If a modern tourist wants to go back in time to enjoy a specific atmosphere Soviet Union, then this desire is quite possible to realize. All you need to do is visit.
This is a quarter of an American metropolis. It was here on American soil that former Russian immigrants embodied the notorious “American Dream” in a very unique way.
In the southern part on the coast Atlantic Ocean The most controversial quarter of the city is located.
The amazing history of a Russian region on American soil
The first settlers came here as soon as the Soviet Union gave the green light to emigrate to Israel. A colossal number of people immigrated from Israel immediately to Israel, coming up with the most florid explanations.
Initially, Brighton Beach was considered one of the most favorable locations to live. Mass immigration has caused confusion with the language and raised questions regarding employment and finding suitable housing.
IN different time the quarter was filled with low-income citizens who wanted to live in the same “Sovka”, but much better.
What is special about the quarter?
A peculiar “Soviet” atmosphere reigns in Brighton Beach even now. One has only to arrive from the “quarter for Russians” and it immediately becomes clear who lives in this area. Local Americans interact closely with the Russian diaspora.
Tourists will encounter signs in Russian on every corner. The quarter is replete with “typical Russians.” The manner of speaking, dressing, relaxing, and even the way of life itself is an amazing symbiosis of American prosperity, Soviet chastity and the simple human thirst to “live well.”
What can surprise a modern tourist?
Brighton Beach has a special flavor. Some moments may surprise and puzzle you. Eg:
- Most store names are in Russian. You can hear native speech on the streets. Everything is saturated with Soviet flavor;
- Here is the cheapest rental housing in the city;
- The architecture is somewhat reminiscent of buildings from the USSR era;
- Brighton Beach is included in many extended excursions and is considered a colorful attraction of the city;
- New Yorkers associate Brighton Beach with Russian cuisine and the old Soviet atmosphere;
- This part of the city is traditionally considered the “old people’s quarter.” There are very few young people on Brighton Beach.
Iconic landmarks
Millennium Theater- an interesting attraction for Russian tourists. This Cultural Center, aimed only at artists from the Russian Federation and the CIS who come to Brighton Beach.
Millennium Theater
The part of the coast that is closest to the theater is built up with elite cottages. Prestigious housing belongs to show business stars, cultural figures and other Russians who can afford such luxury.
Worthy of tourist attention Ballet Theater on Brighton Beach. Here is the most best school Russian ballet in America. Over 30 years, more than three thousand students have been educated here. There are also folklore and modern dance directions.
By general standards, the beach is not the cleanest or most attractive place to relax. But the beach location on Brighton Beach is considered the cleanest in New York.
To admire the sand and plunge into the relatively clear waters of the Atlantic Ocean, you will have to enjoy a 40-minute subway ride from Manhattan to Brighton Beach.
Interesting figures about the quarter
According to surveys conducted among the local population and tourists, as well as data from travel agencies, a specific scale was created with assessments of the main elements of the area. The highest score is 5 points.
Impressions from a walk through the streets
A real state inside the Big Apple, Brighton Beach is a separate attraction of the city. Brighton Beach is sometimes referred to as a prestigious holiday village. This is partly true. A casual stroll through the streets of the neighborhood will help you verify this.
When you arrive here, you should definitely take a walk along the boardwalk. The pleasant freshness of the ocean waters, a scattering of coastal restaurants with authentic cuisine and live music, a specific mood: everything is conducive to a leisurely and pleasant promenade.
Brighton Beach is gradually turning into a very prestigious location to live. Many residents of other New York neighborhoods come here for a relaxing beach holiday. The coastline is being actively developed with modern original architectural complexes.
Coney Island
Brighton Beach is home to one of the oldest and most interesting amusement parks for modern tourists, Coney Island. It is the predecessor of the iconic Disneyland and the true progenitor of more modern theme parks.
In the second half of the 19th century, the territory of the park began to be filled with outlandish attractions, cabaret theaters, bathing and hotel locations. It was at this point in Brighton Beach that iconic attributes of American culture first appeared: the hot dog and the roller coaster.
The first indoor amusement park opened in 1895. 6 years later, the first amusement park was formed here. Later the idea took root in other places.
Coney Island– the place where fun was born, imbued with the spirit of bygone eras, attracts tourists from all over the world. This place on Brighton Beach once attracted Maxim Gorky, Vladimir Mayakovsky and even Sigmund Freud.
