When people think of Bensonhurst today they may think of a sort of Chinese neighborhood. Of course, there is truth to this; Bensonhurst has Brooklyn’s second Chinatown and one of the biggest Chinese enclaves. However, Bensonhurst is also known to many as an Italian neighborhood. Bensonhurst has more than a few Italian residents as well as Italian businesses. When we went to Bensonhurst to do our interviews, we were able to learn about Bensonhurst through some of these Italian businesses, such as Kings Highway Bakery and Pisa Pork Store. With both stores being over 30 years old, we were able to learn a lot about the history of Bensonhurst.

Although pretty diverse now, when Pisa Pork Store and Kings Highway Bakery were first started, in the 70s and 80s, Bensonhurst was almost entirely white, around 96% percent in 1980. Even more specifically, Bensonhurst was a primarily Italian neighborhood. According to the 1980 census, over 55% of the population had an Italian ancestry. This wasn’t some new development either; data seems to indicate that Italians have been living in Bensonhurst for a long time. Census data from 1980 reveals that around 68.1% of people in Bensonhurst lived in the same house in 1975, and about 25.5% lived in the same county. Going even further back, data reveals that 70.3% of Bensonhurst residents in 1980 were born in the same state. This seems to imply that many of the Italians living in Bensonhurst in the 80s have been there for a while, or possibly from other Italian neighborhoods in the city. For example, although Rocky, the owner of Kings Highway Bakery, only started his business in 1986, he used to work with his father and grandfather in an Italian bakery in South Brooklyn. The data we researched echoed what the owners of both stores told us about Bensonhurst and how it used to be a mainly Italian neighborhood. Referencing Rocky again, he told us about how there used to be a multitude of Italian bakeries in his area, and that his bakery used to do great because of how much bread Italians would often buy.

When we asked about differences in the community from the 70’s to now, and she explained that when she first arrived in Bensonhurst when she was only 4 years old (she’s 53 now), the community consisted mainly of Italians. “It was not uncommon to walk down the street and hear Italian- now it’s very rare.” In the recent years, the community has experienced an influx of Asian and Eastern European (primarily Ukrainians and Russians) immigrants and businesses as the Italian residents moved first to Staten Island, and then eventually to New Jersey and Long Island.

When asked about the reason for the mass migration of Italians out of Bensonhurst to places like New Jersey, she said “a lot of people see dollar signs, they want to sell and move somewhere else where they can get more for their money.” This was consistent with what other business owners and residents said about Bensonhurst as well. “It’s crazy. Just crazy,” she replied, when asked about the cost of buying property in Bensonhurst. “I mean, I bought my house 15 years ago, so I’m fine, but it’s really bad for the younger generation. How are they gonna afford to buy a house here nowadays? It’s upwards of a million dollars.” The only way people can move in to the neighborhood, she explained, is if people move out. The large Italian population in the neighborhood sold their houses for substantial profits and moved out to buy bigger houses in NJ for cheaper.

However, although Bensonhurst today may’ve changed since the 80s, there are many things that haven’t changed much since. For example, although many Italians may have moved out of the area, many do still live in Bensonhurst. In matter of fact, Bensonhurst still has a “Little Italy”, an Italian enclave. When we interviewed Rocky, owner of Kings Highway Bakery, and asked him about how the neighborhood has remained the same over the years, he claimed “You still have working class people here; …the actual make up has remained the same in terms of working class”. During our visit to Bensonhurst, we saw a variety of businesses that seemed to prove his claim. Furthermore, census data seems to support Rocky’s claim as well. Data shows that a good percentage of Bensonhurst’s population worked over 34 hours a week, around 50 weeks a year, in both 1980 and 2000.

Back for our second trip to Bensonhurst, the familiar King’s Highway sign loomed above our heads as we got off the B-82 bus. With no particular destination in mind, we walked down the block and poked our heads into the diverse array of stores and small businesses, many of which were family owned for generations. After stumbling across a prominent meat shop on the corner of Kings Highway and 6th Street, called the Pisa Pork Store, we were intrigued by its interior- it was unlike any business we had come across in the neighborhood.

One word that accurately describes the business is “old-fashioned”. Instead of modern electronic scales and computers that a lot of the newer businesses in Bensonhurst had, we spotted manual balances at use. Rather than use machines to process and package the meats and cheeses, in Pisa Pork Store, everything was done by hand. Hard-working butchers chopped away while exchanging jokes with the customers, many of whom were loyal customers who had been coming to the shop for years. We found out that the business has been here for 41 years, ever since her brother opened Pisa Pork Store when he was a 21 year old Italian immigrant. Since then the shop has been family-run with a few non-related workers a well.

With all the change occurring in a dynamic neighborhood like Bensonhurst, the longevity and consistency of Pisa Pork Store is a testament to the old adage, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” It also directly contrasts other businesses in the area, who have had to adapt to the changing times and demographics, in order to survive. When asked about the the people who are keeping Pisa Pork Store in business, the owner’s sister said the average customer is mainly Italian, even after all these years. “We bank on our customers returning, even after they moved to Jersey, to our shop to buy their meats and cheeses, which they do.” The owners of Pisa Pork Store’s faith in customer loyalty and their adherence to the traditional, “old-school” way of doing business was inspiring to me. The consistent success of their business demonstrates that businesses need not always exclusively cater to the current demographic as that is always transient, while something like tradition is permanent.

In a Bensonhurst community of perpetual change, Pisa Pork Store has survived without upgrading their technology in 41 years. When asked about whether the business advertises on social media, she simply said, with a laugh, “oh~ we recently just opened a Facebook…” she paused, “but we haven’t even advertised anything on it.” Some things may never change, and Pisa Pork Store is perfectly content with that.

When we went to Kings Highway bakery, we were able to taste some sweet bread, some cookies for free, and we even bought a chocolate cannoli afterwards. We both agreed that the place was pretty sweet. But how did Rocky manage to keep his business intact for 30 years? As mentioned before, there used to be plenty of Italian bakeries in Bensonhurst, but why was Kings Highway Bakery one of the few to survive? Although he was very nice and generous, and his product was great, it had to be more than that. According to Rocky, it’s all about adapting; the other bakeries refused to change and as a result went out of business. Rocky says “every five years the neighborhood changes and evolves and as a business I need to change and evolve with it”. Rocky frequently attends classes and seminars to find out about what’s new and how he can potentially incorporate it in his business. For example, the cookie we tasted at store was a peanut butter and jelly cookie, a tasty derivative of the Italian rainbow cookie. In addition to embracing change in his product, he also makes good use of technology. Although his store is called Kings Highway Bakery, he goes Brooklyn Bread Company online, because he wanted to use Brooklyn’s rep to his advantage. The business has a Facebook, a Youtube, a Tumblr, and even it’s own website (that apparently has something new coming June 28th, 2016).

Bensonhurst is an interesting part of Brooklyn and NYC as a whole. Although primarily Italian in the past, it has gone through many changes over the years to become quite the diverse neighborhood, with it’s own Little Italy and Chinatown. Alive and evolving, what’s in store for Bensonhurst’s future? Rocky says that the most recent group he’s seen starting to move in are “the hipsters”. With the drastically increasing value of property in Bensonhurst, is it possible that it may become a target of gentrification like other parts of Brooklyn? Hopefully not, as it would be a shame to lose such diversity, but the Chinese population in Bensonhurst is still growing as well, so only time can tell.

Sources

1. Infoshare
2. Social Explorer