PARK SLOPE HOUSE OF WHIMSY? COME ON

I almost fell over after reading the piece in the Times about the falling down building on Second Street.

The House that Whimsy Built?

Ya gotta be kidding. Dorothy Nash, the woman  who owns that building is a menace to Seventh Avenue, as well as pedestrians who have been hit by materials falling off that falling down building.

Most Park Slopers I'm imagining will read that article and laugh.

That's because 187 Seventh Avenue is an ugly mess. Nash has been offered gobs of money to sell the place but has continuously refused. She also owns a building on Second Street between Seventh and Sixth Avenue, an eyesore in similar disrepair.

That building is more like the house that neglect built and she's one of those people who thinks everyone should have to look at her garbage.

The Times' article makes it sound like that building is some kind of beloved relic like the Broken Angel in Clinton Hill. Well, I beg to differ. At one time there was a strange bar in there that was filled to the gills with old baby doll heads and other toys. In the late 1990's, Nash's daughters opened a dress shop and men's clothing store. Does Baby Doll Boutique and Sugar Daddy ring a bell? (Probably not. They were both fairly short lived and abundantly bizarre).

Yes, there are old Park Slope memories locked in that house but the idea that Nash's decrepit and neglected building should be preserved is just plain crazy.

Interestingly, the building has a liquor license even if it is across the street from the school. That license predates PS 321. There's still a sign that says, “Live Music Live, Finest Beer, Wine and Liquors."

It wasn't much of a bar, that's for sure. Hepcat once walked by and saw a friend of his in there performing standup. He liked the idea of the place but the beer wasn't great and it wasn't very comfortable sitting in there. 

Sure, there's an interesting and eccentric Park Slope story behind that building. But it ain't no house of whimsy that's for sure. It's been a blemish to the Avenue since 1991 when we moved here.

Nash is quoted in the New York Times as saying that " they are seeking investors to transform the building into an arts and media center, with galleries and showrooms for emerging designer." .

Nice idea but I'm not sure if she has what it takes to make something like that happen. In fact, I seriously doubt it.

I respect that she's holding out for the right kind of buyer but I'm not sure we can trust her idea of who the right buyer might be. If what she's done with the building all these years is an example of her instincts, I'm kinda scared what she has in mind.

There, I said it.