Everyone spoke with extraordinary delight about this place. And the famous test pilot C. Linberg said that an adventure on a roller coaster can outshine the emotions of even a great flight across the Atlantic.
Watch the video:
Chizha NY video about Brighton Beach:
Ask any American where Russians live in New York, and without a shadow of a doubt he will point you towards Long Island, where Brooklyn and its individual administrative districts are located. It is here that the area popularly called “Little Odessa” is located, in which mainly people from former USSR. It is called Brighton Beach, and most of the restaurants, shops and even newspaper offices have Russian-language names.
History of the area
The Brooklyn area received its current name in honor of the resort of the same name, located in the UK. Soon they laid here railway, which later became a branch of the New York Subway. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the area attracted tourists, and later Brighton Beach became a fashionable resort where wealthy Europeans came to relax.
The Second changed everything radically World War. The area went from being popular to becoming a place where the poor lived and was considered depressed for some time. Over time, the birth rate in Brooklyn increased and the area gradually began to develop again. IN to a greater extent this was facilitated by the influx of immigrants from the Soviet Union. Soon a kind of Russian district in New York was formed here. Brooklyn attracted immigrants from of Eastern Europe due to its low cost, as well as good infrastructure, good transport links and location near the coast.
Brighton remained unprestigious until the end of the last century, when the collapse of the USSR and further perestroika followed. It’s a paradox, but it was these events that gave a powerful impetus to the development of “Little Odessa,” because along with poor Soviet citizens, a stream of former Russian businessmen poured into the States.
Infrastructure
The first generations who moved to Brighton did everything so that their children not only knew English, but also did not forget Russian. Already at the beginning of the new century, the Russian district in New York was filled with shops and restaurants where Russian-speaking staff worked and Russian products could be purchased. The magnificent Millennium Theater was built near the coast, and the entire post-Soviet elite lived in the luxurious Oceana residential complex. Brooklyn's transportation system remains one of the best in New York to this day.
"Little Odessa"
In most local banks, offices, entertainment and shopping centers, Russian is the norm rather than the exception, and you hear it more often than English. Every week “Little Odessa” hosts performances by Russian pop stars, so the locals hardly have to talk about nostalgia.
Brighton is separated from the coast by 100 meters of white sand. Needless to say, summer time Is it just a paradise for tourists? All beaches are equipped with free toilets and soda fountains. Lifeguards are on duty at sea around the clock, and along coastline There are specially designated areas for fishing enthusiasts.
Development prospects
Today, the Russian district in New York, along with neighboring Coney Island, is considered one of the rapidly developing areas. According to experts, these two administrative centers are the most promising in terms of investment for the next decade.
Population
According to the latest census, Little Odessa has a population of just over 23 thousand people. It should be noted right away that this figure is nothing more than a formality, because not all residents enter into lease agreements and, accordingly, are not included in the statistics. In addition, in the summer season, the population of the area increases 2-3 times due to visiting tourists. When it comes to gender, men and women are roughly equal in Brighton.
The Russian district in New York fully lives up to its name: 36% of residents of the administrative center do not speak or have poor knowledge English language, while for the agglomeration as a whole this figure does not exceed 7%. About 73% of residents of “Little Odessa” are emigrants, and in New York this figure is within 22%.
Despite the fact that Brooklyn as a whole has a very high number of people with above-average incomes, the Russian neighborhood in New York generally shows a low standard of living. For example, about 30% of the population here lives in poverty, and the number of cars per capita is almost half that of New York itself.
This is not surprising. Such a spread is typical for today’s Russia and most countries of the post-Soviet space. While some are basking in luxury, others are forced to look for a means of subsistence.
Along with this, it is the width of the middle-income stratum of the population that determines the quality of life in the country as a whole.
Well, for now, Brighton Beach is really “Little Odessa” or “Moscow” rather than the largest metropolitan area of the United States on the Mediterranean coast.
Today we will go to the Russian region, where Jewish emigrants from the USSR live compactly, and which the locals call Little Odessa. Welcome to Brighton Beach, the cradle of the Russian-speaking diaspora in New York.
