NY Kids Club Gearing up to Replace Southpaw

If there is one example of how much Park Slope has changed in the past two decades the fact that Southpaw, a music venue on Fifth Avenue who has brought bands and performers like TV On The Radio and Slick Rick, will close this month to be replaced by NY Kids Club.

The music venue, which opened in June 2002 between St. Johns and Sterling places, will close on Feb. 20.

Come September NY Kids Club, which is a recreation and learning center, will open its biggest space in the city yet. The center, which caters to kids from 2 months to 12 years, will have a gymnastics area, a culinary, dance and theatre institute, martial arts classes, a preschool, after school programs and even Friday night “Pajama Parties.”  

Liza Zeneski, the director of special events at NY Kids Club, is excited for the new center. 

“The rockers are upset, but the neighborhood has changed,” Zeneski said, who lives in Park Slope and has a 14-month-old boy. “It’s impossible to walk a block without seeing kids and a stroller.” 

Now, the space that used to be a playground for music lovers and drinkers will literally turn into a playground. NY Kids Club will operate in the entire building and they are going to have an outdoor playground on the roof.

The center, which will be the eighth of its kind in the city, is here to stay: “We are going to be as big as possible and once the families come we want them to stay with us starting from 2 months to 12 years.” 

The class for the youngest children is the “Infant Milestone Class,” which is for moms and dads to bring their babies, run by teachers and a doctor specializing in child development, to interact with other infants and participate in movement exercises to music, playing with toys and other stimulating programs. 

“It helps to bring parents out of the house and interact with neighbors and peers,” Zeneski explained during an interview at the Brooklyn Heights center, which is the biggest space until the Park Slope location opens this fall.

Starting at two-and-a-half years, kids can enroll in the center’s alternate preschool. The preschool, which is not accredited by choice, Zeneski explained, has classes for two, three and four year olds.

Enrollment is first come, first served, unlike the rigorous and sometimes-intense application process parents and kids have to go through to get into other preschools. 

“Especially in New York, parents are so stressed out with preschool applications and interviews to see if their kids are smart enough, practically starting when they are born,” Zeneski said. “To get in our preschool program, all they have to do is be two years old.” 

Zeneski said that registration has not started yet, but probably will begin this spring or summer. 

The preschool runs from two or three hours with a choice of five, three or two days a week. The curriculum is based on basic learning skills like the A, B, C’s, colors and numbers and then dance, cooking and gymnastics classes for recreation and stimulation.

Their biggest center, which is the Henry Street location, has 1,151 kids and although Zeneski said registration hasn’t started yet for their new location, it will be much bigger. However, the one teacher to every four kids ratio will stay the same, with class sizes no bigger than 16. 

There will be a morning class at 9:30, an afternoon class at 12 p.m. and then a late afternoon at 3:30 p.m.

There are also themed birthday parties, held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, ranging from the basic “Jumping and Jiving,” where kids play in the gymnastics area with an obstacle course and a 20-foot trampoline, to the “Hip Hop Happening,” where professional dance performers lead creative hip hop activities and culminates with a choreographed performance.

Other themes are the “X-Treme Birthday” which combines rock climbing, “disco dodge ball” and jumping on the trampoline and the “Spectacular Science Party.”

They also have winter, spring and summer camps, with musical guests, including Rolie Polie Guacamole. 

On Friday nights, from 6 to 8 p.m., they hold “Pajama Parties,” where parents drop their kids off (two-and-a-half to eight years) and they can go out to dinner and have some alone time. 

“I know Southpaw was a historic place, but we are going to fit in perfectly into this neighborhood,” Zeneski said. 

Park Slope Parents, which is an online and community resource for parents, held kids concerts at Southpaw. PSP’s founder, Susan Fox, is sad that the venue closing, but she is excited that it will be replaced by a kids center.

“We'll miss it as a music venue for kids as well as grownups,” Fox said. “It's a great space both upstairs and downstairs and I can't wait to see how NY Kids Club utilize the space…. NY Kids Club will have big shoes to fill, but I'm also glad to have a place for kids to get exercise.”