Today Bensonhurst is home to many immigrants or families of recent immigrant descent from all over the world including our own families.  But over the years there have been different waves of immigration. Bensonhurst started off as farmland and has been developing since 1835. Its name originated from the Benson family which controlled the area in the 1830s. Amongst highly frequented streets are Bay Parkway and 86th street. According to blog Forgotten New York, this area’s success can be attributed to its “open-air” bazaar-type markets, which were made possible by the wide sidewalks. Based on historical images, it seems that while 86th street was residential in 1904, by 1940 it became an area of high foot-traffic and a shopping strip. It became known as Bensonhurst’s “main street.” Nearby areas of Bensonhurst likely benefited from the popularity of this main street and the business it attracted. Around this time (late 1800s and early 1900s), New York was experiencing its first major wave of immigration due to the opening of Ellis Island in 1892, and a small number of immigrants begin to disperse throughout the 5 boroughs. By 1940s, images suggest that 86th street was easily accessible by trains and automobiles, which may have contributed to its popularity. In 1970, the census tracts in Bensonhurst had around 30-40% of foreign-born occupants. Bensonhurst had especially high levels of native occupants with Italian ancestry (census tracts with populations from 14% – 60%) and foreign-born Italians (census tracts with populations from 6% – 40%). It was known as the “Little Italy of Brooklyn” due to this high population of Italian-Americans. One can still find both new and historical Italian small businesses when walking through the streets of Bensonhurst, such as Pizza Daddy (one of the small businesses we interviewed!) But in recent years, it has slowly become less of Little Italy and more of Brooklyn’s Chinatown due to changes in demographics.

All the way back to 1900, the population density was very low and the area was almost 100% white (349,726 white people and 4828 black people). By 1960, the percentage of white people decreased to 85% with a very small population of Asians (Chinese, Japanese, and Indian) making their way to Brooklyn and the percentage of Blacks increasing to 14%. From 1990 to 2000, there was a huge increase in the Asian population. In 1990 they made up around 2 or 3% of the population in the area, but by 2000 they made up around 16% of the people in the area. The latest census of race was collected for 2015 with upwards of 36% of the population being Asian, but the Black population dropped all the way to >= 1%. It also very interesting that south of Bay Parkway there seems to be a greater Asian population than north of Bay Parkway (36% vs. 24%).

Ali, the manager of Istanbul, spoke about how they also started getting more Asian customers, which seems to be a direct reflection of the increased Asian population in the area (darker patches of orange). The manager has worked at Istanbul for 7 years, so he started working there around 2010/2009.

According to 2000 income census the average household income was $43,715 compared to $60,455  in 2015. This indicates a general increase (darker shade of orange) in average income; however, the $43,715 was the amount in 1999 dollars. Using an inflation calculator, we were able to determine the 2015 value of $43,715, which ended up being $62,628. Therefore, in the past 15 years, it seems that the average household income’s buying power has remained relatively the same.

As part of our adventure back in time, we endeavored to find out not only how the population of Bensonhurst changed, but also how the very landscape of it has changed. Using “Istanbul” as an example, we searched through the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Newspaper archives, and discovered that in the late 1920s, the building under the address 2202 86th Street, Brooklyn was Weber Bros which was an authorized Awater Kent Dealer. Doing a simple Google search, one can find that Awater Kent was referring to these radios, which were probably considered great technology back in the day.

Expanding our search to be even broader, we used the investigate NYC website, to  discover that between 1936 to 1941 and then again in the 1980s, the Department of Finance took a picture of every building and house in every one of the five boroughs. Directed to the NYCityMap website, we typed in the address of Istanbul (2202 86th St, Brooklyn, NY 11214), the Turkish Restaurant we interviewed. Through this website, we found out that the building was on Block 6381, lot 37, Police Precinct, and owned by 86 Street Realty. The lot area of the building is 4553 square feet, it has 2 floors, and was built in 1953. With a special code dictating the building’s borough, block, and lot, we found a picture of the building in around the late 1980s or early 1990s. Ari Pitsiladi purchased the 2202 property in 1980, and then sold around the early 2000s to 86 Street Realty. Ali, the manager of Istanbul, said that the business has been around for 17 years so Istanbul probably began renting the space around when it was purchased by 86 Street Realty.