The first settlers appeared here in the 1970s, after the USSR allowed Jewish emigration to Israel in 1971, under the official wording “for family reunification.” To the surprise Soviet authorities There were many more people willing to give up a happy socialist future than expected. Therefore, even those leaving legally became traitors to their homeland, and the word Jew itself was replaced with “Soviet citizens of Jewish nationality.”
Those wishing to leave the Union underwent a thorough check and paid compensation for education, upbringing and other “bread and salt” received from the generous country. Usually, to do this, you had to sell your home and other property, especially since you couldn’t take it with you anyway. As a result, emigrants went abroad with a clear conscience and pockets. Some actually stayed in Israel, but most went in search of better life to America, to New York. Brighton Beach was chosen as the new homeland; the decisive role was played not by the proximity of the ocean, but low prices for housing, at that time Brighton was one of the poorest areas of New York. In 1973, the mass exodus was stopped, but the prerequisites for the next waves of emigration had already been created, and the community had been formed.
Gradually, Brighton Beach turned into a prosperous area, largely thanks to the diaspora of immigrants from the former USSR. But there are still many problems, more than a third of the population speaks little or no English, while the average for New York City is 7%. The standard of living for most of the population of Brighton Beach is low. Incomes are below the New York City average.
The area welcomes guests with a modest inscription:
Many people think that Brighton Beach is one street under the metro overpass, in principle there is some truth in this, it is there that all the cultural and business “Russian” life is in full swing, but the area itself is a little larger. And we'll start our walk on Brighton beach. It's a little deserted here in winter.
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The residential area and the beach are separated by a boardwalk, the Rigelman Promenade, or as the locals call it, the “boardwalk.” The boardwalk connects Brighton Beach with the neighboring area of Coney Island, where the famous amusement park is located.
Among the attractions is a restaurant where annual hot dog eating competitions are held. Unfortunately, we arrived a little early, but we still have time to get in shape.
Local residents sometimes complain that life here isn’t easy either; municipal authorities, like everywhere else, steal and cut through the budget. These toilets on the embankment were pointed out contemptuously as an example. They say each one cost a couple of million. So far, the closets have not been put into operation and it is unknown when this long-awaited moment will come. Perhaps officials are afraid that savvy Brightonians (or Brightonbeachites) will immediately understand whose toilets their taxes were spent on.
Let's take a little away from the embankment. The area does not please the eye with any special beauty. By the way, the film and book "Requiem for a Dream" take place right here in Brighton. Don't think that we are hinting at something, it just came to mind.
Brighton was not always a poor area; it was originally conceived as a resort town, and even received its name in honor of the resort of the same name in England. And I must say that things were going very well in the area, wealthy Europeans were heading here in droves. A beautiful embankment is all that remains of its former success.
Unfortunately, the Great Depression turned positive into negative, and until the late 1980s, Brighton became one of the most disadvantaged areas of the city. Somewhere around this time, Donald Trump’s company began densely building up the area with social high-rise buildings. By analogy with the “Khrushchev buildings” still fresh in memory, the new houses were immediately dubbed “Trampovki”. The trumpets were transferred to the city for free use for a period of 40 years. After this, the residents had to either buy their homes or be evicted. The topic turned out to be working and Donald Trump is slowly but steadily becoming the owner of precious New York land.
If you don’t look closely, you won’t understand that you are in New York, and not in a residential area of some of our cities. Unless they park in the yard more civilly.
Yes, and one cannot fail to note the concern for the safety of the younger generation; a vigilante is always on duty near the intersection near the school:
We head to Brighton Beach Avenue, the main street, where all the business and shopping life of the area is concentrated under the overpass subway. There are few permanent residents on the street; few people want to live next to the 24-hour New York subway. All the houses along the street are occupied by shops and offices; the range of services provided is very diverse, from inexpensive calls to the former homeland to fortune telling:
Where would we be without Russian signs, in the Russian region? American pharmacies (even in Brighton) have interesting feature. It is difficult to buy medicine there, but you can easily buy soda or shampoo. Without a doctor's prescription, they will only sell you some analogue of aspirin, but even if you have a prescription, it is not a fact that the necessary medicine will be available. To somehow compensate for lost profits, pharmacists began selling household chemicals and snacks. This is how people have been saved for 70 years.
