Parkwanus (Park Slope + Gowanus)

“Parkwanus” (Park Slope + Gowanus) began as a joke on the blog F’ed in Park Slope on June 21, 2013:
 
“Given the quality of Dino’s BBQ, I feel like they kind of deserve to be the neighborhood T-Rex though, and coupled with the space’s enormous capacity, I can easily see it becoming a major draw to the just-now-invented nabe of Parkwanus.”
 
The “Parkwanus” term has been only infrequently used—almost exclusively as a joke for how silly real estate portmanteau names can be.
     
 
Wikipedia: Park Slope
Park Slope is a neighborhood in northwest Brooklyn, New York City. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Avenue to the north, and Prospect Expressway to the south. Generally, the section from Flatbush Avenue to Garfield Place (the “named streets”) is considered the “North Slope”, the section from 1st through 9th Streets is considered the “Center Slope”, and south of 10th Street, the “South Slope”. The neighborhood takes its name from its location on the western slope of neighboring Prospect Park. Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue are its primary commercial streets, while its east-west side streets are lined with brownstones and apartment buildings.
 
Wikipedia: Gowanus, Brooklyn
Gowanus (/ɡəˈwɑːnəs/ gə-wah-nəs) is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 6.
 
The Gowanus area has been an active center of industrial and shipping activity since the 1860s. It is zoned for light to mid-level manufacturing (M1, M2, and M3).
 
Recently, residential developers have been hindered by the industrial zoning and the problems of the sewage overflow through the canal water, but there have been rumors of rezoning by the New York City Department of City Planning.
 
F’ed in Park Slope
DINOSAUR BAR-B-QUE GETS ALL JURASSIC PARK UP IN THIS PIECE
Posted by: PAROWPYRO | Friday, June 21, 2013 at 7:00AM
(...)
Given the quality of Dino’s BBQ, I feel like they kind of deserve to be the neighborhood T-Rex though, and coupled with the space’s enormous capacity, I can easily see it becoming a major draw to the just-now-invented nabe of Parkwanus. So yeah…I’m cool with it.
(...)
COMMENTS
Eva Radke • a year ago
Parkwanus? No. PLEASE tell me that is not real. Gowanus doesn’t need a name mash. Park Slope (where I live) and Gowanus (where my business is) are totally different and this nabe name down grades them both. Just because it’s steadily growing as a groovy spot and a last frontier, does not mean Park Slope gets a cut.
 
Gothamist
Welcome To “Parkwanus,” The New Brooklyn Neighborhood Nobody Asked For
Lauren Evans in News on Jun 27, 2013 2:48 pm
I’ve lived in Park Slope for awhile, and never have I heard anyone refer to the blurry intersection of Park Slope and Gowanus as Parkwanus, probably because it is utterly inane. But what do I know? It seems the latest abortion of neighborhood portmanteaus (abortmanteau, IF YOU WILL) first appeared on the blog “F’d in Park Slope,” in which a piece on the newly opened Dino Bar-B-Que concludes with a mention of the “just-now-invented nabe of Parkwanus.”
 
Shawn Parow, the author of the piece, wrote in an email that he’d “come across a few mentions of it on the internet,” but isn’t aware of any origin story, per se. “I’d just had a few beers whilst writing the piece and thought it would be hilarious,” adding, ominously, “I’m afraid I may have created a monster.”
 
Your fear is well founded, Shawn.
     
Brooklyn (NY) Magazine
06/27/13 3:46pm
And the Name of the Newest Brooklyn Neighborhood Is…
by Kristin Iversen
PARKWANUS! That’s right, guys. Parkwanus. A charming portmanteau of Park Slope and Gowanus, this neighborhood straddles that liminal area around 3rd and 4th Avenues that causes people to just drop dead from confusion over what to call it. Well, confusion be damned! There is now a name for this area, so you will never have to drop dead again. Or something.
 
Curbed NY
Friday, June 28, 2013, by Jeremiah Budin
NEIGHBORHOOD NAMES And now, the newest addition to the catalogue of fake neighborhood names that no one actually uses: Parkwanus, the area between Park Slope and Gowanus. Parkwanus was coined as a joke by a Fucked in Park Slope blogger, but now people are getting all upset about it, which kind of makes it real. Welcome, Parkwanus. Please take your place next to Rambo, SoHa, and LoLo. [Gothamist; previously; photo by Mattron]
 
Time Out New York
Dumbest fake New York neighborhoods: Parkwanus, ProCro and more
From Bedwick to Rambo, here are the stupidest Realtor-perpetuated New York neighborhood names…and why we’re tired of hearing about how stupid they are.
By Drew Toal Thu Sep 5 2013
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Parkwanus
How it started: Apparently this unloved bastard child of Park Slope and Gowanus began as a throwaway joke on the blog F’d in Park Slope.
Local reaction: On Twitter, it was met with various responses, including vomiting on a keyboard, voluntary drowning in the Gowanus Canal and proposing a citywide real-estate-agent ban.
Why it’s so damn ridiculous: It’s not even catchy. If your mash-up name has three syllables, you’re not doing it right.
You protest too much: This thing would’ve been long dead by now if people weren’t so quick to get on the Internet and complain about it being a thing. Ironic, huh?
 
Twitter
Nest Seekers
‏@NestSeekers
@CondeNYC @CurbedNY next you’re going to say there is no such thing as Bedwick or Parkwanus!
1:42 PM - 13 Mar 2014