On my first expedition I noticed that the boardwalk was essentially empty and many of the business were closed during winter. However, in the spring the quantity of people increased because of the warm weather. Many people were enjoying themselves by eating outside famous Russian restaurants such as Tatiana.
When I first visited the boardwalk during the winter it was covered in slippery ice, and it was nearly possible to walk on it. There were almost no people except for a few brave locals who visit the ocean every day for their morning exercise. Every person was wearing layers of clothes to keep themselves warm in the winter while in the spring people were running shirtless and playing on beach. The atmosphere went from gloomy in the winter to cheerful in the spring.
This project has had a significant impact on me because Brighton Beach is my neighborhood, my home. When starting my expedition throughout Brighton, I thought that my community was perfect because I never payed attention to the negative details. I always thought Brighton was a mecca for only Slavic people who escaped the former USSR. I always assumed that my neighborhood had people who were friendly and outgoing with every other racial group. I never noticed the negative aspects of my community because for some reason I just never seemed to pay attention to them. This Macaulay experience forced to dive deep into the problems that plague my neighborhood.
On my first journey I saw that Brighton is more family-orientated than I previously thought. Nearly every supermarket, store, and restaurant was operated and owned by a family that escaped the USSR sometime during the 1980s. It was astonishing to hear the stories of these immigrants who came to the United States for the same reasons my family did: a desire to improve their lives. The positive characteristics of my neighborhood were few, but they are definitely worth mentioning. If you are local who comes from a Slavic background, then Brighton Beach is mostly likely the best place for you to immigrate to. Nearly everyone there speaks Russian and Ukrainian and is somewhat friendly to members of their culture. However, if an individual who is non-white such as an African American or a person from the Middle East were to go areas that are predominately Slavic in Brighton Beach then these people would receive an unfriendly welcome. My community is slightly racist because a great portion of Brighton Beach consists of elders who arrived to this country from the USSR. Most of the people in the USSR were taught to believe that white people, especially the Soviets, are the dominant race in the world. It’s very hard to change the attitudes of the older generation; it’s something only time can heal. However, much of the younger generation is ignoring the stereotypes established by their parents, and this future generation of Brighton is becoming very liberal. Another positive aspect of Brighton Beach is that everyone is very supportive of each other. After Hurricane Sandy hit Brighton Beach every business was practically in ruins, and many homes were beyond repairable. As a resident of Brighton Beach, I witnessed how the hurricane made it impossible to shop or travel around because there was so much debris and nearly 2 feet of sand on the streets. But this disaster did not divide the members in the community; instead, it united them to help everyone who was suffering. I personally witnessed how locals helped clean stores and searched for people who could have been trapped underneath the debris. For almost a week everyone’s priority was to ensure the safety of the community. People gave out free clothes, food, and even provided shelter for members of the area. I am proud to be part of Brighton Beach because we are one strongly connected family that looks out for each other. One problem that I dislike about Brighton is that it is very dirty on the streets. The lack of sanitation was a major problem that I started to notice after exploring the streets and the boardwalk. People threw everything in places other than the trashcan. There were liquor bottles in a child’s park as well dog feces next to a Basketball Park. There are children playing in these locations, but nothing is done to prevent this littering or remove it. There was one partially filled vodka bottle next to a swing set that I found on my first expedition that remained there for over a month because I went back to check if it was still there—and it was, not surprisingly. It could possible that all this littering is due to the fact that there are not enough public trashcans to throw stuff out. When I ate the pirozhok that I bought from the street vendor I had to walk two blocks before I found an overstuffed trashcan.
