Chloe Cullen

Park Slope Cats

September 27, 2024 By Chloe Cullen Filed Under: Park Slope Life

An unprecedented number of unhoused animals are returning to shelters across Brooklyn. Avid animal rescuers like Maddy Samaddar-Johnson, are working to combat this issue through localized and collaborative groups within the Park Slope community.

*Neighbors are joining forces through online networks to care for animals in our community*

“Sometimes I wonder, how I do this, and why I do this, and am I a masochist?” Maddy Samaddar-Johnson, the founder and coordinator of the Facebook group Park Slope Cats, is one of Park Slope’s invisible animal rescuers. Since she was a young girl, Samaddar-Johnson has rescued cats, dogs, birds, squirrels, and other animals. She has lived in Canada, India, Italy, the U.K., and the U.S. and worked in several other countries during her career, joining rescue efforts in all of those locations. In addition to her full-time job as an architect and ecological urban planner, she volunteers for nonprofits in New York as well as independently fosters and rescues.

Today’s surge of unhoused animals in need across the globe and in Park Slope is unprecedented, Samaddar-Johnson says. “The struggle has been compounded by massive, never before seen numbers of cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, and other companion animals being dumped across the world following the 2020 increase in pandemic adoptions.”

Four years later, animals are returning to shelters in overwhelming numbers as many pet owners had to face the costs of owning a pet outside of quarantine. Rover, a gig-sourcing app for services like pet-sitting and dog-walking, reported $157.1 million in revenue in September 2021.

When people decide to give up their animals, they release them to shelters, agitating the overwhelmed system, or place them outdoors. Unneutered animals, whether located outdoors or in homes, reproduce. Unspayed female cats, Samaddar-Johnson mentioned, can become pregnant while still nursing a litter of kittens. Due to warmer weather from climate change, “kitten season” starts earlier in the spring and ends later in the fall, resulting in more litters and an overall higher cat overpopulation. “New York City currently has a cat crisis,” says Samaddar-Johnson.

Additionally, the veterinary business has changed. Venture capitalist firms absorbed smaller practices, increasing the cost of vet visits. Jean Bubley, a Park Slope Cats member and independent foster to too many cats for her to count, notices this trend playing out in Park Slope.

“What’s happening is that Wall Street investors and venture capitalists have honed in on vet practices as good money makers, as people are spending a lot of money on their animals,” Bubley said.

Local veterinary clinics like Bond, VERG, and BluePearl, Bubley notes, offer emergency services, and some are open 24 hours. Pet owners may not realize how expensive the bill will be for an emergency service in the middle of the night until they are handed the bill for a completed treatment.

In Park Slope, many local rescuers practice trap-neuter-release, or TNR, to allow the more feral cats to stay outdoors without reproducing. Independent trappers pay for the neutering or spaying surgeries out of their own pockets.

“Despite having some individual kind souls and individual rescuers, there is no consolidated group just for the Park Slope people to focus on animal rescue and adoptions. They’re all scattered,” Samaddar-Johnson said.

Samaddar-Johnson started Park Slope Cats to connect the rescuers, cat lovers, potential fosters, and adopters who wanted to support their neighbors in solving the problem.

Samaddar-Johnson noticed an influx in cat posts among the 16,000 members of the now closed Park Slope Together group on Facebook. The group administrators suggested a separate group dedicated to cat-related content. This urgent need caused her to quickly roll out the group, though Samaddar-Johnson sees it expanding into an online collaboration and community for Park Slope residents.

When I started research for Park Slope animal rescues, I imagined visiting a brick-and-mortar animal shelter in the neighborhood and meeting animals stored in crates. The more I interviewed, the more I learned the difference between a foster-based network versus an animal shelter.

The mission of both the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and the Animal Care Centers of NYC (ACC) aim to prevent animal cruelty. However, they are kill shelters, though in the past several years the ACC has euthanized mainly cases with terminal medical issues. Their New Hope program connecting over 300 no-kill rescues in the tri-state region has been a good resource to pull out animals who are high up on the at-risk list due to medical or behavioral issues. But rescues even in the program are often overwhelmed and full.

