Ed Pilkington is the chief reporter of the Guardian in the US. He’s worked for the Guardian for more years than he cares to mention, initially in London where he was a general news reporter and then became an editor, running the newspaper’s international news and domestic news coverage. He’s the author of Beyond the Mother Country: West Indians and the Notting Hill Race Riots of 1958. He lives in the North Slope with his three kids, his dog Jazzy and tortoise Henry.
What brought you to Park Slope?
We came out to the Slope from London in 2006 when my newspaper, the Guardian, sent me to report from the US. I felt I couldn’t miss the golden chance to write from New York, but I think more importantly my wife Jessica Morris and I felt it would be a great adventure for us and for our three children. And here we still are. It was Jessica who led us within New York to Park Slope – she was attracted by the combination of a great elementary school, PS 321, and a glorious park where the kids could run wild. That turned out to be prescient – Jessica died two years ago and half her ashes are buried under a tree near the dog pond in the park.
What is your most memorable Park Slope moment?
I’m a huge fan of the Prospect Park Soiree. One of the party’s a few years ago was just perfect – it was a balmy night, everyone was dressed in white, the music was fantastic, and we just couldn’t stop dancing.
Describe your community superpower.
I’ve learned how to prevent my gorgeous dog Jazzy, a soft-coated wheaten terrier, from visciously attacking other dogs and people in the Slope. A bit like Bruce Wayne, I use my power to make the neighborhood a much safer place.
If you could change one thing about the neighborhood, what would it be?
I’ve just spent the past five years living amid sewerage hell, the streets all around us torn up, rats everywhere, as a result of the water works around 6th Avenue which never seem to end. I truly can’t believe that it has taken all this time, and counting – but then, what do I know?
What do you think Park Slope will look like in 10 years?
Pretty much like it does now, I fear. What it should look like is many of the streets turned into carless pedestrian walkways, cycle lanes on every street, and charging stations for electric cars everywhere. If a relatively wealthy neighborhood like Park Slope can’t become carbon neutral, what hope is there?
What are you reading, would you recommend it?
An amazing novel from Mexico called Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor which my mate Eduardo raved about. You need to get over the weirdness that it has no paragraph breaks, but after that it’s really gripping – a sort of literary whodunit set in a poor area of Mexico.
What is your greatest extravagance?
An AirBnB for the weekend up in the Catskills, going on long hikes in the woods with my kids and Jazzy, then grilling corn and chops and an evening in front of a good movie trying not to fall asleep. Bliss!
If you couldn’t live in Park Slope or in Brooklyn, where would you go?
My spiritual home is the mountains of North Wales around Snowdon where I’ve been going since I was six. It’s beautiful sheep farming land, with dark looming mountains and a strong Welsh-speaking culture. I adore it and miss it.
Who is your hero, real or fictional?
Jessica. She was ill with glioblastoma, the most vicious form of brain tumor, for five years and in that time she not only helped our kids to grow strong enough to be without her, but she wrote a book All In My Head: A Memoir of Life, Love and Patient Power. It’s an account of the human ability to overcome aversity, and truly inspirational. She also set up an amazing non-profit OurBrainBank which gives GBM patients and families a voice and a community. To do that while facing the most terrible illness, to me that’s heroic.
Last Word, What’s is turning you on these days?
I’m really into Masalawala & Sons, the amazing new Indian restaurant on 5th Avenue and 5th Street. I’d already been to two other sister restaurants – Adda in Queens and Dhamaka in the Lower East Side. They are all sublime. Masalawala is a huge treat, and a great addition to 5th Avenue dining which I feel is still a little lacklustre after the pandemic. I just wish it was easier to secure a table, it’s so popular.