Another aspect of Brighton Beach that I discovered was the impact that tourism has on the area. In the winter most of the businesses operate slowly because their clients consist mainly of locals. I asked one of the shop owners how important tourism is too his clothing business. One of the owners told me that he generates most of his yearly income during the summer and spring because of the influx of visitors. After a comparison of the activity of Brighton in winter and in the spring, I witnessed a complete metamorphosis of the entire community. The boardwalk in the winter is a desolate pathway that only a few people walk on because it is covered in snow and ice, but it gets very packed during the start of spring. The restaurants bring out tables for people to sit outside; families walk with their baby carriage; you hear a lot of laughing; and you can feel a euphoric vibe surrounding everyone. I felt like the way I experienced the five senses in winter was significantly different from the way I perceived them in spring. In the winter I felt like my senses were dulled because of the depressing weather, but in the spring everything changed. Restaurants such as Tatiana and Volna open their doors to the public once warmer weather arrives so that people can eat outside and enjoy the oceanic breeze. One commentator in an online blog mentioned that “you cannot go to Brighton Beach without having Vodka at Tatiana while sitting on the boardwalk and overlooking the ocean” (Fran). Brighton Beach is a place to experience an ethnic Russian culture that is unmatched elsewhere in this country. I did not enjoy Brighton in the winter, but I loved it in the summer. There was so much soul in the community. For instance, people sang Russian songs and everyone would stop by and listen. Even if one couldn’t understand the language, it was easy to tell that the song was meant to bring about happiness and love in the bystanders.
I’ve also noticed that tourism is an integral part of Brighton Beach now just as it was in the past. Hotels and amusement parks led to the creation of Brighton Beach as a vacation spot for people of all ages (Forgotten New York). Today, Brighton Beach still relies on tourism because the number of people who come there increases exponentially in the summer. When I was researching information about historic Brighton Beach, I discovered that “in the Eighteen Eighties, a person walking the length of the beach from Sea Gate to Manhattan Beach could have observed the complete scale of living standards of the day from lowest to highest” (Williams). I discovered that modern Brighton Beach still has a disparity of wealth. The side that’s closer to Luna Park has buildings that are not in good shape and the prices for the apartments within the buildings are below medium. According to the statistics website neighborhoodscout, “Brighton Beach median real estate price is $842,320, and the average rental price in Brighton Beach is currently $1,554.” These below-average apartments were priced around $300k for a one-bedroom, but the apartments at Oceania condominium, which are near Manhattan Beach, go for over a million. I believe that since Manhattan Beach is considered to be an upper-class community, this might influence the prices of that area in Brighton Beach.
When Hurricane Sandy hit Brighton Beach it was the most dramatic event that community has experienced, even worse than 1912 fire that destroyed the boardwalk. The damage Sandy caused was horrific, but the community got together and helped everyone in need. The amount of support that the community showed was intense: “almost 1,000 volunteers who have reached out to isolated residents and the distribution of 3,500 electric heaters, 62,000 blankets and 22,000 food packages to the homebound elderly” (Amand). Almost 5 years after the disaster, it’s hard to believe that the community recovered and is making progress forward. Another characteristic of Brighton beach that I started to notice after my expeditions was that immigration is still occurring. A third wave of former Soviets is arriving from countries in Central Asia. An Uzbek gentleman that was interviewed by a journalist stated that “they all come here, united by the Russian language. Brighton Beach — one could say it’s like a small Soviet Union” (Kordunsky). This project forced me to realize that despite living in Brighton Beach for so long, I didn’t know much about its history, its people, and even its present occurrences. My journey exploring forever changed the way I perceive my home, Brighton Beach.
Sources used in this Reflection Paper
Amand, Lisa. “A Year After Sandy, Brighton Beach Struggles To Get Back on Feet.” The Forward. N.p., 26 Oct. 2013. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <http://forward.com/articles/186254/a-year-after-sandy-brighton-beach-struggles-to-get/>.
Anna Kordunsky, Ariel Stulberg, Bingling Liao and Michael Larson. “Changing Face of Brighton Beach.” The Forward. N.p., 17 Sept. 2012. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <http://forward.com/news/162963/changing-face-of-brighton-beach/>.
Pado, Fran. “An Air of Russia and Ocean Breezes.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 26 June 2010. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/nyregion/27stop.html?_r=0>.
Williams, Keith. “Brighton Beach: Old World mentality, New World reality.” The Weekly Nabe. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <http://theweeklynabe.com/2012/07/29/brighton-beach-brooklyn-history/>.
–, “Brooklyn,.” Brighton Beach Brooklyn, NY 11235, Neighborhood Profile – NeighborhoodScout. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ny/brooklyn/brighton-beach>.