“Euthanasia must be understood for what it is: a humane and responsible part of animal welfare that can spare animals from further hardship and suffering, and in some cases, ensures the safety of the community,” the ASPCA site reads.

Foster-based networks keep animals out of shelters and into vetted homes of volunteers. Foster volunteers offer the animals extra attention to promote their emotional and physical health, and support the animals through the process of future adoption.

An established nonprofit will often cover the cost of food, supplies, and medical expenses for volunteers. Since Park Slope doesn’t have a consolidated foster nonprofit, local rescuers and fosters volunteer their time and resources without a safety net.

Bubley moved to the neighborhood in 2001 and was helping cats on her own. In 2014, she participated in a now-closed local pet store’s adoption event and met other neighbors who fostered and cared about animals as much as she did.

Now, with the network she built with her twenty-plus years in the community, Bubley has accidentally become the local cat whisperer. If you need to trap a lost cat at 10 p.m., Jean Bubley will have the necessary trapping supplies. Bubley. If you find a cat at midnight needing urgent medical care, who will book a vet appointment and pay the charge at 1 a.m.? Jean Bubley.

She currently has well over a dozen cats in her home and pays nearly $1,000 out of pocket each month for food alone, on top of other costs such as litter, toys, and vet visits. Some cats require specific, prescribed food for medical conditions.

“I don’t have any plans to retire soon, even though I’ll be turning 73 next year,” Bubley said. “A salary helps when you’re taking care of all these critters.”

Cindy and Loretta, two of her special-needs foster cats available for adoption, have feline leukemia virus (FELV). Bubley even has an enclosed catio attached to her window for the two cats since they have to stay away from other cats to avoid transmitting FELV from biting, sharing bowls or a litter box. During our interview, Cindy rubbed her head affectionately against Bubley’s cheeks. (FELV can’t be transmitted to humans, dogs, or other animals.)

If more neighbors join local groups like Park Slope Cats, they meet and support fosters like Bubley and others in the area.

“Every city needs more people who can get involved with TNR actually going out there and doing the rescuing,” Bubley said. “We need more people who can foster, who have some space where they can take in cats in need temporarily.”

TNR is a physically demanding and emotionally exhausting effort. It requires rescuers to adopt the nocturnal schedule of a cat colony, scout them, then pay for their neutering surgeries.

When I reached out to Park Slope cat and dog rescuer Patricia Honey, she responded, “Oh man. I was just up 90 feet high in the cemetery today.” She then sent me a video of her at a stomach-dropping height in a tree over rescuing a cat. (Her Instagram caption about the rescue read “dear universe…you can chill now.”)

After Park Slope residents find these communities online, how can they help?

Samaddar-Johnson says start local. “There are individual ladies here in Park Slope and surrounding neighborhoods running around and not even getting the funding that other rescue groups with a big volunteer network have been able to procure.”

Fostering and adopting are helpful in providing homes to homeless animals, but there are other immediate ways to help. Neighbors can stockpile and donate food, litter, and trapping supplies. They can register for a TNR registration class through sites like Neighborhood Cats. They can donate financial funds to cover medical costs. They can promote social media posts with their networks for adoption and awareness. They can provide transportation to vet visits or other locations.

The Park Slope Cats group aims to be both an education tool and a community builder specific to this neighborhood. Members can provide supplies or volunteer to house a rescued cat from members in the group.

“I don’t want this to be a top-down organization,” Samaddar-Johnson said. “I want it to be more of a collaboration where compassionate members of the community and individual rescuers come together.”

Whether you foster or volunteer with established nonprofits, or support individual rescuers and fosters, the most important thing is to have a community of other people who understand, empathize, and support the work.

Resources if you want to get involved:

Want to get TNR certified?

