Up All Night

PARK SLOPE

OONSHINE AND I headed out for Park Slope, looking for Lesbians with Strollers. "Mister, mister, mister!" a kid yelled as we walked down into the subway. He came running up to us, out of breath. "Are you a wrestler?" Moonshine looks a lot like Mick Foley, but had to let the kid down.

Of course life is never easy. There were lesbians, but none with strollers. However, we did see an older dad, which is kind of like a lesbian.

Then, we spotted one in a deli. She was lovely and streamlined and said her name was Fotini, and that she'd lived there since '91 and had an exhibit at Naidre's Cafe. Fifth Ave., she told us, is now hipper than 7th, and you can move up to 15th St. and beyond if you want a good deal on rent.

"Lesbians will help you when there's a purpose," Moonshine mused. "I think that's why they're so good at rallies and stuff."

We popped into the Tea Lounge on 7th Ave and 10th St., which also has beer on tap and furniture that looks a lot cleaner than, say, Alt Cafe on Avenue A. The Park Slope Food Co-op is famous, but has a lot of rules. The last time Moonie was there, a lady was crying because she'd gotten her right to shop there taken away. I could sort of picture it.

There are so many restaurants offering $16 plates of pasta that, overwhelmed, we ducked into the pleasingly generic Szechuan Delight, requiring multiple glasses of water.

I wanted to see 5th Ave., to check out Southpaw and Ginger's, a homey women's bar. Southpaw had the sincere Thalia Zetek playing, and nobody had too much to say except for Michelle Hotchkiss, a lively young straight gal hugging the bar. She's lived on 5th Ave. for four years, renting a two-bedroom for $1700. She's from Tucson, and would rather live in Manhattan and have the whole New York experience, but she has a sucky job, she told me, and can't afford to save up three grand to move. Besides, O'Connor's is her favorite bar.

On the way to Ginger's, I spotted a couple of women about my age talking in hoarse voices outside of the laundromat. They'd come down for the 5th Ave. Art Fair, and had been partying at Mojo Cafe. Normail has lived in Park Slope since she was three, and said it's changed.

"All these corporate people moved in, and they think as a black person I should be pushing a baby carriage!"

Her friend Lesa Carter has lived there for 40 years-"It lost a lot of its flavor in the early 90s; there used to be hippie shops in the 70s when I was growing up, and I just loved those. Huggy Bear, the tattoo artist, was at 3rd St. and 7th Ave., and everybody knew him. We were multi-culti then; the people now don't even speak to you."

A girl walked by with a boy and a dog. "I think the dog just saw a spirit!" said the girl. A hipster wheeled by on a funny bike, and an adorable butch and femme strolled by holding hands. I headed to Ginger's where Mimi, a Park Slope landlord, was tending bar. She moved to the area in 1970 because she needed a yard, and says it was really Dyke Slope from the late 70s to the early 80s. Men usually take over a neighborhood lesbian bar, she told Moonshine. The main hangout, the Roost on 7th Ave., closed down, and the Rising on 5th Ave. recently shut its doors as well. Are the lesbians being subtly driven out by the gays?

The friendly and slow-talking Ginger's regular, Tommy Flowers, is a lifetime Sloper who bragged of a neighborhood cop, Matt Gallagher, who really looks out for the gay community. He built up Excelsior as a big gay bar, and escorted us across the street to see it. There were about two men and the owner, but it had a nice feel, and Zac, who says that Park Slope is his favorite place in the whole world, was there with his boyfriend of one year, Andrew.

"This is a great place to meet a husband," he reported. Like Tommy Flowers, he doesn't like the anonymity of the cruising bars of the Village and Chelsea. "They don't call it Barracuda for nothing!"

For Zac, Park Slope is a "small-town fantasy of leaving the city for the country. I came here because I like trees and babies and puppies!"

Late at night I ran into Chuck Funk, a comedian who lives nearby. He kind of hates Park Slope. "I think it's people showcasing their babies. For some reason I scare people there; they're very brittle. I went to a church meeting held by the Park Slope Action Committee, and they all freaked out about a shelter for homeless people."