On a brutally hot early morning in late July, a crowd gathered in front of 374 5th Avenue to celebrate Amy Fonda Sara’s 50+ years of keeping Park Slope supplied with flowers and plants. The festivities commenced on schedule at exactly 10:00AM, devoid of politicians, which possibly explained the punctuality. After a brief intro from a Business Improvement District representative sporting a baseball cap that read #The Other 5th, Amy thanked everyone who had helped along the away – Martine, Rebecca, Lorraine, Jamie, along with the “botanical offspring” she’s inspired, too many to mention here. She also singled out Cesar Hidalgo, her landlord, standing at the edge of the crowd. “We’ve had our issues through the years, but he came through when it mattered most, during the pandemic, and helped us survive.” Long applause ensued as Cesar beamed.
She closed with thoughts about longevity and the neighborhood. To set the stage, I will interject here that in the early 70s, the Slope was starting to recover from its post-War malaise. A “brownstone revival” reclaimed a rundown housing stock that had been sliced and diced into rooming houses and apartment buildings while 7th Avenue’s rummage stores and repair shops gave way to young entrepreneurs. Annual house tours touted a family-friendly neighborhood nestled beside Brooklyn’s largest oasis and playground, Prospect Park. At the same time, the suburban exodus lost steam when folks had to siphon gas into their tanks during the OPEC oil embargo to get to work. A 20 minute commute to Manhattan suddenly seemed like a better alternative.
And so, after inheriting some money, Brooklyn-born and Rockaway-bred Amy left a two-year stint as a schoolteacher to pursue her true calling: In 1971, on the west side of 7th Avenue, near Berkeley Place she opened Zu Zu’s Petals, a name derived from the Christmas chestnut, It’s A Wonderful Life. A year later, Zu Zu’s moved across the street where it would thrive for the next three decades.
Months after Zu Zu’s Petals moved into its new digs on the east side, Leaf ‘n Bean opened next door. More entrepreneurs followed: Camperdown Elm on Union Street, Women’s Book Store near 1st Street, Rancho Alegre at Garfield, Two Boots on 2nd Street, etc. As 7th Avenue blossomed, inevitably the rents did too, gradually at first until by the 1990s, “warehousing storefronts” by speculating realtors/owners/hedge funds actually became a thing. And so, in August 2004, when fire consumed Zu Zu and its annex, Growing Things, Amy Sara could no longer find an affordable rent. Prices had doubled, squeezing out small businesses, replaced by chain stores with plenty of cash to absorb the overhead. The solution to Amy’s dilemma was a lot of help from her friends and a new location on 5th Avenue, then enjoying an influx of upper Slope migrants.
There, Zu Zu’s was forced to endure other calamities: hurricane flooding and Covid. But the help kept on coming, thanks to the multi-generational relationships Amy had forged with customers. The weddings, the funerals, the graduations, the parties, all the life events that Zu Zu’s Petals had beautified and scented for so many years had filled a well of support that refused to run dry. Amy and her crew survived. And so she still gets to do what she loves best: every week she gets to buy a whole bunch of beautiful fresh flowers – no refrigeration for Zu Zu’s Petals, bub.
Amy ended her remarks by thanking the NY State Historic Business Preservation Registry for the recognition which will be commemorated in a window sticker. The Registry requires the business to have served the same community for 50 years and a State-elected official’s sponsorship, in this instance, Senator Bobby Carroll. Zu Zu’s Petals is only the fourth Brooklyn business to be recognized since the registry was created in 2020, joining Sahadi Importing on Atlantic Ave (established 1898), Kellogg’s Diner on Metropolitan Ave (1928), and JoMar’s Chocolates on Avenue R (1946).
“Yes, I appreciate the sticker,” Amy concluded, “but the real treat is seeing all of you together here today. Now let’s get out of this heat and eat some cake!”
Perseverance in rapidly changing times is to be cherished. Amy’s site on 7th Avenue is now the home of Unleashed by Petco. Leaf ‘N Bean closed in 2013, became a Subway, then Simple Nails, and is now a CBD vape shop. For every Park Slope Copy Center, Tarzian and Zu Zu’s Petals that survives, there are many more that now exist only in our memories.
On the way back to the subway, I passed The 5th Avenue Key Store three blocks away. Four separate signs on the store indicated it has been in business since 1924. Maybe the owner wants a sticker too.
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