Amand, Lisa. “A Year After Sandy, Brighton Beach Struggles To Get Back on Feet.” The Forward. N.p., 26 Oct. 2013. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <http://forward.com/articles/186254/a-year-after-sandy-brighton-beach-struggles-to-get/>.
Anna Kordunsky, Ariel Stulberg, Bingling Liao and Michael Larson. “Changing Face of Brighton Beach.” The Forward. N.p., 17 Sept. 2012. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <http://forward.com/news/162963/changing-face-of-brighton-beach/>.
Scherer, Jenna. “Brighton Beach after Hurricane Sandy (slide show).” Time Out New York. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <https://www.timeout.com/newyork/things-to-do/blog/brighton-beach-after-hurricane-sandy-slide-show>.
Michael, Idov. Published Apr 13, 2009. “The Everything Guide to Brighton Beach.” NYMag.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <http://nymag.com/guides/everything/brighton-beach/>.
Ortiz, Brennan. “NYC’s Micro Neighborhoods: Little Odessa in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.” Untapped Cities. N.p., 27 June 2016. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <http://untappedcities.com/2014/01/23/nyc-micro-neighborhoods-little-odessa-brighton-beach-brooklyn/>.
Pado, Fran. “An Air of Russia and Ocean Breezes.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 26 June 2010. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/nyregion/27stop.html?_r=0>.
Williams, Keith. “Brighton Beach: Old World mentality, New World reality.” The Weekly Nabe. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <http://theweeklynabe.com/2012/07/29/brighton-beach-brooklyn-history/>.
–, “Little Odessa (Brighton Beach) neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York (NY), 11235 detailed profile.” Little Odessa (Brighton Beach) neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York (NY), 11235 subdivision profile – real estate, apartments, condos, homes, community, population, jobs, income, streets. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Little-Odessa-Brooklyn-NY.html>.
–, Epicuriousdotcom. YouTube. YouTube, 02 May 2016. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wK2hWcrAh8>.
–, “BRIGHTON BEACH, Brooklyn.” Forgotten New York. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <http://forgotten-ny.com/2010/01/brighton-beach-brooklyn/>.
–, “Old Brighton Beach pictures, Vintage Brooklyn & New York City Photography, Photos & Images.” Old Brighton Beach pictures, Vintage Brooklyn & New York City Photography, Photos & Images. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <http://www.oldnycphotos.com/brightonbeach.html>.
–, “Brighton Beach Neighborhood Association: Social Services. New York.” Brighton Beach Neighborhood Association: Social Services. New York. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <http://brightonbeach.com/>.
–, “Brooklyn,.” Brighton Beach Brooklyn, NY 11235, Neighborhood Profile – NeighborhoodScout. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ny/brooklyn/brighton-beach>.
–, “Southern Brooklyn.” Nyc.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Apr. 1998. <http://www.nyc.gov/html/sirr/downloads/pdf/final_report/Ch17_SouthernBrooklyn_FINAL_singles.pdf >.