Traditional pharmacies compete with their herbal counterparts. So if you want to buy herbal shampoo, washing powder with the freshness of alpine meadows or soap with the aroma of lavender, then go to the herbal pharmacy:
Russian speech can be heard all around, and our people are recognized subconsciously, by some special facial expression and style of clothing. According to conservative estimates, about 500 thousand Russian speakers live in New York. Some of them even complain that they spoke much better English before moving to America. American companies don’t interfere with someone else’s monastery with their English signs and also speak Russian.
Lovers Soviet films They won’t be offended. In general, you can’t help but feel like you’re about to run into Sergei Bodrov’s character from the movie “Brother 2” on the street:
Along with the Russians, Russian fashion also moved here.
If the owner cannot come up with an original name for the store, then you can simply write “Russian store” and the clientele will trample:
The goods are mainly imported, from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.
For newcomers and those homesick for their homeland, supermarkets have special “Smooth Assimilation and Rehabilitation” departments, where you can buy homemade jams and preserves:
Interesting story about bread. The fact is that Americans eat toast bread, which is very soft and not very suitable for making sandwiches unless it is first toasted in a toaster. But this is not America, but Brighton Beach, so normal Russian bread is sold here, albeit prepared in an American factory. Once upon a time, bread was imported from abroad, but along the way it became stale, spoiled and, as a result, was not in demand.
There are goods from Poland:
In addition to high-rise buildings, there are also low 2-5 storey buildings. The presence of an air conditioner is one of the signs that a Russian lives in the apartment; usually they simply install a centralized air conditioning system:
Street selling delicacies:
Theater box office. Local residents enjoy going to concerts of popular and not very popular artists overseas:
There will probably be a full house at Galkina:
Next to the box office there is a boutique where you can immediately dress up for the concert:
"And what do we have here?"
This is a historical development, it appeared even before the active colonization of the area by our former compatriots. The fire escapes have not yet been glazed:
A little away from Brighton's main artery, Brighton Beach Avenue, the usual one-story Americana begins.
Monotonous buildings are sometimes diluted with small high-rise buildings:
Unlike Manhattan, garbage is collected in containers:
Well, at the end of our walk, we probably need to draw some conclusions. While walking around Brighton, a strange feeling never left us; later we agreed that it was not tenderness or the joy of meeting our native culture in a foreign land, it was rather nostalgia. Nostalgia for the past. Brighton is more reminiscent not of Little Odessa, but of Little USSR. It was built by people who left the real USSR, but were never able to rebuild. Therefore, they built their comfortable USSR (or something close to our 90s) with sausage and household appliances, and now they live in it for their own pleasure, without visiting other areas of the city for years.
Next time we will look at how assimilation occurs in the Chinese and Italian quarters.
Between 50 and 70 thousand Russian-speaking people live in the Brighton Beach area today. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
Brighton Beach is perhaps the most famous Russian-speaking area in the USA. It is also called “Little Odessa”. According to various estimates, between 50 and 70 thousand Russian speakers live here today.
A ForumDaily journalist spent one day with local residents of Brighton Beach to find out how this small “Russian world” lives now.
Russian-Ukrainian symbiosis
Dozens of subway stations separate downtown New York and Brighton Beach. One hour - and you find yourself in an area where they speak either Russian or Ukrainian. And here you can often hear a symbiosis of English and Russian. The most popular words in everyday use have become “otchardzhit”, “slice” or, for example, “four find nain”.
Here everyone knows each other, just like in the village. All you have to do is live in Brighton for a couple of weeks and they will greet you like one of their own. Russian hits can be heard from the shops every now and then. Well, where else can you hear the words from Lyubov Uspenskaya’s song: “Today you are shining in Brighton, and tomorrow, maybe, you will go to Broadway.”
On Brighton Beach you can get any information in Russian. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
The first Russian-speaking wave of emigration brought Jews here in the 1970s. Then, in 1972, the Soviet Union allowed Jews to emigrate to Israel for “family reunification.” The second wave occurred in the 90s. Many natives of Odessa appeared here. At that time, almost half a million people moved from Ukraine to Brighton Beach. This is evidenced byarchival documents , which are still stored in Central Library Brooklyn. Odessa residents are accustomed to the sea, which is why they flocked to Brighton, where there is direct access to the Atlantic Ocean and an embankment for walks.
