Hello, world! My name is Lauren Vernikov and I have lived near Brighton Beach all 18-years of my life. Even though I don’t live directly in Brighton Beach, I’m only a 10-minute bus ride away that I take almost every day to get to the train.  My parents moved from Ukraine and Russia to Brooklyn with a $100 and a suitcase to their names. They moved to where we live now and became more immersed in the Slavic lifestyle of Brighton Beach. I am a daily visitor of Brighton Beach and love the beach and the boardwalk when the weather is warm. While doing this project, my perspective of Brighton Beach did not change; the experiences that we had only enhanced of how I thought about the area. With a homey feeling of furs and the smell of familiar food, it redeems for the fact that people can be very rude and cold. With unlimited access to hot food and medicine, what else can a person need? Still, it’s an interesting neighborhood to be around and we hope to portray the atmosphere through our website.