According to the media information, the owner of the building in 1990 was a man by the name Ari Pitsiladi. By clicking on his name we were able to find 5 other properties owned by him. Surprisingly enough, he also owned two neighboring buildings, 2208 and 2204 86th Street. Using the 2204 image (the storefront next to 2202), we were able to make out some of what the 2202 store sign said, which is Exchange… gold plated. We can assume it was a gold exchange shop, in which people could bring in their used gold and exchange it for money. These helpful resources demonstrated how businesses’ properties changed hands through the years.

Change isn’t isolated to decades. Even in recent years, Bensonhurst, particularly the areas surrounding the two restaurants, has become different. When looking at the  street views (on Google Maps) of the area near Pizza Daddy, you can see that in the 2007 image, it hasn’t even open yet and the building is residential! The street across from it is populated with stores such as a deli, a cell phone store, and a run-down pharmacy. In a more recent 2016 image Pizza Daddy’s storefront can be seen as part of a building also host to the Vein and Laser Center. The street across from it, although blocked by an image of a truck, now features stores with new awnings and looks much less dilapidated. As explained to us by Professor Mike Benediktsson, the block adapted together and as one store did well, the block attracted business as a collective (economies of agglomeration). Now Pizza Daddy is rising in the ranks, with customers praising its cleanliness and its lasagna (which the owner let us know is handmade by his mother!)

Street views of 86^th street show that the block on which “Istanbul” is located has also undergone changes. A Russian book store called “Saint-Petersburg” went out of business and was replaced by an Asian market. A chic, trendy-looking restaurant replaced another smaller Asian store. “Istanbul”, itself underwent massive changes post-2007, as it changed its storefront to its now well-known blue and outwardly expanded. What appears to be an Asian store and a nail salon now is the entrance to “Istanbul’s” popular sit-down dining area. “Istanbul” now is known for its rice pudding, delicious pita, great ambience, and pleasant staff.

With the help of internet and databases making it so simple and easy to access documents and information, it’s easy to forget the blood, sweat, and tears that went into making these changes. It is extremely fascinating how these spots in Brooklyn has changed so much over the years, but you can’t forget that behind every storefront there is a beautiful story.

Ali, born and raised in Turkey, worked his way up from being a “busboy/helper/waiter” to being a manager at Istanbul, a Turkish restaurant in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. As a young man in Turkey, he pursued a career as a professional volleyball player in Turkey and Germany, which explains his impressive height. After hurting his back playing volleyball, he was told by the doctor that he could not professionally play volleyball anymore. In 1996 his brother came to the US and suggested that Ali come too. Since Ali, did not want to serve in Turkey’s army for 1 1/2 years (a requirement in Turkey), he came to the US. Ali credits his brother for “giving [him] power” to come to the US because if it weren’t for his brother he “would never have come to America.” From arrival, America was different from what he expected; even arriving at JFK he balked at JFK’s small size in comparison to Turkey’s large airport.

It is freezing on March 5th in Brooklyn, and after walking to restaurant to restaurant and being turned down for interviews one after the other. Upon entering Istanbul, we succumb to our desire to try some of the food. We order their Chicken Gyro Platter and some Baklava to go. The dish is so well seasoned and has so many different components: the meat itself, the pita bread, vegetables on the side. Right when our order number is called, we are informed by another employee that the manager had arrived. The staff graciously assures us that we should finish eating and that the manager had no problem waiting and meeting us “in the back.” We make eye contact and silently rejoice at the gold mine we struck. We devoured all of the Chicken Gyro Platter in under 10 minutes, and it is so delicious we forget to take a photo.