On my next expedition to Brighton Beach, I wanted to discover some smells and tastes that describe this area in a nutshell. I was stubbornly determined to experience the famous Slavic pirozhki, a popular dessert that is usually eaten at any time during the day. I had to first find a street vendor that was selling this delicious dessert. When I spotted an old lady selling them on the corner of a street, I started to approach her stand. Wow! The smell was something to die for. The air was saturated with the smells of my childhood. For instance, when you bake something in the oven and you take it out, the smell rushes out and overwhelms you. This was the same experience that I felt when I walked towards the stand. I looked at the type of pirozhki the lady was selling and asked for a strawberry filled one. I had to pay $3.50 for a large one, but boy was it good. The strawberry jam that was skillfully made by this lady erupted into my mouth after I took a large bite. The outside of the pirozhok was a little bit cold, but the inside was still warm, indicating that it was recently made. Then I went for a walk underneath the MTA train tracks. The first thing I noticed is that the train system in place is close to a hundred-years-old because of how poorly taken care of it is. The paint on the stands, which support the weight of the trains that are passing above, is peeling off in layers and the metal foundation is starting to corrode. To make it worse the wood underneath the track lines was covered in layers of trash and looked like it was slightly rotting. I know that the MTA covers all of the boroughs of New York City, but I was amazed to see how deteriorated the largest means of transportation in Brighton Beach was. I noticed that MTA workers were busy repairing this integral part of the community. I smelled fresh paint because the workers were removing decaying layers of metal and covering the structural parts with paint to prevent oxidation. I asked one of the MTA workers how often the subway system gets fixed and re-painted. The worker told me that in the best case scenario the train tracks are changed every 10 years and most of the paint is removed and replaced with a fresh coat. However, he told me that the process of revitalizing the decaying subway system takes more than a year because of the length of the train tracks and difficulty of reaching the platform which is more than 100 feet in the air. After my investigation of the subway system and the interview with the MTA worker I went over to a family-owned store to have lunch. I looked at the menu and I saw that it was divided into two main categories: American food and Russian food. To me this demonstrated the types of customers that this restaurant receives. The American menu consisted of foods like a cheeseburger with french-fries, one of their popular choices with teenage customers. The Russian menu had a list of soups, main courses, and desserts that originated from the Slavic countries. One of the small details that I noticed about the menu was that even though the menu had two categories that were in English, there was still a Russian translation underneath for customers who do not speak English. I decided to order pelmini, a traditional Russian dish similar to dumplings that consists of a filling wrapped in thin, unleavened dough. Russian dumplings are slightly unlike Chinese dumplings because they are smaller, contain different fillings, and are served with different sides. My melted-butter-covered pelmini contained beef and were served with cold sour cream. They smelled like they were well-cooked and something my mother would make me for dinner. The restaurant wasn’t very big, but it was family owned. I found out that a Ukrainian family owns and operates it as a family business. They make every ingredient on site, and they make the pelmini by hand. I interviewed the waitress, Olga, and she told me that she is part of the family and everyone contributes to the business. Her dad buys the fresh meat and flour; her grandparents do the cooking; her mom is the cashier; and Olga serves the food. It was typical of many of the stores in Brighton Beach to be entirely operated by large families as I’ve discovered. The next location that I visited was the Brooklyn Public Library because I wanted to see who goes there to read or take books. The library was very clean on the inside because it smelled like someone mopped the floors and the atmosphere was very quiet. Inside the library I saw mainly elders who looked like they were in their late 60s. Surprisingly, I saw no teenagers or young adults in any section of the library. It could be that many younger individuals use computers to research information, unlike older folks who may not have access to computers or don’t know how to use one. Still, it’s always good to have a functioning library in a community. I also noticed that there was a public swimming pool near the boardwalk where people could get free swimming lessons as a brochure stated. Lastly, I saw that there was a large child’s park and a basketball park, again near the boardwalk. Some areas of the parks didn’t smell well because there were animal feces on the ground. The lack of care for sanitation during my second expedition to Brighton Beach was just as obvious during my first expedition.
Here is a dish of the beef pelmini that I ordered at the family-operated restaurant. They smelled great!
This is a picture of the Brooklyn Public Library, one of the public buildings that everyone is able to visit.
This is a photo of MTA workers fixing the important subway system that runs through Brighton Beach.
