Park Slope Homeless Legend Gets Permanent Plaque At Key Food: 'He Built This Corner'

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — The now-quiet corner of 7th Avenue and Carroll Street, where incurably friendly homeless man and neighborhood legend Derrick "Juice" McGlashen panhandled for decades before his sudden death at 69 in mid-July, was gifted back a tiny piece of what it lost this week. On Tuesday night, neighbors gathered around a planter outside Key Food to unveil a permanent memorial plaque they made for McGlashen — right in the spot where he used to set his old sitting crate.

Just like the man himself, McGlashen's memorial, intentionally perched at kid height, tells each of the thousands of Park Slope children who pass by: "Don't forget to read a book!"

And beneath his catchphrase, the bronze plaque is signed, "Derrick McGlashen, Friend of the Neighborhood."

McGlashen always reminded kids to read because "he wanted to see them get somewhere in life," his buddy Irwin Burton (pictured below), explained to Patch. "He didn't want them to come out here and be like us."

Local attorney and law professor Brian Sheppard, who likewise grew tight with McGlashen over many years and grocery runs, originally set up a makeshift memorial on the lamppost outside Key Food when his old friend died from lung cancer. But from the start, Sheppard hoped to find a more enduring way to remember McGlashen and the neighborly spirit he inspired in Park Slope.

So he put a call out for donations — and quickly realized the same homeless man who'd touched his life so intimately "had countless people with that kind of relationship."

In fact, "I think he maybe knew more people in Park Slope than maybe anybody else, ever," Sheppard said.

When he died, they rallied. Dozens of neighbors in McGlashen's vast network, from young men he called "grandpa" to old ladies he called "beautiful" to little girls he called "ballerina" — and all of whom he told, "I love you" — responded to Sheppard's call, donating upward of $1,200 for a permanent plaque.

Ari Kirtchuk, the Israeli owner of an AT&T resale shop on the next block over who admired McGlashen for his "hustle," threw in $75. Community Bookstore co-owner Ezra Goldstein, who called McGlashen an "institution" and "a pain in the a--" but one that would be "terribly" missed, gave $36. Pat and Richard Johnson added $50, writing on GoFundMe, "We miss your presence in our neighborhood."

The Cordova family pitched another $50. They wrote: "You made a difference in our lives. Love, Mikyl, Thomas and Dylan."

With the blessing of Key Food management, Sheppard then custom-ordered the 9-by-8-inch "Don't forget to read a book" plaque from a Jewish sign shop down by Greenwood Cemetery; fastened it onto McGlashen's 7th Avenue tree guard of choice; briefly hid it under a pillowcase, for suspense; and unveiled it around 7 p.m. Tuesday at a small, only slightly wet sidewalk ceremony.

Now, McGlashen's "most inspiring words can be his legacy on this block," Sheppard said.

Some $800 in leftovers from the GoFundMe campaign (and whatever else might still trickle in) will go to the Brooklyn- and Bronx-based HOPE Program, which provides job training, education, counseling and "long-term support" for New Yorkers in poverty.

Because in the end, while McGlashen's unharnessed humor and charm made him easy to love and impossible to ignore, he's no more deserving of honor or compassion than his peers, Sheppard said.

Over 20-plus years in Park Slope, McGlashen showed it was possible — and preferable — to bridge the community's deepening class divide. The best way to honor him, friends said, will be to honor that.

"Derrick was obviously a very special guy. But we think of this plaque more as a symbol of the friendships we can form in this neighborhood," Sheppard said. "This is not just about Derrick. We have lots of friends like him here, and we shouldn't just walk by with our eyes to the ground."

In the months since the lucrative corner outside Key Food was vacated by its most famous panhandler, a few other homeless guys have been cautiously coming around, testing out McGlashen's signature spot.

"Derrick used to be right there," said Jeff "Bigs" Knight, pointing toward the planter on 7th. "He used to say he built this corner. If he saw me on it, he would make a commotion. He was selfish. But he got a good game, man."

Burton, his best friend, said the other guys were always jealous of McGlashen's success. But he said he'd give up Park Slope's prime Key Food stakeout in a heartbeat to have his friend back on that old crate, barking at passerby. "We looked out for each other," Burton said. "He had a good heart. I miss the s--- out of him."

Lead photo by Brian Sheppard