Visit neighborhoodcats.org/tnr-in-nyc/workshops

I just spotted a stray cat outside. What do I do?

https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/how-help-stray-or-found-cat

I just found a tiny kitten/kittens outdoors. What should I do?

http://www.kittenlady.org/casa

Help outdoor cats by building winter shelters for feral cats https://www.neighborhoodcats.org/how-to-tnr/colony-care/feral-cat-winter-shelter

https://www.alleycat.org/resources/feral-cat-shelter-options-gallery/#easy

Park Slope rescuers you can help:

Join the group @parkslopecats on facebook to connect with other rescuers like Maddy and fosters like Jean or follow them on FB and IG @parkslopecats.parkslopecats.com

Foster/Adopt cats and dogs with Waggytail Rescue for Hoa Vu and Meg Sal who’ve been helping animals in Park Slope and beyond

Park Slope’s overwhelmed rescuer

Patricia Honey @stormy_andthe_Cuddlers

Foster/Adopt dogs through RescueCity

Busy Brooklyn Rescuer

Vicki Devor@carrolgardenscatlady

A few other rescues in Brooklyn close to Park Slope:

Brooklyn Bridge Animal Welfare Coalition and Clinic: bbawc.org

Brooklyn Animal Action: brooklynanimalaction.org

Sunset Park Cats: sunsetparkcats.org

Sean Casey Animal Rescue: nyanimalrescue.org

The Heart of Brooklyn: Park Slope Farmers Market

March 29, 2024 By Chloe Cullen Filed Under: Park Slope Eater, Park Slope Life

Open all weekends in all weather, the Grand Army farmer’s market is a neighborhood institution. GrowNYC Greenmarket Director and Park Slope resident Liz Carollo talks about why the Grand Army location is “the heart of Brooklyn” and offers advice for new customers and regulars.

“The actual space itself, bordering Prospect Park, across the street from the library, the museum, the Botanic Garden, the zoo, is truly the heart of Brooklyn,” Liz Carollo, GrowNYC’s Greenmarket Director, said.

Carollo started her 18-year career with GrowNYC’s publicity team in Grand Army Plaza. Her first two seasons, she watched runners jog to pick up milk and eggs in the morning and come back in the afternoon with their families. There were strawberry shortcake eating contests, planting demonstrations, and harvest festival celebrations. One Park Slope resident volunteered his 40-year-old tractor for kids to climb in the middle of the plaza.

“I spent those first two years getting to know Grand Army, the producers, the customers. It is such a special place,” Carollo said. Even though GrowNYC organizes 45 farmer’s markets across New York’s five boroughs, Carollo moved across the street from Grand Army and considers it her “home market.”

GrowNYC is an independent environmental nonprofit that has operated for over five decades. Six years in, starting in 1976, the founders recognized a missing link between farmers who had trouble finding buyers and New York residents with limited access to good produce in the city.

GrowNYC’s mission is to make fresh food accessible year-round to New York City residents. The greenmarkets operate year-round, and the markets stay open every weekend through heat, rain, and snow.

The greenmarkets also stayed open through the pandemic. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the greenmarkets received essential worker status from the city. Due in part to the large outdoor location, the Grand Army farmer’s market established three entrance lines and socially distant stands for customers to access with proper safety protocols.

“We had customers show up in tears because they didn’t want to go inside to shop anywhere. They were scared,” Carollo said.

In a city-wide quarantine, the Grand Army Plaza Market offered a place for people to see their neighbors or other people outside their household in asafe, outdoor, socially distant setting.

“It was an incredible experience I hope to not repeat,” Carollo said.

Today, the Grand Army greenmarket follows its founders’ mission to bring high quality produce, meats, and other foods to the city’s neighborhoods. Each weekend is planned up to a year in advance. GrowNYC assigns spaces to vendors, or producers, who grow, raise, or bake their own products. Producer applications for the next season open around Thanksgiving, and GrowNYC assigns producers their farmer’s market spaces for the following year at the end of February.

Producers resubmit their crop plans annually, even if they have come to Grand Army for years. The application asks what, when, and how much producers plan to make as well as when they plan to harvest it. These producers live within 250 miles north, 120 miles south, and 170 miles east and west of New York City.

“You have farmers who are coming in from South Jersey, so you get those early spring crops right away, and then you have farmers who are coming in from upstate New York, so it’s an extensive season on the other side. When you have a market like that, where you have producers that come from within the Green Market region, which is about a 200-mile radius around Poughkeepsie, you get a very wide range of products, and you take advantage of the seasonality of the region,” Carollo said.

There’s also an inspections and compliance team who review the items to make sure they are up to the quality GrowNYC expects. There are regional managers and on-site supervisors who ensure smooth day-of operations to make the farmer’s market a “calm, lovely morning for customers who arrive as we open at eight.”

“If we’re doing our job well, people show up and think it’s a spontaneous pop-up,” Carollo said.

Whether you’re new to the Grand Army farmer’s market or consider yourself a regular, here are the best tips to spending your weekends in “the heart of Brooklyn”:

Dress for the weather. Again, the farmer’s market will be open in all weather conditions. Make sure you’re also prepared.

Bring a reusable bag. The farmer’s market is BYOB: bring your own bags. As part of its sustainability mission, GrowNYC doesn’t allow vendors to distribute plastic handled bags.

Take a lap. Before you buy anything, browse all the stands. Are there any that stand out to you from a distance that you would like to check out? Any unexpected items you’re curious about? What is available today?

Another tip? GrowNYC doesn’t regulate the prices of the stands, so two stands might have different prices for similar produce. Compare quality and prices between stands.

Be open-minded and flexible with your expectations. You won’t know what is available until you arrive. If you want to make a tomato recipe in February, you’ll have to pivot when you realize no famers will have tomatoes until the summer.

Farmer’s market regulars may know cucumbers and eggplants grow in the summer and apples come in autumn, but they should also stay open-minded as the seasons change. “As it gets warm, there was an expectation that the summer produce has arrived, or even the spring produce…For the farmers, they’re just going in the ground, the farm just thawed,” Carollo said.

(Carollo’s produce recommendation for this spring transition? “You get these really, really tasty greens that have been in the ground all winter. You could either get bitter greens, or they get an added sweetness to them.”)

Ask questions. This may seem intimidating if you’ve never been to a farmer’s market before, but interacting directly with the person who grew, raised, or baked the item you purchased is an asset.

The most common questions people ask farmers, the information desk, or other shoppers is “What is the best way to cook this?” Producers eat whatever they produce, so they will have recommendations for how to best prepare and serve whatever you might buy.

Customers can also ask producers what is happening on the farm, what they expect to grow in the coming weeks, and what other products they are excited about. Producers may try new things on their farms. A long-running tomato farmer might also sell a new homemade tomato sauce. “The producers are trying to innovate and serve the customer better,” Carollo said. Asking questions leads to new recommendations, new products, and new techniques to carry home with your tote full of produce.

Talk to other shoppers. Start a conversation with a person that’s looking at the same honey jar as you. What else did they buy today that you should check out? And where did they get that cider donut? Be open to sharing what you discovered and what recipes you might have, too!

Go to the information tent. The information tent has all the answers and is present at every GrowNYC greenmarket. They can assist in questions from how to best prepare fennel, what local restaurants they recommend, or what vendors and produce might come in the next few weeks. A bonus? They may do a cooking demonstration or events at the information tent, making it worth your while to stop by each week.

Use your nutrition benefits. Cost can be a barrier to fresh food for people with limited financial resources. GrowNYC provides a space where people of all income levels can purchase fresh food. They accept nutrition benefits from SNAP, WIC, FMNP, Health Bucks, HealthFirst, and Humana OTC. SNAP customers who shop at a farmer’s market receive $2 in HealthBucks for every $2 spent on their EBT card, up to $10 a day.

Customers enrolled in these programs can approach the information tent to receive paper or wooden tokens to use directly at vendor stands. In 2023, customers across New York City accessed $4.3 million to use at greenmarkets, and Grand Army did 5,000 SNAP EBT transactions, equaling $155,000 in sales, and accessed $54,000 in HealthBucks.

“Grand Army is a location that is perfect for food access and for customers who are shopping on all income levels to be able to purchase fresh local foods,” Carollo said.

