Seventh Ave between 8th and 9th Sts, Park Slope, Brooklyn

1 Adam Friedland opened Urban Optical (326 Seventh Ave, 718-832-3513) on the corner of Seventh and 9th in 1995. In 2007, he shifted to his current spot. The other was a prime corner location, but the direct sunlight was too much for an eye shop to handle. He serves a wide range: folks heading to New York Methodist Hospital, those on their way to the subway, the teenagers released from John Jay High School every afternoon, stay-at-home moms. His customers generally want "cool, no-name or designer-with-no-name-on-it" glasses. "We have a very limited supply of Prada," he says, and the shop isn't too fancy. "It's not like you'd have to eat Grey Poupon here."

2 The family behind 24-hour Donuts (314–324 Seventh Ave)­ has been serving regulars and neighborhood visitors for 30-plus years. And despite the fancification of the Slope, a breakfast of two eggs, toast and potatoes will run you just $3.25. Two years ago, the tight-lipped owners bought 6 the corner building next to Video Gallery (it had been a Laundromat) and are thinking about opening another restaurant in the empty location. Considering that the number on the FOR RENT sign is a fax machine, they can't be too eager for a new tenant. If they didn't own the building, they probably wouldn't be able to afford rent (which they would not reveal).

Prospect Wine Shop

3 In 2000, a large selection of organic, biodynamic wines at Prospect Wine Shop (322 Seventh Ave, 718-768-1232) replaced what manager Amy Louise Pommier calls an "old school" liquor store that occupied this space for around 60 years. Because customers range from yuppies to night-shift hospital workers, stock includes $12 bottles of Côtes-du-Rhône and what Pommier calls "snob-appeal bordeaux." These days the top sellers have small price tags: The under-$10 bottle is back. For the canine-loving oenophiles, the shop also stocks dog treats.

Three businesses on this block—Urban Optical, Uncle Louie G's and Video Gallery—shuffled a door or two up or down in the past decade. The reason they don't want to give up on this block? Location (next to the F train stop) and variety, serving everyone from the $2,000-stroller set to techs at Methodist Hospital.

4 Manager Robert Rickman admits that when the UPS Store (320 Seventh Ave, 718-499-0464) opened here ten years ago—after buying out prior tenant Mailboxes Etc.—it signaled the "coming of the corporations." More people who worked for big companies were moving to Park Slope, and more business behemoths were relocating to Seventh Avenue, since they could afford the raised rent—which as recently as 2005 was the second highest in Brooklyn for commercial spaces, after Montague Street. Rickman hails from the island of Jamaica, and tries to make this UPS franchise "an oasis of calm" by not letting irate customers permeate his aura of peace. The reggae helps too.

Video Gallery

5 Kathy Smelyanski, who owns Video Gallery (316 Seventh Ave, 718-768-1777), says her favorite thing about the block is the mysterious self-trained opera singer whose vibrato pierces even the highest and most tightly shut windows. Since the recession began, many more families come in for homebody entertainment, she says, and more people have been asking, "Is this sad? Is it gonna be depressing?," putting the high-art films and heavy-handed dramas aside in favor of movies that won't induce tears—or much thought. Smelyanski, a self-described movie connoisseur, accepts special orders, and tries to fill them no matter how obscure. The strangest: I Was a Zombie for the FBI. It just so happened that the customer was the star.

7 Flyers for everything from lost dogs to roommate searches have been known to go missing around this area, says five-year resident Brian T. McNamara. They've been taken by the mysterious "stoop sale sign ripper," as the Daily Slope blog named him (or her) last summer. "He's become a fixture on the weekends," McNamara says. "He hits every lamppost at every intersection on Seventh. I mean, come on, who are they bothering? He needs to get a second job or start taking his meds again."

8 The staff at 13-year veteran Rice (311 Seventh Ave, 718-832-9512), including manager Ton Intra and waiter Pat Hantrakarnpong, swear theirs is authentic Thai cuisine. "We want everyone to know that Thai food is good and cheap," says Intra. Many folks who work here hail from the city of Chiang Mai, and all the art—elaborate carvings and gold-leafed sculptures—was shipped directly from there. In the corner sits a shrine dedicated to the owner of the land on which Rice sits (like Native American–style reverence for Mother Earth, translated to Brooklyn real estate), the spirit of the restaurant and the health of the customers, and every day fresh apples are set out as an offering. Most surprising to the folks who work at Rice is the diversity of their customers, who are of every shade and economic bracket. "I used to think Brooklyn is a place for white people," says Intra. "But Brooklyn is a place for all the people."

9 The most unusual flavor at Italian ice and ice cream empire Uncle Louie G's (319 Seventh Ave, 718-965-4237): chocolate Jell Ring, made from rings produced in the Joyva factory in Williamsburg. Uncle L.G.'s remains boarded up through winter (though it stayed open in December of last year to serve soup); it opened for the season on March 4. Who and where is Uncle Louie G? They won't say. But if you figure it out, owner Dino Russo says, you get free ice cream for life.

10 At Zana Cafe (321 Seventh Ave, no phone), owner Rosana Rosa says the most popular item is her homemade Gourmandise (two layers of chocolate cake filled with dark-chocolate mousse and covered in chocolate ganache). Customers also rave about the coffee—a Swiss brand called Café La Semeuse. This space was the first home of Uncle Louie G's ice cream, now next door.

11 Bensonhurst's Zito family still reigns at Smiling Pizza (23 Seventh Ave, 718-788-2137), where the past 15 years' influx of vegetarians (and fancy strollers with them) has led to menu additions like the salad pie. Smiling opened in 1974, back when "it wasn't such a popular neighborhood," says owner Stefano Zito. Business is steady, thanks to a prime location next to the F train's Seventh Avenue stop, but the rent keeps rising—around $10,000 a month these days (double what it was five years ago). "Costs are going through the roof," says Zito, so they raised the price of a slice a quarter last year, to $2.25. Most people were understanding, he says, but "you get some people, even if you charge them a dollar, they're still gonna complain."

12 Merchants say rents are higher on the east side of Seventh Avenue, because more people get off the train at the northeast intersection of Seventh and 9th Street than the other exits. According to the Chamber of Commerce, rents in the area hover around $75 to $100 per square foot. —Lisa Selin Davis

Block buzz

Police are ticket-happy on this block, perhaps because of its proximity to Methodist Hospital's emergency entrance. Double-parkers, be warned: Residents complain that you barely have time to grab a slice or coffee without getting slapped with a fine.

Most common celebrity sightings, according to folks at Smiling Pizza, Video Gallery, Zana Cafe and Brooklyn Industries: Steve Buscemi, his brother Michael Buscemi, John Turturro, Morgan Spurlock and "that guy from Oz," whoever that may be.

NEXT: 30th Ave between 35th and 36th Sts, Astoria, Queens
Family-owned businesses have kept this stretch alive. (Dizzy Gillespie loved it too.)

The secret lives of NYC streets
The New Yorkiest blocks