Meet Katie ✨

Meet Katie Ferris Clark

The Founder of The Neighborhood Haunt®

Hi, I'm Katie! I'm a third-generation Brooklynite, born and raised in a neighborhood I've always loved calling home. I've been an old soul for as long as I can remember. Even as a little girl, I had vivid dreams, a wild imagination, and a fascination with old movies, photographs, and things from another time.

Growing up, I was lucky enough to live within walking distance of both sets of grandparents. I'd walk over to my grandma Irene's house, where we'd watch old movies and Unsolved Mysteries. I even remember asking my kindergarten teacher if we could watch Beaches with Bette Midler in class because I'd watched it so many times with my mom and grandma (a perfectly normal movie request for a five-year-old going to Catholic school, I know). She was also the person who took me to my very first flea market. I'll never forget the emerald costume jewelry brooch she bought me that day, or how excited I was to have it. I still have that brooch today, along with the memory attached to it.

At my other grandmother Noreen's house, I found myself in an entirely different world. She lived in a beautiful old Victorian home, complete with brownstone steps, floral carpeting, wood fireplaces, and stained glass windows. To me, it was a magic house. I was endlessly fascinated by its rooms, the intricate details, the floors that seemed to lead into different worlds, and the treasures tucked away inside. That house, and the memories I made there, continue to heavily influence the aesthetic and curation of The Neighborhood Haunt® today.

I like to think I got my sweet side from my grandmothers and my backbone from Brooklyn.

Somewhere along the way, my love of collecting and curating pieces that reflected my inner world turned into a desire to share these treasures with others, hoping they might find the same magic in them that I always had.

I always had a very particular world in my imagination, an aesthetic I could never quite find anywhere else. So I decided to bring it to life.

The Neighborhood Haunt®.

The name came to me one evening in 2023 after visiting a newly opened restaurant in the Brooklyn neighborhood where my grandmother Irene, both my parents, and I all grew up. Like so many neighborhoods, ours has changed over the years. New faces have arrived, familiar ones have moved away, and some of the people who made the neighborhood feel like home are no longer with us. That feeling of walking into a place where everybody knows everybody had become a little less common.

But that night was different.

My mom and I walked into the restaurant and seemed to know almost everyone there. We spent the evening saying hello, catching up, and chatting with familiar faces. For a moment, I felt like a little kid again, surrounded by the people and sense of community I remembered as a child.

When we left, I was almost in disbelief. I turned to my mom and said, "What was that, the neighborhood haunt?"

And just like that, a lightbulb went off.

I'd been searching, and honestly praying, for the perfect name for my store. I wanted something that would bring together everything I was trying to create, something that felt personal and had meaning beyond the things I was selling.

I finally had it.

The Neighborhood Haunt® was never meant to be just a vintage store. I wanted to create a world people could step into. A place to discover something unexpected, find an object that brings back a memory, or come across a piece of art that feels like it belongs in their own home. A place where vintage, art, fashion, food, music, and nostalgia could all exist together.

In 2024, with my husband Dan cheering me on, I officially launched The Neighborhood Haunt®, bringing my vintage store and pop-up café experiences to life under one name. I haven't looked back since. Today, that world continues to grow through our curated vintage collections, markets, pop-up cafés, music performances and special events. Our seasonal themes inspire everything from the pieces we source to the food, drinks, and music we share. Every detail is another little part of the world I'm building.

To me, a neighborhood haunt is somewhere you keep coming back to. Somewhere you can see a familiar face, have a conversation, enjoy a cup of coffee, listen to music, and maybe discover something special along the way. It's that feeling of connection and familiarity that I hope to recreate, whether you're visiting one of our events, shopping locally or online, or simply following along from afar.

And I can't help but appreciate the irony of the name. We're quite literally haunting the old neighborhood. In a way, it's also my way of keeping the people and places I loved close to me, especially my grandparents and the familiar faces who are no longer here.

As Brooklyn continues to change, I wanted to create something that would preserve a little piece of the place I remember, while welcoming new people into it. Something that feels familiar, even if you're experiencing it for the very first time, or if you're joining us from somewhere far away.

So welcome to The Neighborhood Haunt®.

I hope you'll keep hanging out with us.

Love, Katie