Support your local farmer’s market through GrowNYC. Though these farmer’s markets feel integral to their neighborhoods, GrowNYC is not a government-affiliated program. It is an independent nonprofit. If you love the farmer’s market, consider supporting their operations through a donation of your time or other resources. For more information about how you can get involved, please visit their website at https://www.grownyc.org/

Pottery Is Back in Park Slope Like It Never Left

January 2, 2024 By Chloe Cullen Filed Under: The Arts

*In the first fifteen minutes of the Friday TryDay Night Class at the Prospect Heights BKLN Clay branch, I thought I was destined to work with clay.*

A dozen wheels punctuated with orange clothes and mats stretched out in front of a long slab of wood, like a spinning Last Supper set-up. I picked a spot at the end to avoid breaking up couples who attended together. After grabbing clay from a repurposed trash bin, I threw the clay around in my hands as I looked around the studio.

“When Jen [Waverek] founded it, the concept was to create an elevated space,” Laura Vogel, BKYLN Clay’s COO/CFO said. “It’s really hard to keep ceramics studios clean. It’s really hard to keep them clutter free. It’s hard to keep them aesthetically elevated and pleasing. I think that people really like having a clean environment to work in.”

The white walls and cabinets with shelves full of kiln-fired mugs and bowls made the space feel like a Hollywood version of purgatory. Anything outside the beige dried clay or white walls, from the orange dish towels, the bright beanie of one member working on their own, or the two small dogs the member dog-sits sniffing the dust of the floor, commanded attention.

Once the class started, I trained my eye on the orange mat. I followed the instructor’s advice about centering the clay, throwing it hard enough to stick, and moving a sponge along the perimeter of the clay’s base to anchor and seal it for the upcoming spins. There was something almost natural or nostalgic about touching clay, about wetting it so it stays “glossy” while spinning. Maybe it’s a kindergarten playground memory of finding red clay in a sandbox and working our five-year-old fingers to dig as much of it as possible out of the ground. Maybe it’s a clay kit my friend had a few years ago where I made a little clay turtle named “Taxi”. Or maybe there’s a more primal drive beneath clay.

“It is one of the most ancient art forms,” Vogel said. “Connecting with something that has such a long history, and is literally earth, is appealing to people. Also, you have to put your phone down. You can’t do it while holding your phone. That forced separation is good for people, and people really need an excuse to do that. For ceramics, you need two hands in mud.”

While it would be easy to associate the pandemic with the increased popularity of a hands-on artistic escape, Park Slope residents have gravitated toward ceramics for over six years. A studio opened in 2017 by Jennifer Waverek and Cor Garcia-Held found popularity almost immediately in the neighborhood. After Waverek and Garcia-Held found different visions for their studios, Waverek and Vogel started BKLYN Clay at the Prospect Heights location on Dean Street, and Garcia-Held and her partner Emiliano founded Gasworks on Fifth Avenue.

Today, BKLN Clay has expanded to a Tribeca branch. Vogel estimates between the two branches they see 1,500 people walk in and out of their spaces each week. Gasworks boasts a smaller community of 75 members and almost 200 virtual and in-person students. The Garcia-Helds also started a philanthropy effort called Public Ceramics that raises money for ceramics fellowships to make it accessible to people who otherwise can’t afford the opportunity. Both studios offer one-time Try Night classes, private lessons and events, and specialized workshops covering topics from Claymation and hand-building planters to hand-building classes.

In 2018, the first year of both studios opening, BKLY Clay and Gasworks each saw their classes sell out within thirty minutes. Now, once the class registration link is live on their websites, their classes sell out in minutes.

“There are jokes around the studio games of, ‘Oh, here comes the Hunger Games,’’’ Garcia-Held said. “It can be heartbreaking for people when they don’t get into classes.”

Both studios claim that there isn’t one type of ceramics artist. “Broadening the definition of what it is to be an artist is important,” Vogel said. “So many people are like, ‘Oh, I’m not an artist, but I spend six hours a week crocheting,’ or ‘I really love coming to my ceramics class.’ You are an artist. You don’t have to have a gallery show to say you’re an artist. I really like being surrounded by people who are exploring that part of themselves very consciously.”

Garcia-Held also notes that ceramics is a communal activity from its earliest roots. “Historically, ceramics has always necessitated a lot of people to mine clay from the earth, to make glazes, to help fire the kilns. You can’t really do it by yourself. It’s always been something done in community.”

