When the group proposed Brighton Beach, I was not too excited. Sure, the convenience factor would be favorable but the Flushing area seemed more vibrant and educational. Flushing would also offer many opportunities to try new foods and visit anime stores. I, initially, perceived Brighton Beach as a huge beach, where half-naked people would prance around in the water to simply for enjoyment. The people there would be predominantly African Americans, I thought, because the beach was situated in Brooklyn. Much like the people in Manhattan, they would speak in rude, informal English to each other and only focus on their own business and no one else’s. In the afternoon, I would see urban school students come home after a weary day at school. The neighborhood surrounding the beach would be inundated with McDonalds and Starbucks, the epitome of a cosmopolitan culture. I walked into Brighton with these preconceptions.
Upon visiting the beach, however, I realized that my expectations were detached from reality. Even on the sunny day, the people occupying the beach was scarce. In fact, very few people were in the water itself! A few couples traversed the boardwalk here and there. Mainly white skinned people populated the neighborhood, which stood in contrast with my expectations. I only saw darker skinned people once when I approached the end of the boardwalk, pointing the fact that a mainly white, Russian population lived in the area. The stores were entirely local, contrasting with my expectation of the more cosmopolitan stores like McDonalds. The names of many of these stores were written in Russian along with the accompanying advertisements. The only store that was perhaps well-known were pharmacies like Duane Reade. The stores lining the beach were more populated than the beach, perhaps because it offered a shade from the sun. When we walked into the food stores, the food was both exotic and mouth-watering. The Pieraski was, in particular, cooked to perfection and offered me a fine sample of fine Russian cuisine. No McDonalds could compare to the delicacy that is the Pieraski. Despite the urbanization of the area, the sense of cohesiveness among the individuals seemed much stronger than elsewhere in the city, particularly Manhattan. I hypothesized that such bonding came about as a result of the presence of a relatively old population occupying the area and because of the family run stores which require a sense of trust between the store owners and the customers.
After doing some research, I was bewildered to discover that the population of the community was changing. For instance, the New York Times article entitled From Brighton Beach to America, the author mentions that the ethnic makeup of the neighborhood is slowly moving from a Russian-speaking neighborhood to a more diverse neighborhood, incorporating people from Mexico, Pakistan and the Middle East. Although throughout the journey I had believed the community to be composed mainly of a homogenous white population with a Russian descent, my perception, perhaps, could be obscured by the fact that we only spent a few hours in the community. As an exception, one Asian couple worked as cashiers, giving me a sense of surprise since no one else of the same race seemed to be present. Nevertheless, the Russian influence was obvious in many parts of the area, evidenced by the pervasive language that occupied both the advertisements and peoples’ language. Reflecting back on my observation, I realized that most of the people at Brighton was above average age. I barely saw anyone that was at a high school level or younger roaming the streets after 3 pm. The streets were even destitute of students that seemed to be in college. This observation is corroborated by the fact that “the young people are moving out,” a quote from a New York Times interviewer. The article pointed out that children of immigrants are moving to Manhattan to chase the American dream. On the other hand, the article Brighton Beach, a Bittersweet Peace focuses on the harsh realities that Russian immigrant faced upon arrival in the US. According to the article, immigrants expected to establish a new life and make enough money to provide for their families back home. However, reality did not meet expectation. Many of these immigrants are still economically disadvantaged. This was evident in our observations in that many of the stores were locally owned, reflecting the fact that the immigrants needed a source of income to support themselves. However, some people seemed to be well established with their Mercedes and fur coats, a superficial measure of financial well-being.
My experience with Brighton beach was very eye opening. In many respects, the miniature Russian community at Brighton was very similar to the Indian community back near my house in Long Island. And much like the Russian stores and language permeated through everyday life, the Indian culture is also evident in my hometown. I don’t believe that my own race deleteriously impacted my perception of the Brighton beach community. Coming from a microcosm of India, I came to rationalize why many immigrants lived together and how their culture came to dominate the public sphere of an area. Though the Russian culture has piqued my interest, in the future, I would prefer to places with a younger generation of immigrants in order to capture the experiences of this population. One of the limiting factors in visiting Brighton was its older population, which seemed too well entrenched in the Russian culture. By visiting the younger population, an ethnographer can capture the two facets that make up the individual: American and the native culture.
