Lisa Gavaletz

An interview with Lisa Gavaletz, resident of the Brighton Beach/West Brighton area.
Transcript:
Ralph: (Noting that your apartment building is on the dividing line of West Brighton and Brighton Beach,) when people ask you where you live what do you tell them?
Lisa: Usually I say I live right next to Coney Island. If they ask further, then I say Brighton Beach.
Ralph: How long have you lived where you live?
Lisa: Twelve years.
Ralph: Throughout those twelve years, what major changes have you seen that have really stood out to you?
Lisa: There have actually been less changes than things staying the same. The Russian restaurants and the Russian businesses have pretty much all stayed the same. The neighborhood has not modernized that much. I mean there’s a Duane Reade where there used to be a mom and pop store, but not much else. There are a few stores where they don’t speak English basically. There was a CD store here when I first moved in and the owner said something to me in Russian. I said “I don’t speak Russian,” and I swear he said “Nothing here for you.” There are still places that don’t want to change and there are so many Russian people in this neighborhood that they don’t have to. The biggest change is my opinion is that there’s not all that much change. There’s the big controversy about the concerts in Asser-Levy Park. They moved further down from there due to comments about the traffic and noise from residents. The location couldn’t have supported it. Moving it where its not that residential made a lot of sense to me, but unfortunately, I just heard they’re not doing it this summer.
Ralph: Looking at the data, I saw that the area is 79% Caucasian and 50-60% Russian and Ukrainian. This is one of the most homogeneous populations I’ve seen in New York.
Lisa: Thinking about it, you very rarely see any other ethnic groups besides white and Russian. When you get closer to Coney Island and out toward Seagate, it’s more diverse, but there’s very few people of any color in my building. I guess it’s a large Russian population settling in, and like attracts like. If you’re coming in, you’re going to be where people who you know are.
Ralph: What do the demographics of your building look like? You alluded to it before.
Lisa: Approximately 75% of the people speak Russian. They don’t necessarily speak only Russian, but there’s a small population of my building that speaks very little English. The couple who lives next door to me are in their 70s. They’re the sweetest little old lady and man, but their English is very broken. And they’ve been here for a very long time, and it always surprises me that people who live in an area for a long time and still choose to keep to their own. There are also the younger people that do speak both, but my building does skew older. The older people generally like to walk along the boardwalk, and this is a stereotype, but the Russians are a very prideful people generally speaking, and I’m sure a lot of people had hardship and decided to get out.
Ralph: Yeah, that was the whole thing around the ‘90s with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and what I was talking about Brooklyn Borough Historian Ron Schweiger about. And they left in like their 30s or 40s and that’s the population we have now.
Lisa: Yeah, and in terms of their family, they’re very family oriented.
Ralph: I know you have a busy schedule, but when you do take walks past the boardwalk, and other buildings, do you think its pretty much the same as your buildings in terms of demographics?
Lisa: There have been newer buildings going up in the past several years that tend to be a lot more expensive, and so the old school Russians who have been here forever aren’t gonna go sell this place that they have. People who have been entrenched in this neighborhood are not going anywhere. And it’s interesting because a lot of the new construction—I don’t see people in them. There’s a building over at west 8th street, and its ugly as sin—it has no windows or anything, but it’s a residential building, and a friend of mine was trying to buy an apartment in there. He said, “number 1, dark and dingy and even though it was brand new construction, it felt not open and inviting” and still they were asking a hell of a lot of money for it. So, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anybody coming and going from those buildings. So, in terms of the population, and this is gonna sound rude but as the older generation passes away, their family doesn’t necessarily want to keep the apartment, so you see a mix of much older Russian men and women and younger Russian families. It’s also interesting to see walking more toward Ocean Parkway some weekends, Jewish families pushing a stroller out on the boardwalk. There are certain holidays where it seemed everyone out on the boardwalk was a Hasidic Jew. So, that would be the newer people, to me at least moving into the neighborhood. Still white.
Ralph: I took a trip to the neighborhood recently to take everything in after looking at the data just to see what you’re dealing with.
Lisa: Yeah, and Coney Island is really difficult because it’s such a tourist destination, so any time when its warm, everyone comes out here. But in the winter, like right after the hurricane when they put up the FEMA tents in the ballpark, that’s when you see tons of people of color because that’s the areas towards Seagate that got completely hit, and then you have the high rises that just lost power, and it was nowhere near as bad. That’s when you saw the difference in the racial and ethnic makeup. And Stillwell Avenue almost seems to be the dividing line. I didn’t even notice until after the hurricane. I just remember going to help out, and seeing a lot of people of color, and thinking “I just don’t see that in my neighborhood.”
Ralph: Getting back to the new construction, because there have been quite a few new buildings in the past 10-15 years with more luxury. Looking forward what effect do you think that will have on the neighborhood?
Lisa: There was a newer building that I looked at because I was just curious and they were asking something like 600,000 dollars for, and sure it was nice, but it was sloppily built. And here’s the thing. If you have that kind of money, you’re gonna live closer to Manhattan. You’re not gonna live this far out, unless you have family right here already. I don’t necessarily see why somebody would choose to live here and commute. Even for people say coming from Chicago, you’re not going to pay money to stay at a hotel in Coney Island. You’re going to get a hotel in Manhattan. I don’t like the idea to force-cram luxury into the neighborhood. And with Coney Island as a year-round destination, I’m all for it, but I just don’t see how sustainable it can be.
Ralph: How do you think the changes in the amusement area in Coney Island will have an effect on the neighboring communities?
Lisa: That’s hard to tell. I mean they do a job fair every year for Luna Park for people in the neighborhood. When they built like Applebee’s and Grimaldi’s, they really made a big deal about hiring people from Coney Island as opposed to bringing everyone in. If that continues, I think that’s great for the neighborhood. As somebody who lives in this neighborhood, I wish that IT’SUGAR had never come in, because I don’t want it to put William’s Candy out of business.
Ralph: A lot of the people, like I said, are not really of working age anymore, how would that help them, in response to job creation?
Lisa: Well I think it’s for the younger people. I don’t really know about the older generation.
Ralph: What’s gonna happen when the older generation passes away with places like the large senior center and the Shorefront Y? I think we’re on the precipice of a big change, I just don’t know which way it’s gonna go.
Lisa: I do think that the Russian population is not going anywhere, but I could be completely wrong because the younger families don’t really seem to be living here, just visiting. But, then again, with the real estate prices, if someone leaves their family the apartment, if you could move into a place that’s practically paid for, why not? Older buildings around here are still going to be affordable, and that’s where younger people are trying to move—younger people who want to start families and want to stay in New York City, but don’t want to be throwing their money away on rent.
Ralph: Thank you very much.