Back in my Try Night class, the beginners collective and I learn how to individually lift the clay with the outer edges of our hands, palms facing up into a small knob. Then we push the clay back into a lower dome by pushing the pad of our right thumb into our left thumb on the clay.

I could do this forever, I think. I imagine myself as the first cavewoman to discover ceramics. It feels so natural that I’m convinced I may have been clay in a past life.

I might be called to be a ceramics artist. I might be that girl.

We move onto putting our right thumbs into the lower dome to pull it closer to our bellies and create a bowl shape.

I push it too hard, and my thumb goes through the wall and breaks my beloved bowl.

The rest of the class moves on to the part of actually making a mug shape, and I’m back at square one. I creepily crane my neck to peer at the instructor and everyone else’s hands after I whack another clay cube into a ball and throw it on the orange mat, now dripping with the excess water from my last, glossy attempt.

“Speaking for myself, I think clay attracts perfectionists,” Garcia-Held said. “It attracts people that are grieving or going through intense emotions. In the world of art therapy, I was always taught that clay absorbs the most emotion of any medium, so I find it incredibly healing, and I think a lot of people do, too. When you were making something with clay, you’re sculpting it, you have these intentions for it, but it has to go through this crazy metamorphosis when it goes into the kiln. And you don’t know what it’s going to come out like, so you really have to practice surrendering and letting go.”

*Laura Vogel, COO/CFO, and Jennifer Waverek, Founder/CEO of BKLYN Clay*

When I heard this the day after my Try Night class, spending the entire time at another studio going over and over the centering phase that I trusted myself to do so well, I almost laughed. During the pandemic, I wrote a book on perfectionism in our larger Western culture but also, primarily, in my negative spurring. I always want to be the person that does something right on the first try, and if I can’t, I won’t try. I’ve gotten better at trying things, even if I think I’ll look like a fool when I mess up, but the instinct to preserve the respect I have still hides out.

Another woman in the class shares this same self-deprecating route that I find so familiar. “Is this doomed?” she asks the instructor.

“It’s not doomed yet,” the instructor says hopefully. People in the class laugh as the woman says, “That’s an emphatic yet.” The instructor hops in, pulls the clay back from breakage. I’m too scared to hail the instructor over to my station to repair the knowledge I don’t have on how to keep my clay upright and whole.

The woman across from me, one of the only other people who arrived alone, laughs that her longer nails are not compatible with clay. I laugh because my nails are almost filed down to the nub, so what’s my excuse?

At the end of the class, everyone cleans up their station and throws their clay, whether it eventually adopted the intended mug shape or not, into an orange bin. No one takes anything away from the class, but everyone knows that going in. This wet clay will be thrown in the kiln and recycled, ready to become something for someone else another day.

Reader Recommendation: Our Favorite Coffee Shops

December 14, 2023 By Chloe Cullen Filed Under: Park Slope Eater, Park Slope Life

Coffee shops are the cornerstones of a metropolitan life, but not all coffee shops are the same.

For me, I have coffee shops that require a perfectly distanced walk to wake me up alongside a cappuccino. I have a spot for decadent pastries like burnt cheesecake and drippy cinnamon buns, perfect to dig into once you’re home, and I have a spot for an incredible apple turnover that can be, if needed, devoured on the move with only flakes left to clean. One shop offers picnic basket deals for lunches outside, and one place is perfect for an all-day laptop grind.

In a city where living quarters can be…let’s say, contained, a coffee shop is an extension of our lives. It’s our living room, our old-fashioned parlor, and our study.

In winter, we crave getting out of our apartments and rosying our cheeks in the cold air—if there’s a warm destination in mind. Pair this with the buzz of catching up with a friend over the joyful combination of a smooth coffee and buttery pastry and you’ll forget that you miss life before daylight savings. These are the best cafes where you can ask “No, seriously, how are you?” without getting a stink eye from a headphone-wearing stranger.