It turns out that “the back” is actually another seating area. Istanbul has two seating areas: a tighter seating area (where we had lunch) and a more spacious dinning area (where we had the interview). Each seating area had its own grill. When we arrive to the dining area, the manager is already waiting for us at a table in the back. After making eye contact with us, he gets up to greet us and right away, and we notice his incredible height. We sit down with him at the table and as we are getting set up, he asks us to keep the questions simple because his English is not so great. However, we are beyond impressed that he not only knows English, but also Kurdish, Turkish, and German.

Most of the restaurant’s customers are Arabic, Russian, and Albanian, but there are also some American, Asian, and Italian customers. He says that the ethnicity of his customers reflect the changes in the neighborhood. When he just began working at Istanbul, he said that he did not have many Asian customers; however, over the years the number has increased, which reflects our findings from the Social Explorer. He also shares that there sadly is not much of a Turkish community in New York, and that these communities were much more prevalent in New Jersey. This, however, does not stop Ali from forming close bonds to customers: “Some of them, I don’t give the menu. I know what they want…I have [a] family. I love them…we’re meeting outside [of the restaurant]. I met them here at the restaurant. We became really good friends.”

We, personally, have very few insights into the dynamics of the restaurant business and have never given much thought into how the work is divided. Ali explained how different tasks and foods are delegated to different individuals: “Just one person is responsible for all cold appetizers. [Another] person is responsible [for] all the meat. Another one does the hot appetizers.” This strategy creates experts in each food specialty and together they create “Istanbul.” They source each of their food products from different places. The meat comes from halal companies, while necessities like cups and spices come from various Turkish companies. They order in bulk from their distributor, for example, thirty crates of tomatoes are ordered twice a week. This food is prepared in a section of the basement.

In their success, Istanbul has had to overcome many of the roadblocks small businesses face. Among the challenges are requirements such as those set by the Health Department. While Ali acknowledges the need for these standards, especially in “keeping clean” and regulating “meat temperatures,” small businesses often find themselves fined for minor findings because the health inspectors are under a lot of pressure to ticket restaurants.

Having a prime location on 86th street means they are also subject to yearly rent increases of around two percent. Ali also says that managing all 32 employees is incredibly difficult because every employee has his/her own problems. One day someone will be sick; another day someone is late. Because everyone has their own specialized job, whether is be making the pita or working the grill, everyone’s job is incredibly important to the restaurant. But despite the challenges that come with managing a food business, it does not take away from his love of his job. At the end of the day, he is able to take a quiet seat down at one of the tables after some hard work.

When we ask Ali about his favorite food here he is quick to respond, “lamb adana, ground lamb skewers. I like lamb chops too. I’m crazy [for them].” Here is where the three of us really start bonding. We start talking about our backgrounds. We each share our stories about immigrant experiences.

At some point he pulls out his phone and shows us an Instagram picture he has of a German article, which features a picture of his volleyball team. He kindly asks a waiter to bring “chai” or tea, which funnily enough is the same in Russian and in Mandarin, tea is “cha”; this brought us a few laughs. The black tea is served in elegant clear glasses. Along with the tea, he brings out his personal favorite dessert for us to try: rice pudding. It is actually the best rice pudding we have ever had and we can’t wait for our next taste! But what’ll bring us back to Istanbul isn’t only the food, but the friendly staff.

The two of us entered Pizza Daddy hoping for an interview, and left with much more. As consumers, we are so accustomed to cold, faceless big businesses.Very few of us consider the personal lives of the owners or employees, see the rich history of a small business, or feel the strong sense of family behind a storefront. Sometimes, we quite literally don’t see past the storefront. As one of us lives in Bensonhurst, we most associate Pizza Daddy with its iconic graphic. To us, the icon, one of the many things that differentiate Pizza Daddy from other restaurants and pizzerias, gives the location an individual identity. Being so eye grabbing, it had to be the subject of one of the first questions we asked current owner Chris Andreani.

Many businesses hire artists to design their graphics, but we were surprised to learn that his brother, Joe Andreani, not only created the concept of Pizza Daddy, but also helped to design the graphic that they later trademarked. As a man with incredible talent, Joe had worked at Marvel Comics before becoming a police officer. Joe consistently motivated and inspired his brother and current owner, Chris. Joe passed away three years ago at the age of forty-four, but is lovingly remembered by his family and friends.

