely different; it’s shaded by new trees and the home prices have skyrocketed. But once a year, after decades apart, Lee gets his community back together and his old vision returns, adorned by “wows” and prodding questions like, “How many kids you got?”
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“To go back there now, 50 years later, only the man upstairs can do something like that,” Lee said. “That’s joy.”
Soon, Lee and his neighbors’ upbringing in Park Slope could be immortalized through an oral history project being considered for Participatory Budgeting in Council Member Shahana Hanif’s district. The expense project would bring together photos, videos, and interviews with families living in Park Slope between the 1950s and 1970s, according to Kim Maier, Executive Director of Old Stone House, the organization leading the proposal.
“It’s just so incredible to see these families that are connected over the decades,” Maier said. “It’s a chance to capture stories that we might not otherwise hear.”
For Maier, Lee and his neighbors — including Lee’s ex-wife and much of his family — tell a modern history of Park Slope. Lee can remember watching home prices increase in the 1970s as his neighbors moved out one by one, and what once was a $12,000 house on Fourth Street skyrocketed to well over $3 million.
Today, only about three of Lee’s original neighbors remain on the block and the demographic makeup is different.
“Park Slope, it definitely doesn’t look like what you see down there during the Park Slope reunion,” John Lee’s daughter, Krystal Lee, said.
But the foundations laid by a tight-knit community remain, and the oral history project will look backward to forward, touching on topics like gentrification and housing affordability, Maier said.
“[It’s about] hearing everybody’s story, and getting the people who live in Park Slope now, getting them to hear how Park Slope has changed over the years,” said Krystal Lee.
For the Lees, every gathering is a mini-reunion, full of stories about a block that felt more like a family than a group of neighbors. The Old Stone House project will be as much a marking of Park Slope history as a celebration of life.
“Life can change,” John Lee said. “We still alive? Let’s come together and celebrate.”
Emily Rahhal is a digital reporter from Los Angeles who has covered local news for years. She has been with PIX11 since 2024. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter.
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