Brew Memories

295 7th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215 (7th Ave & 7th St)

brewmemoriesbrooklyn@gmail.com | (347) 987-3954

Mon-Fri: 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sat & Sun: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

I debated sharing this recommendation, but ‘tis the season for generosity. Sometimes when I meet up with a friend, I’m caught in that place of being a little too hungry or a little too wired from my morning caffeine to want the typical cappuccino or croissant. Brew Memories brings a versatility to the coffee shop scene that is much needed. With Vietnamese coffee, bubble tea, or hot brown sugar matcha lattes, this place steps above your typical barista spread for a variety of moods and cravings. Sure, you can get a croissant, but why not double down and get a tofu banhmi, a chicken katsu bento box, or a fried chicken sandwich? On top of that, the inside space is extremely calming. With bare bulb light fixtures and brick walls covered in art, you and your friend will chat catch-up until you remember this is not, in fact, either of your living rooms.

Kos Kaffe

251 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215 (5th Ave & Garfield St)

koskaffe@gmail.com | 718-768-6868

Mon-Sun: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Listen, I’m not coming down on anyone who brings their laptop to a coffee shop. The perfect coffee shops for sitting and working like there’s no world around you is for a different article. Kos Kaffe appreciates that their customers will be both the duo talking about their life over a nice meal and the avid laptop workers. And they make it work. Styled like a quaint general store and a European café, they implement laptop rules from noon to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday or 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the weekends. During these restricted hours, smaller tables perfect for a chatty duo can nest, and laptops move to a communal table. Everyone wins! On top of that, Kos Kaffe sources their food from local farms, orchards, and bakeries, so you can dig in sans guilt to the green frittata, green BLT, or the kale salad. The non-green food options are equally as guilt-free.

Maya and Camila Café

463 4th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215 (4th Ave & 11th St)

(862) 465-9389

Mon-Sun: 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Danny Salamanca, the owner of the café who named it after his daughters, planned this café for five years. Shortly after its opening, it experienced a fire in May and another electrical wiring setback in September, which put it back out of business. A local GoFundMe raising over $17,000 helped reopen this café, and their doors reopened in November. With the tagline “Columbia meets Brooklyn,” this spot feels incredibly warm and comfortable. Whether sitting barside or in a booth, this spot allows you to feel like you’re escaping in plain sight in the rare way that the best neighborhood haunts do. Whether you have a dog or a small child, a craving for empanadas or bacon-egg-and-cheese breakfast sandwiches, or can’t decide between espresso and espresso martini, this place will check all your boxes.

Milk Bar

204 6th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217 (6th Ave & Union St)

milkbarbrooklyn@gmail.com | (929) 276-3396

Mon-Fri: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Sat & Sun: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m

The windows at the front of the store let in a great amount of light that lets you pretend you’re outside while hiding indoors. I’m not the only person who likes this space, so go earlier or later in the day to avoid a rush. It’s worth the schedule configuring to scoop one of those indoor tables. With no laptops allowed during the weekend, the Milk Bar on 6th Avenue encourages people to use the space to connect. Embrace the welcome, private hum of other conversations surrounding your rant about your roommates, life partner, or kids (depending on your lifestyle). Even better? Get the soup combo with the soup of the day and half a grilled cheese or French onion toast. What could be more delightful decadent than that level of escape in plain sight of the street.

Velvette Brew

279 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215 (5th Ave & 1st St)

(718) 971-9131

Mon-Sun: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Something all these cafes have in common for the right spot to catch up with a bud? Open spaces with lots and lots of seating. You don’t want to be that group that meets up at a spot, realizes after they bought the coffee that there’s nowhere to sit, then you’re wandering looking for something park-ish or bench-y to continue your chat in the cold. Velvette on 5th Avenue does it best. With plenty of tables along the wall (near outlets) and in the middle of the shop, people can find a space to hang out and chat any day. With another cozier shop opened at 814 Union Street, Velvette offers great coffee and small caprese or chorizo sandwiches. In the summer, they will have ice cream from Cry Babys Creamery to create a DIY affogato, if you so choose, but for now, embrace the indoor warmth and hefty sweater season of winter. Only the cold can make you remember how delicious a hot coffee can be.