Elderly people sunbathing on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
The main thing is that the suit fits
One of the most prominent representatives of the first wave of emigration is Yakov Lyubarov. He came to Brighton Beach in 1978 from Moscow. Since childhood, Lyubarov loved to dress beautifully, so he almost immediately became a star in Brighton. Suits from Gaultier or Versace, shoes from Dolce & Gabbana - there are many stylish things in the wardrobe of the “Moscow mischievous reveler”.
Yakov Lyubarov is always dressed to the nines. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
Yakov came to New York with his wife and little daughter. They fled the USSR from the communist system. We received green cards right at the airport.
“When we arrived here, there were almost no Russians here. Maybe just a few families from Israel and Russia. We had $300. The Nayana organization helped us, then I got a job at an American air conditioning repair company,” says Lyubarov.
Life began to get better. Later, Yakov got a job driving a taxi, then went into the jewelry business. I could have moved to Manhattan, but Brighton became my home. He still remembers how he received the long-awaited American passport, and how he and his friends tried to obtain citizenship. Naturally, they drank Russian vodka.
“I want to say that Brighton Beach had its heyday in the 80s and 90s. Then the intelligentsia arrived from Leningrad and Moscow. Of course, there were also emigrants from Odessa. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, other people already arrived. How should I put it? Not very good quality,” he shares his opinion.
Yakov received an American passport long ago and retired. He says he lives well.
“My pension is small: $700. But I also rent out taxi licenses. We have our own apartment in a cooperative. I never thought about returning to my homeland. I lived in Brighton most own life. If only to visit the capital,” Yakov says with a smile.
A few years ago, Yakov Lyubarov bought an apartment on Brighton Beach. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
Yakov loves to travel with his wife. They usually go on a cruise around Europe. France and Italy are paradise for fashionista Lyubarov. Yakov never returns without something new. The Brighton resident also loves to tell jokes.
“One guy says to a girl: “Did you give it to Petka for love or for money?” And the girl says: “Well, of course, for love! 3 rubles is really money!?” Yakov laughs.
At the end of our meeting, Yakov Lyubarov addressed tourists who come to New York and asked them not to forget to visit his favorite attraction called Brighton Beach.
And life, and tears, and love
Everything in Brighton is Russian: restaurants, pharmacies, shops. Not far from the Brighton Beach metro station, both in winter and summer, you can see a native of Ukraine, Maria Chernenko. For the past five years, in rain and snow, she has been selling food directly on the street. Maria told ForumDaily about how she ended up in Brighton Beach.
Maria Chernenko has been selling sweets for local residents for five years. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
Maria Chernenko won a green card and came to New York in 2011. She has children and grandchildren in her native Ternopil. Every year she goes to visit them and returns to Brighton Beach with tears in her eyes.
“I miss them very much. I earn money and send it there. This helps them a lot. My dream is to quickly get an American passport so that my children have a choice. I don’t know if they will want to live here,” says Maria.
It took her a long time to get used to the local mentality. It has already developed immunity to the dissatisfaction of Russian-speaking pensioners.
“There are different types of buyers, they are capricious. Everyone needs to prove themselves. I'm used to it. At first I thought I would go deaf, but now the train is coming again. But a person gets used to everything,” Chernenko says about the working conditions.
Maria is satisfied with the salary, but, of course, the woman does not hide the fact that she would like to receive more than $10 an hour.
“Our store owner is normal. In winter, he gives me a heater outside so that I don’t freeze. Do you know how cold it is here? Horror. But it’s okay, we’ll cope,” she says.
At this point in the interview, a man approached Maria. He left the store and asked her what she was talking about. The woman, as if blaming herself for something, tried to quickly answer him: they say, everything is fine, go.
But the man turned out to be very persistent and made his own statement.
“Okay, let’s get out of here. This is my woman. My love. What’s bothering you?” he addressed the Forumdaily journalist with a menacing look.
This is how our conversation with Maria ended. A second later she was busy selling chocolate bars, only managing to quickly wave her hand at us.
Brighton Beach residents are picking up free groceries that are about to expire. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
Boris is also a salesman. True, the man sells not chocolates, but books from own library. Russian classics, the man complains, don’t work at all these days.
“Don't ask me how are you? Badly. There is no business. No money left. At least there’s a roof over your head!” he points to his head.
Boris has been selling books for about 20 years. For him, this is his only income, the man complains. But, as it turned out, Boris is clearly not ready for a heart-to-heart conversation.
