Gowanus or Park Slope?

The entire issue of neighborhood names and identities--acronyms like BoCoCa aside--is vexing, especially in a hood like Gowanus, which has no officially recognized boundaries. There is an entire thread on the Park Slope Message Board devoted to answering the question: "My New Apt.--Do I live in Park Slope?"

"It's on 7th street between 3rd and 4th avenue," the writer says. "Technically, where the hell am I? Park Slope? Gowanus? Park Glowanuspe? It's the 11215 area code, I know that."

The writer notes a typical Gowanus streetscape: "There's a cab company nearby...And a BP gas station. A spiffy-looking laundromat...On my block there's a few average-looking buildings...one brand new luxury co-op building which really seems out of place (it has a website and info on a big billboard outside it, which I can't remember), and a big warehouse takes up several lots on the northwest part of the block, trucks going in and out. It's a pretty eclectic little place."

Although the area could be annexed to Park Slope by real estate brokers at any moment or gain an entirely new neighborhood name, popular opinion says that Fourth Avenue (both sides) is the dividing line between the Slope and Gowanus.

The simplest rule of thumb, in the words of one writer: "If you are walking on level ground, it's not the slope."