Pizza Daddy opened in 2011 and has been open ever since. Like many small businesses, running Pizza Daddy requires a lot of hard work and effort. Maintaining a restaurant business calls for always being on site and being responsible for the quality of the food produced. This means doing all one can to satisfy customers including adding new items to the menu. Being open seven days a week and most days outside of major holidays, owning Pizza Daddy means a full schedule. And running an efficient and successful business involves not only the work of the owner, but also the commitment and dedication of employees.

It was interesting to get the perspective of a business owner, because while customers rarely think about it, finding employees to represent the business name and help maintain its livelihood can be an intimidating feat.

Part of their daily responsibilities is wood-firing the pizza. This involves a different type of oven. The interior of this oven is “dome shaped” and it is heated by burning wood such as red oak and maple wood. This brings the temperature to even higher than that of a slice oven, which is also brick, but gas fired. But what really makes wood-fired pizza special is the taste and aroma the wood gives each pie.

As we continued our conversation, we began discussing the role of the neighborhood, Bensonhurst, in business. It seemed that regardless of age or ethnicity, pizza seemed to bring the neighborhood together, attracting everyone in the neighborhood, including growing Arabic and Chinese populations.

We found Chris has a very refreshing take on customers, which we’ve rarely heard expressed so thoughtfully; while customer service is always a challenge, Chris related when customers come in, he cannot always know what is going on in their lives. He expressed that sometimes people have personal problems that affect them in ways we may not understand, and that he and employees try to take that into consideration.

This also applies to the employees themselves; sometimes owners and employees may face hardships that make it difficult “to paint a happy picture.” But through sharing experiences, Chris has been able to meet many people and form closer relationships with customers.

Having emigrated from Italy as a child, Chris and his family moved to Bensonhurst. Since opening the pizza shop, the whole family has been involved. When the shop first opened up, his brother played a huge role in dictating what each of the foods tasted like and “pretty much set everything up in terms of the taste.” Today, you can find the lasagna his mother always made at home, at the pizzeria. His mother comes to the pizzeria to make the lasagna, and the sauce and mini-meatballs that goes in it, for the shop.

Today, he is able to take joy in seeing “the finished product” that is the pizzeria and restaurant. What we can take from this is that one must not only constantly work to keep customers satisfied and invest a lot of time and energy, but also have the right attitude coming into it: “You have to have a passion and you have to care.”

Bensonhurst is a beautiful conglomeration of people from all over the world, the home of many immigrants, and ever evolving. Through our research we were able to discover the many existing influences on business such as a neighborhood’s history and demographics. A neighborhood is constantly evolving through the people who inhabit in, the businesses that operate in it, and even the physical surroundings. While a business may be affected by pressures such as increasing rent, managing employees, and satisfying customers, successful businesses are more than just business. Both of the small businesses we interviewed share a common thread: they tell stories of immigration. Even though we have roots from different countries and speak different languages, we are still able to share our cultures with each other. Through our interviews, we got a taste of one of the most intimate modes of sharing cultures: food. The foods that Istanbul and Pizza Daddy serve are the foods that Ali and Chris respectively grew up eating. Their restaurants’ storefronts are the gateway, the door, letting us into stories of their home country, childhood, and family. With each dish, more stories unfold. We may all have different stories to tell but somewhere along the line our stories always line up, whether it be reminiscing about our favorite dish made by our mom or the struggle to learn a new language. If it were not for the delicious gyros and pizzas, we may never have crossed paths with Ali and Chris.

*The featured image is attributed to David Golland at English Wikipedia

*All cityscape images in headings were taken by Joey, Flickr username “Joo0ey” and cropped (as noted underneath the first used image.)

*All gray gradient images in subheadings are public domain images credited to Alex Borland (as noted underneath the first used image.)

*All other image sources are noted beneath the images. Uncited images were taken by Amanda Onoichenco and Angela Chi.