"All. Let's. Enough about me. We will survive. Even so. I still won’t tell you my last name. Guys, don’t interfere with work,” Boris said, burying his face in a book.
Boris doesn't really like talking to journalists. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
On Brighton Beach you can always listen to Russian songs performed live. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
As the locals say, “Brighton is so different.” Indeed, you can see expensive SUVs and luxury sports cars here. Among the people you will meet a man begging for alms, women in mink coats or girls in fashionable Italian brands and heels.
Brighton Beach resident. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
On Brighton Beach, women can always find shops that sell fur coats. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
Business lady on Brighton Beach. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
By the way, some ladies, without hesitation, can leave the beauty salon with a perm and curlers on their heads.
Inga Sokolnikova has been doing everything possible for 13 years to make the fair sex from Brighton Beach look more beautiful. She is a cosmetologist. Together with her family, Inga came to the United States 13 years ago and immediately settled in the Russian region.
"I have soviet school in cosmetology, so my clients are mainly Russian-speaking. I received a license here and, of course, I can work with Americans. But I love ours more, they are dearer. Russians are always ready to help those, for example, who have recently arrived in America,” says Inga.
Beautician Inga loves Brighton Beach. Photo from personal archive
It was not easy for the Kiev resident to start new life from scratch. Now Inga has her own beauty salon. Sokolnikova says that clients, of course, are different.
“Somehow capricious and harmful clients are eliminated on their own. I am a fan of my work and always treat everyone with understanding. But recently they managed to offend me. There was a woman in the salon, she did all the procedures and paid with a credit card. There was $700. And two weeks later I receive a letter from the bank that the amount has not gone through,” Inga is perplexed.
It turned out that the client decided to deceive Inga and blocked her credit card. Now a lawyer is helping Inga find the fraudster. Despite such unpleasant stories, Inga still loves Brighton Beach.
“My husband also works in Brighton. I didn’t think for a minute about leaving here. To another area or another state. I just love Brighton. What kind of people are here! It's a pleasure to look at them and listen to them. And there is a beach nearby. It’s beauty,” Inga admires her place of residence.
Many of Inga's fellow countrymen also love Brighton. True, local chess players, for example, don’t really want to communicate with journalists. As soon as the sun peeks out on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, they appear on the street - men from Odessa - amateurs board games.
“What are we going to tell you? We joke here, play, enjoy life. Everything is fine with us. Everything is like in Odessa,” one of the players said laughing.
Board game lovers on the Brighton Beach promenade. Photo by Pavel Terekhov
Brighton Beach Property
The Brighton Beach area isn't just home to retirees. Young people also settled in “Little Odessa”. The main part are young people who have recently arrived in New York and started a new life. It is in Brighton that you can find your first illegal job and rent housing without documents. Rent price square meters, on average, will cost $1000-$1200 for a studio or one-room apartment.
Russian-speaking girls can always find their first job and housing in Brighton. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
At Brighton Beach tube station. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
Some young families not only rent property on Brighton Beach, but also buy apartments here. This choice is primarily due to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. According to realtor Sonya Ostrovskaya, Brighton is one of the best areas to buy a condominium apartment.
“This type of housing has its own characteristics, but, in any case, you become full owners of the apartment. And there is another plus - the opportunity to purchase a parking space, which you can use yourself, resell or rent out,” says the realtor.
Among the buyers are clients from Russia and Ukraine. Demand, says Sonya, is different for everyone. But today it is in Brighton that you can buy both inexpensive and luxury real estate.
“Prices here, on average, range from $550 thousand to $800. And expensive real estate can cost two million. For example, we are now selling three-room apartments in a condo for $1 million. The price also includes a parking space. This is all in the famous luxury complex Oceana Condominium & Club“,” Sonya Ostrovskaya shared with ForumDaily.
There are also plenty of offers for the sale of real estate. According to Sonya, older people are moving to sunny Florida, where they are buying houses.
Residents of the luxury residential complex Oceana Condominium & Club. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
In summer, Brighton Beach turns into a real resort. Most often, at this time, Americans want to get closer to Russian culture and traditions. In stores you can buy a hat with earflaps or Cheburashka, and for lunch try Ukrainian borscht. You can do this in the legendary restaurants “Tatyana”, “Volna”, “Primorsky”. On the website of the Tatyana restaurant it is written that you will not regret if you visit this place where “vodka and cognac flows like a fountain.” Such establishments as “Chinar”, “Domes of Samarkand”, “Caucasus” and many others are popular.
