Linewaiters' Gazette: Early Years of the Park Slope Food Coop's Newsletter

In 2013 Brooklyn Public Library’s archive, the Brooklyn Collection, acquired the earliest issues of The Linewaiters’ Gazette, the newsletter of the Park Slope Food Coop. At that time, our former collections manager, Ivy Marvel, announced the accession with this blog.

Since then, the collection has been available and energetically used by researchers from all over the country, and from abroad, to learn how this organization, begun in 1973 by a few committed people in Park Slope, has weathered difficult times and persevered to become a robust community resource with over 17,000 members. 

Soon, those who are interested in the Coop will no longer need to travel because the Center for Brooklyn History - a merger of the former Brooklyn Collection and the former Brooklyn Historical Society - has digitized these holdings, with generous funding from the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO), and will offer them from our collections page. 

I have been a member of the Park Slope Food Coop (PSFC) for many years, but browsing through the collection gave me to better grasp of the challenges and changes it has weathered. I would like to share some of those discoveries.

Beginnings

In the 1970s Park Slope was a rough, dynamic and diverse neighborhood - as remembered by David Dixon, owner of Dixon’s Bike Shop adjacent to the coop - and healthy and affordable food was hard to come by. In 1973, a small group of around 10 residents gathered in a space leased by the Mongoose Community at 782 Union Street to find a way to meet their desire for good food through collective action. In the beginning, they took preorders, and members made shopping runs to Hunts Point Terminal Market, returning to distribute the goods to the members. 

The first major challenge was finding that members who had eagerly joined were not all sufficiently invested to pitch in to do the work necessary to make the coop function. Duties fell disproportionately to a small group of committed  members. Within the first two years of operation, a work requirement was instituted, and in time the onerous Hunts Point runs were replaced by deliveries to the store.

Dear Folks, 

This may be the last “Line Waiter’s Gazette” you will read. If there is continued lack of active participation on all levels and continued financial losses, the Park Slope Food Co-op Store will be forced to close. The outcome will be decided at the General Meeting on Tuesday, October 30, 1973 …

In the beginning, the Coop only operated on the second floor of their then leased building. This was surely the inspiration for the stair-step masthead at the top of this post. Stocking and shopping involved carrying heavy boxes up and down stairs. A rough layout of the store gives an idea of the kinds of food available, and the tight quarters, in the early days. In 1980, space and safety considerations led to the establishment of a childcare room where parents could leave their children during their shopping.

Core Principles

Although the major drive of this cooperative is economic rather than political, the membership as a body also holds a commitment to sustainability, social and political justice, and the support of local causes and businesses. 

Here, a concert with Pete Seeger benefits the Coop and other local service organizations.

In 1988, we see an article in support of a coalition of several local peace and justice organizations advocating for investing in housing over defense spending.

Not only does the Coop deliver food to support CHiPS (Community Help in Park Slope) but members can satisfy their workslot requirement by lending a hand at the food pantry.

Located just up the hill on Union Street, the Park Slope Food Coop—one of the largest grocery cooperatives in the country—has maintained a relationship with CHiPS since the early ‘70s, when both institutions were founded. Though the soup kitchen also receives donations from many area restaurants, PSFC currently ensures deliveries of fresh supplies three times a week, accounting for around eighty percent of the food served in the CHiPS dining room.

Film nights, mostly featuring documentaries on issues of food and health policy, happen with regularity at the coop.

Plow to Plate, like our sister series Film Night at the Coop, features locally grown films and guest filmmakers who lead questions and answers. 

Support for local food sources includes collaboration with neighborhood gardens.

A visiting former member recalls the naming decision between "The Garden of Union" and "The Communist Plot." Both reflect the Garden's communal structure. Organization is loose. The 20 to 25 members meet periodically, take on different responsibilities, often initiate special or experimental projects, garden at their convenience, and share the harvest.

Governance

The coop’s operating procedures have been gradually built by consensus at the general meetings. This messy democratic process takes place once a month, where motions are proposed, discussed and voted on by the membership present. The general meeting is where all manner of questions are hammered out: which products to carry, boycotts to call (many proposed, fewer instituted), policies to rethink, sister organizations to support. Through the years, as the size of the shopping floor has increased, and the membership grew, new items are requested, and many of them have been controversial inclusions in the coop’s stock. 

We can see from the timeline that the coop was a vegetarian store in the beginning. That changed with the inclusion of canned tuna in 1975, followed by other meats in different years, with beef being the last to arrive. Less controversial stock changes happen when a member proposes a new product and it can be stocked on a trial basis, to see if it sells. The more fraught products will be debated and voted on in the general meetings.

The general meeting is often only attended by a core of involved members, but when an important vote comes up the attendance can increase to many times the regular number, resulting in standing room only crowds, and the debates are lively.

Watersheds

Milestone anniversaries have become opportunities to reflect on changes, and to celebrate the coop’s longevity, as in this marking of the Coop’s 15h anniversary.

One of the signature get-togethers throughout the coop’s existence have been the contra dances, seen at anniversary celebrations and holiday parties, complete with the tagline: “The Coop -  It ain’t just food.”

Spirit of Play

Humor often makes an appearance in the Gazette. Another contra dance offered and opportunity for this cartoon making playful allusion to the Iran-Contra affair, a political scandal in the late 1980s. 

Another illustrator riffed on the popular women’s health book, Our Bodies, Ourselves, first published in 1970.

Spot illustrations range from the humorous to the surreal.

This ad is frequently seen in the lead into summer to encourage cooperators to plan ahead for work shifts that fall during vacation time.

Committed to cooperation

In an interview in the Linewaiters’ Gazette online entitled: Holtz Reflects on a Half-Century with the Park Slope Food Coop, by Hayley Gorenberg, January 2025, Holtz speaks about the Coop’s commitment to sharing lessons learned through the years with others interested in starting their own cooperative enterprise.
Gorenberg writes (Holtz's statements in quotes): 

Over the course of 50 years, Holtz has developed deep expertise and affinity for the International Principles of Cooperation, springing from mid-19th century concepts of a cooperative in Rochdale, England. 

“I love talking to people from other coops, even if they don’t work the way we do.” 

Core to his commitment to those principles, for anyone seeking assistance in exploring creation of a cooperative: 

“The answer is always ‘yes.’ It’s in the cooperative principles to say ‘yes’ to a young person who wants to learn about cooperatives. It’s our duty.” Relatedly, “coops help coops,” he said, adding, “I love talking to people from other coops, even if they don’t work the way we do.”

One example is La Louve [which means ‘she-wolf’] - a successful coop market in Paris founded in 2017. Its founders group met with the Coop’s General Manager Joe Holtz  and General Coordinator Ann Herpel for several years of weekly Skype sessions to glean advice about structure and how to source fruits and vegetables.

This year Joe Holtz has decided to retire. He will be greatly missed, but the solid structures he and others helped to create for this durable organization will keep it strong and thriving into the future. The continued existence of the PSFC illuminates the power of collective action, and the significant rewards of working together. These are principles that can support us in a troubled period.

The Linewaiters' Gazette collection digitization project is generously funded by the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO).