south Park Slope, where they were living in their
first apartment.
When they happened on Prospect-Lefferts Gardens,
it was about 20 or 25 percent white. They liked that
the neighborhood was integrated and whites were
not moving out as Blacks arrived. It had been integrated
decades earlier as Black professionals such as
doctors, lawyers and university presidents moved in.
In 1968, locals formed a neighborhood group, the
Prospect-Lefferts Gardens Neighborhood Association,
or PLGNA, whose purpose was to attract people of all
races to the area.
Taking Ortner’s suggestion to heart, over the years
Bob has been active with a variety of neighborhood
groups (including PLGNA, Lefferts Manor Association,
Community Board 9, and PLG Arts), helping to
put on the yearly house tours, landmark the neighborhood,
and promote community cohesion through
events such as exhibits and concerts.
This is what the late preservationist Everett Ortner
called the “schoolteacher’s coup” - the idea that “two
teachers could buy an old house and live almost like
millionaires on almost no money,” says Bob. Elaine was
working as a schoolteacher and Bob, who studied political
science, was working for the city in the personnel
office of the Queens’ district attorney.
Soon after they moved to Prospect-Lefferts Gardens,
Bob took a class at the New School with Ortner, a
cofounder of the Brownstoner Revival Coalition, which
defended historic townhouses and neighborhoods from
the threats of neglect and demolition. Ortner urged
attendees to promote their neighborhoods and not to
“hide their light under a bushel,” as Bob recalls.
Bob, originally from Forest Hills in Queens, and
Elaine, who is from East Flatbush, met at a theater
party organized by a friend in 1968 and married in
1970. White and Jewish, they were turned off by the
racist and anti-semitic attitudes they encountered in
Left, Elaine collects 1940s vases as well as vintage
clothing and antiques. Above, a built-in sideboard in
the dining room displays collections of vintage glassware
and china. Right, the rear parlor is a comfortable
spot for reading.
48
south Park Slope, where they were living in their
first apartment.
When they happened on Prospect-Lefferts Gardens,
it was about 20 or 25 percent white. They liked that
the neighborhood was integrated and whites were
not moving out as Blacks arrived. It had been integrated
decades earlier as Black professionals such as
doctors, lawyers and university presidents moved in.
In 1968, locals formed a neighborhood group, the
Prospect-Lefferts Gardens Neighborhood Association,
or PLGNA, whose purpose was to attract people of all
races to the area.
Taking Ortner’s suggestion to heart, over the years
Bob has been active with a variety of neighborhood
groups (including PLGNA, Lefferts Manor Association,
Community Board 9, and PLG Arts), helping to
put on the yearly house tours, landmark the neighborhood,
and promote community cohesion through
events such as exhibits and concerts.
This is what the late preservationist Everett Ortner
called the “schoolteacher’s coup” - the idea that “two
teachers could buy an old house and live almost like
millionaires on almost no money,” says Bob. Elaine was
working as a schoolteacher and Bob, who studied political
science, was working for the city in the personnel
office of the Queens’ district attorney.
Soon after they moved to Prospect-Lefferts Gardens,
Bob took a class at the New School with Ortner, a
cofounder of the Brownstoner Revival Coalition, which
defended historic townhouses and neighborhoods from
the threats of neglect and demolition. Ortner urged
attendees to promote their neighborhoods and not to
“hide their light under a bushel,” as Bob recalls.
Bob, originally from Forest Hills in Queens, and
Elaine, who is from East Flatbush, met at a theater
party organized by a friend in 1968 and married in
1970. White and Jewish, they were turned off by the
racist and anti-semitic attitudes they encountered in
Left, Elaine collects 1940s vases as well as vintage
clothing and antiques. Above, a built-in sideboard in
the dining room displays collections of vintage glassware
and china. Right, the rear parlor is a comfortable
spot for reading.
48