The Park Slope Week in Review: 2/21/11 - 2/25/11

On Monday, the nearly 40 year-old "working woman's" store City Casuals, on Seventh between Third and Fourth Streets, announced that they'll be shutting down this coming Monday, and there's a 50% off sale going on right now. Three cheers for owner Esther Levitt, who's heading into a much-deserved retirement. Fornino partner Chris Walsh also laid out the circumstances surrounding owner Michael Ayoub's departure, and revealed the details of some coming changes to the bar area.

Tuesday brought the week's most earth-shattering article, laying out some coming changes to one of the greatest dive bars in the world, O'Connor's, on Fifth between Dergen and Dean. Owner Mike Maher described the new back room, which will feature a kitchen, as well as a large upstairs room, featuring an outdoor beer garden. While the front room will remain largely intact (aside from the addition of taps for the beer), big changes are certainly a'comin.

Wednesday morning saw great local pub Harry Bolands, on Ninth Street just west of Fifth, shuttered by the city over nonpayment of taxes. They're still closed, so hopefully they can resolve their issues and get the hell back up and running, like Scalino did last weekend. Pearle Vision also bought out Infinity Optometry, on Seventh and Union, and installed their signage on Wednesday.

On Thursday, word got around that the un-named Swedish coffee shop on Fifth between Degraw and Sackett finally got a name along with a paint job, and had also opened up a second outpost on the Lower East Side. The name? Konditori. A sign also went up confirming the sad fact that The Soup Bowl will be closing down for the season at the end of February, and Uncle Louie G will be moving back into the tiny space on Seventh just north of Ninth Street. Stock up now!

Last but certainly not least, today brought confirmation that the classic old rotary phone booth that's held down the back corner of O'Connor's for over 70 years will not be going anywhere when they renovate. Maher told me, in his thick Irish brogue, "It ain't goin' nowhere! If I lay a finger on it my wife will divorce me!" See, it pays to have a wife who's into old phone booths!

The Park Slope Week in Review: 2/14/11- 2/18/11

Hope everyone's enjoying their snowy Presidents' Day! Here's a roundup of all of last week's news. This will be published every Friday going forward, and can also be found on FIPS.

Last Monday, word got around that there's a petition against the Grand Prospect Hall. It's not saying not to build it, just to do some impact studies about how a grotesquely out of scale hotel could negatively affect the area and its residents.

On Tuesday, the rumors that a pizza place was coming to the little space just west of the former Artesana (on First Street near Seventh Avenue) were confirmed. It'll be an outpost of South Brooklyn Pizza, run by the folks behind P.J. Hanley's, the popular Carroll Gardens bar. This pizza won't be like what you get from your usual slice joint; it's a little more upscale. News also broke on Tuesday that the former Second Helpings space, on Ninth Street just east of Seventh, would be turning into a Vietnamese restaurant. And there was much rejoicing.

On Wednesday, the above-mentioned Vietnamese restaurant got a sign, and a name: it'll be called Ha Noi, which I believe is Vietnamese for Hanoi. I also had a chat with the awesome daytime bartender at Timboo's, Betty Collins.

Friday was an eventful day. Colombia in Park Slope, a traditional Colombian restaurant specializing in empanadas and grilled meats, opened in the old Pollio space on Fifth Ave between Fifth and Sixth. There's an item on the menu called Horse Steak, bit it doesn't contain any horse. Nahm Thai Kitchen also opened last week in half of the storefront last occupied by Long Tan, and their lunch special is good. A body rub place also affixed a horrific sign to their new storefront, replacing an old realty office on Seventh up past Sterling. 203 Fifth Avenue (formerly a pizzeria) also got a shiny new glass facade, and finally, the scaffolding started coming down from the new building on the corner of Fifth and St. Johns, and it looks very red.