Former journalist for the famous newspaper The Washington Post, Robert Kyser, often comes to Brighton.
“Of course, I love Russians. And you have the most beautiful women in Russia. Brighton is such a small Russia. I even study Russian here. And your kitchen is simply a culinary masterpiece,” Kayser shared with ForumDaily.
Russian restaurants are expecting an influx of customers. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
Beach at Brighton Beach. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
You can always meet locals on the Brighton Beach promenade. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
Brighton Beach promenade. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
Residents of the Russian district of Brighton Beach. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
Brighton Beach residents are looking forward to summer. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
If you can’t try Russian cuisine in a restaurant, you can buy Olivier salad or Herring under a fur coat in grocery stores on Brighton Beach at any time. Regardless of the time of year.
Russian store on Brighton Beach. Photo: Pavel Terekhov
So for Russian-speaking people, living in Brighton Beach is the same as living in their homeland without leaving the USA.
Perhaps no other place in America has gained such fame in the former Soviet Union as the New York area of Brighton Beach, where our many compatriots live. Moreover, among the “formers” themselves there are approximately equal numbers of those who consider Brighton Beach a redneck and depressive place, but exactly the same number love this area and happily live there or come for a walk. Meanwhile, the area became “Russian” starting in the 70s of the 20th century, that is, a little more than 40 years ago. Initially, at the beginning of the century, it was a fashionable resort, where poor emigrants could not even dream of living. The entire New York elite vacationed here, and Frank Sinatra himself gave concerts here shortly before the start of World War II. Everything collapsed as a result of the war in Europe. Firstly, the US ocean coast turned into a closed military zone and German submarines were scurrying around, trying to get to the shipyards of New York, and secondly, the economic crisis and the disappearance of European tourists. In the 50-60s, Brighton Beach, despite all its magnificent beaches, became a poor suburb of New York, a miserable outskirts of the already modest Brooklyn. Until... until our people arrive!
It’s quite far from the center of New York here, about 20 kilometers in a straight line, and the most convenient way to get there is by subway, the station is called Brighton Beach, it’s impossible to make a mistake. Yes, and you will see our people in the carriage, their percentage will increase as you approach the mentioned station -
In the beginning, the first “Russians” in Brighton were, naturally, Jews. In 1972, as a result of the adoption of the Jackson-Vanik amendment regarding the ban on Soviet Jews leaving the country, the United States imposed economic sanctions on the Brezhnev USSR. As a result, the Soviets caved in and allowed approximately 200 thousand Jews to leave the country. About half went to Israel, and half went to the USA, largely to New York and partly to Baltimore and San Francisco. But it would be a mistake to think that all Russian-speaking emigrants in America are Jews. Absolutely not. After the collapse of the USSR, about two million (!) Russian-speaking citizens arrived overseas, of which, this time, there were Jews, God forbid, if a third of them total number. According to the general feeling of the residents of Brighton themselves (and I spoke with 3-4 families), today there are even more ethnic Ukrainians here than Jews and Russians combined. Plus, over the past decade and a half, several thousand Georgians, Armenians and residents of Uzbekistan have arrived in Brighton. What I mean is that not everyone here will understand or appreciate the jokes about the Jewish Aunt Rose, but if you run into a Georgian, he’ll twist his finger at your temple.
Why do many of our people in America hate Brighton Beach? First of all, because after leaving Sovk (not to be confused with modern Russia, because the main part was still leaving the stagnant USSR), people did not want to live among those who were nostalgic for this very “Sovk”. On the contrary, they sought to live among Americans and quickly become Americans. Not everyone succeeded, but such a theory has a right to exist. For example, without exception, all my relatives in the States and Canada (and I have an incredible number of relatives there, I think there are fifty families) do not like Brighton Beach.