The first time I visited Brighton Beach was for the purpose of exploration. I wanted to get a general sense of what Brighton Beach had to offer for the people who work and live there. Before I embarked on my journey, I promised myself to pay attention to the most minute details possible, no matter how good or bad they may seem. As I approached Brighton, the first thing that I noticed was the area smelled very fresh because of the sea breeze that comes from the Atlantic Ocean. Walking around the boardwalk, I enjoyed the smell of the cold oceanic breeze hitting my face and was pleasantly reminded that not everyone has the privilege to experience such good quality air. After walking down the boardwalk to take a few breathtaking pictures and to interview a few senior citizens, I stopped at a café to have brunch. I ordered Russian pancakes or as they’re traditionally called Blinchiki, some Slavic kompot or cold tea, and Ukrainian borsche, a popular red soup. The food smelled fantastic, and it reminded me of how my grandma used to cook food for me during my early childhood. I ate the blinchiki with strawberry jam and some sour cream, both of which gave the blinchiki a sweet, cold, and jelly texture. The amazing aspect about blinchiki is that they’re like an empty canvas that you can paint by adding different condiments to give it any texture and flavor you desire. The kompot was freshly made that day according to the waitress. When I a sipped some of the cold tea, I tasted the flavor of strawberries, apples, and cherries. It was the best thing that I drank that day. I researched that to make kompot you have to boil the fruits in water to release their flavor, and then you have to chill the mixture and add some sugar. Technically, it’s like English lemonade but with a Slavic influence. The kompot smelled like flowers because of all the different herbs that are added to give it a distinct flavor and it tasted like sweet goodness. After I a finished the breakfast portion of my brunch, I started the lunch part. The borsche was served hot to me in a big bowl and with a massive-sized garlic bread loaf. The soup had a rough, creamy texture because it contained a lot of ingredients that are supposed to satisfy a person’s appetite. It had a tomato taste to it because one of the main ingredients in borsche is tomato paste which gives it that famous red color. The meat in the soup melted in my mouth because of how soft it was, indicating that the borsche was properly prepared. After completing my large meal, I thanked the waitress in Russian and was on my way to do some more exploring of Brighton Beach. I wanted to walk underneath the train tracks because it very dirty, thus the smell could be unpleasant. As I walked under the train system, I noticed that there was a lot of trash laying on the floor and that the ground was very muddy and soaked in some nasty water. The smell was pretty bad as well. I interviewed a Ukrainian gentleman about his thoughts on how Brighton Beach smelled. I asked him the following question: “what are your thoughts about the atmosphere of Brighton Beach. Do you think that the community is properly cleaned and is pleasant to walk through?” At first the man was confused about the question I was asking because he said that nobody asked him such a question before. He told me that “many locals treat the neighborhood like a dump” because they show no respect to it by throwing stuff on the ground and not into trash cans. Moreover, he stated that there are many alcoholics in this area because empty liquor bottles litter the streets. I witnessed lots of trash on the ground, especially vodka bottles, so the man I interviewed wasn’t lying about the heavy presence of alcoholics or the people’s disregard to sanitation. I tried to ask the same question to at least ten other mixed individuals but all of them either completely ignored my question or said something along the lines of “why do you care.” It is important to know that I asked this question in Russian to generate the best response from the potential interviewees, but I still received a majority of negative responses. Another question that I asked the locals was their opinion on foreigners or different racial groups—anyone that is not Slavic—coming to visit Brighton Beach. An elder woman by the name of Natasha, who immigrated to Brighton Beach during the 1980s, told me that in the summer tourists generate a lot of income for the community, helping a lot of the local businesses. She told me that she personally has no problem living with different colored racial groups because she supports equality, but other individuals who lived in the former USSR do not like the company of people who do not share the same culture or ideals as them. While I was walking along the boardwalk (one of the videos that I posted on the sight category on our website) I saw a group of Bengali men walking as well. Since they were the only non-Slavic looking people on the boardwalk, many people tried to avoid them or as I keenly noticed the elders would awkwardly stare at them. I knew that Brighton Beach was slightly racially bigoted when I first moved there, but I didn’t expect this attitude to last for so long.
Here is a picture of the bowl of borsche that I ordered. Notice the distinct color of the soup that comes from beets and tomato sauce because it gives it a nice pleasant taste.
Here is a picture of the plate of blinchiki covered in strawberry jam and lightly sprinkled with sour cream. Russian pancakes smell good and taste heavenly.
It was very difficult to walk in Brighton Beach after it experienced a snow storm because the ground was covered in frozen snow. The ground was wet and icy, which made walking very difficult. My feet were exhausted from traversing on the streets of Brighton Beach.
A small clip of us greeting our audience while we embark on another trip around Brighton Beach.
While walking down the beach, we stopped to record the sounds of nature. The ocean water crashing in the background and the seagulls squawking while in flight led to a harmony of sound.
After walking around Brighton Beach, we noticed that there were barely any trash cans. People just threw out their garbage like bottles, left-over food, and wrappers on the ground. When we found a trash can, it was nearly full and smelled like something was rotting inside of it. This is clearly an indicator that sanitation is problem in this area.
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