My opinion? And I like it here. No, not the situation and surroundings, I don’t care about the surroundings. I currently live in Batumi and perceive most local residents as part of the landscape, communicating exclusively among expats. No, I like Brighton differently, I’ll tell you a little further. For now, let's just take a walk and the walk will inevitably begin from the metro station -
Brighton Beach Avenue is the very “Russian street” of New York. But this does not mean that our people do not live anywhere else. They don’t live on this street; it’s very noisy here from passing trains. But here are all the shops, restaurants and public life district -
You can estimate the prices of the products, but this is the price per pound. Let me remind you that 1 pound is equal to 453 grams of weight, in other words, multiply the figure by two and you will get a price tag per kilogram -
The newspapers seem to hint that the contingent is aging. Young people already read news on the Internet and obviously in English -
Sales of old books for $1.99 each look sad. People had such difficulty dragging their Soviet libraries to America, all these collected works of Chekhov and Turgenev. And all in order to then give them to junk dealers -
Films on discs, the same yesterday -
But the topic of moving to America through a fictitious marriage is still relevant. A fifty-year-old bride will cost you about 20 thousand dollars and for this money she will go with you to the emigration service for all the necessary 3-4 years, confirming that you still have carrot love. IN Lately, however, brides for money are increasingly looking to be serious grandmothers due to their age, therefore, nowadays a Mexican or Chinese bride, who has received a US passport for a couple of years, is more popular.
About work. Here, a considerable part of the workers are plowed according to a gray scheme, as in Russia and Ukraine. That is, officially you work, say, a third of the rate and you are paid 500-600 dollars a month. What, not enough? Did you think that salaries here are 120 thousand dollars a year, as a familiar IT specialist from Silicon Valley told you? No, they work here for a minimum of $7.45 an hour, but even with this amount they manage to “cheat” and give you your salary in an envelope. Simply put, not specifically in this establishment, but in the area as a whole, salaries are only 1200-1600 dollars per month in hand.
But living here is relatively cheap. To rent a room in an apartment costs 350-500 dollars a month, and an apartment with a bedroom and a living room costs about 1000 a month and can even be a little cheaper, for example 800. This is a third of the cost of something like this not only in comparison with Manhattan (there is five times more), but even with Brooklyn. For comparison, in Washington, my relative rented a studio for 2000 a month, far from the center. In this regard, living here is not so expensive, especially since it is one of the most expensive cities in the world.
Price tags in the restaurant -
Most of our people, as already mentioned, do not live near the metro (it’s noisy there), but in these modern houses next door -
Walking nearby, it’s easy to notice the contingent -
Shaking a rug onto the heads of pedestrians below is everything to us!
Now I’ll tell you why I really like Brighton Beach. Let's abstract ourselves from Russian signs and the emigrant environment, okay? Have you switched? Now look how beautiful it is here: fantastic beaches, elegant promenade, ocean, pleasant breeze, fresh air -
Yes, this is all Brighton Beach, and that street with Russian signs on the second line, behind these high-rise buildings, a five-minute walk from the beaches -
What's wrong? Forget about our fellow citizens, no one forces you to communicate with them, and they themselves don’t care about you, I assure you. Just be glad that you live in New York, one of the coolest cities in the world and not somewhere in the slums of the Bronx, but overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
But it’s difficult to completely abstract myself, I agree. I have absolutely no bias towards emigrants, and I myself am a three-time emigrant. But in some ways my relatives are right, life among people living in the past is harmful. This is a philosophical and sad topic, because it is no secret that most of these grandparents came to America as young boys and girls back in the 70s and 80s. Not many of them can say that they are happy with their emigration...
What are the grandmothers whispering about on the benches? Yes, about the same thing that grandmothers chat about on a bench in Moscow or Yekaterinburg: tests, Putin, pensions, grandchildren, Trump. There is nothing new under the sun.
And this shot made me laugh. Drunk as hell, with a Russian flag on his ass. He swore at the unfortunate dog: “Oh, you’re a bitch, just like your owner, damn it!” The unfortunate animal tried to hide from him, but he cruelly pulled her by the leash.
And yet, Brighton Beach is changing rapidly. Hurry to where the spirit of Soviet Odessa still remains while these colorful grandparents are alive. In another ten years, Brighton Beach will be a predominantly Arab area. There are more and more of these guys here -
It would be better if Russian grandmothers were replaced by at least the Chinese, harmless and hard-working people...
Good night, Brighton Beach, peace be with you!
The metro doors closed and this strange area with an unusual fate remained somewhere far away. It won’t be long before this symbol of “Russian America” disappears forever along with these grandmothers. Their children and grandchildren no longer remain where their parents came. They turn into Americans and disperse throughout the vast country.
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