BRIGHTON BEACH TOUR

Brighton Beach TOURS

We offer inexpensive walking and car tours in Brighton Beach - one of the most famous Russian-speaking areas of New York, located in the south of Brooklyn on the Atlantic Ocean. It is located between two other coastal areas - Coney Island with the famous amusement park and Manhattan Beach.

Individual Brighton Beach Tours

We offer inexpensive walking and car tours in Brighton Beach - one of the most famous Russian-speaking areas of New York, located in the south of Brooklyn on the Atlantic Ocean. It is located between two other coastal areas - Coney Island with the famous amusement park and Manhattan Beach. The area gained its fame due to the fact that it became the residence of almost the largest Russian-speaking community in the United States. In addition, Brighton Beach is a popular holiday destination in the summer months due to its coastal position and proximity to the oldest urban amusement park on Coney Island. The history of the area began in the XIX century, when this area was turned by William Engman into a beach resort with an eye on the famous English Brighton - hence the name Brighton Beach. The center of attraction was the huge Brighton Hotel, built next to the beach and subsequently moved away from the ocean, which threatened its structures. In July 1878, a railway line was carried out here, which already in the XX century became part of the New York metro line, which in Brighton Beach passes above the ground.

From the beginning, Brighton Beach became a popular holiday destination among wealthy Europeans and remained so until about the time of the Great Depression, after which the area became populated by the New York poor. Although today you can see the remains of the former luxury resort village, annexed to Brooklyn in 1894. After World War II, Jewish immigrants from European countries began to actively settle in the area. And since 1970, immigrants from the Soviet Union began to come here. Especially active immigration began after Perestroika and the collapse of the USSR, so today it is difficult to pass Brighton Beach without ever hearing a Russian speech. In fact, the population of the district is a kind of a cast of the Union, since you can meet former residents of all Soviet republics, as well as migrants from other Asian and, as is often the case in the United States, Latin American countries. The area is also called “Little Odessa” because of the large number of immigrants from this Black Sea city. There are a huge number of Russian restaurants and shops, as well as a separate cultural center for Russian-speaking residents and, for example, the Brighton Ballet Theatre, which continues the traditions of Russian ballet.

Brighton Beach is an area located in New York, in the very south of Brooklyn, on the Atlantic Ocean. Another name is Little Odessa. Brighton Beach is bordered by Shipshead Bay in the north and east by Belt Parkway, Neptune Ave, Cass Pl and E 12th St, Manhattan Beach in the east by Corbin Pl, Coney Island in the west by Ocean Parkway.

It became known in the USSR from the mid-1970s as a place of compact residence of emigrants from the USSR, mainly Jews from Ukraine and Russia. After the collapse of the USSR in Brighton Beach began to settle immigrants from the countries of the former USSR. The population, according to data for 2010, is 23,431 inhabitants. Many residents do not enter into leases and do not participate in the census, so in reality, the number of residents in Brighton Beach can be, according to various estimates, from 70 to 80 thousand. The population density is 1.5 times higher than the Brooklyn average.

The area is widely known for Russian-speaking companies - restaurants, cafes, concert halls. Many cultural and educational centers of the Russian-speaking Jewish community of New York are located here – radio stations, television studios, newspaper editorial offices, schools and preschool education institutions, leisure centers, the widest service infrastructure in the Russian language.

The area is built up mainly by apartment brick apartment buildings of the 1920s and wooden one-storey bungalows of the 1900-1920s.

History

Brighton Beach was originally designed in 1868 as a resort by architect William Engeman. In 1878, Henry Murphy, along with a group of businessmen, staged a competition for the name of this place, and the winners proposed the name Brighton Beach. This resort place is named after the resort of the same name in the UK.

On the spot where Coney Island Avenue now connects to Rigelman's promenade, there was a luxury hotel. It was to her on July 2, 1878, a railway line was carried out, which later became part of the New York Metro.

Connecting Brighton Railway with subway lines made Brighton Beach more attractive as a place to live.

By the end of the XIX century, the area became a fashionable resort for wealthy Europeans. Remnants of former luxury still exist along the Atlantic coast - baths, baths, ruined buildings.

During the Great Depression, Brighton Beach was populated by the poor in New York City. World War II put an end to the arrival of European holidaymakers. The area with only resort infrastructure was among the poorest. However, then, due to the increase in the birth rate, it gradually began to recover. This was also greatly facilitated by the influx of immigrants from the USSR. Many Soviet immigrants could not bring with them any money or valuables and settled in Brighton Beach, attracted by the cheapness of the area, which is really well located on the ocean, with convenient transport links connecting to all areas of New York - the subway connects to the whole of New York, the buses of New York run only in their district, that is, Brooklyn inside Brooklyn. Gradually, thanks to immigrants from the USSR, the region began to develop again.

For a very long time, until the end of the XX century, the area was considered unprestigious - dirty streets, a criminal situation, a lot of illegal immigrants. Only in the summer Brighton Beach came to life because of the proximity of the ocean, to which people flocked in the hot season from all over New York.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent significant changes in the social and economic life of the post-Soviet states contributed to the prosperity of the region, when thousands of former Soviet citizens reached the United States in search of income. It was the perestroika that, surprisingly, helped shape the Brighton Beach area, mixing stagnant immigrants, the so-called sausage emigrants of the late 1980s and 1990s, and businessmen. Amid the economic devastation of the perestroika and reforms, Brighton Beach was popular because of low housing prices. In addition, many immigrants wanted their children, having learned English, did not forget the Russian language. As a result, a large number of companies, shops, restaurants, clubs, offices, banks, children's training and play centers were created, working in Russian and intended mainly for Russian-speaking customers. Very quickly the area began to flourish. A few meters from the ocean, the Millennium Theatre was built for touring performances (very soon not only Russian tourers, but also famous actors from the United States and other countries began to perform there), and in the early 2000s, an expensive Oceana residential complex grew on the ocean coast, where many large Russian businessmen, high-ranking Russian officials and popular figures of Russian show business bought apartments.

Accordingly, accommodation in the area has increased. Living in Brighton Beach becomes not only convenient, but also prestigious. While formerly respectable Native Americans disdained the area, now many of them are not just moving to the ocean for the summer, but have bought and continue to buy houses and apartments in Brighton Beach.

From the Atlantic Ocean, the area is separated by several meters of sandy beach, the dangerous depth of the ocean begins 4-6 meters from the beach, which makes it very convenient for children and swimmers who can not swim. Along the entire beach - free toilets and showers, free automatic drinkers with fresh cold water, you can drink and wash the sticky sand. In summer, every few hundred meters along the coast there are rescue posts that monitor the order on the beach and do not allow distant swims vacationers. Restaurants along the beach have summer halls facing the ocean. For lovers of fishing, a special area is set aside - however, it is initially necessary to purchase a special fishing license (however, this is not difficult to do in any legal center).

This is all very attractive to the area. Currently, Brighton Beach is undergoing rapid construction and changes, in which the Russian-speaking community plays an important role. Similarly, the neighbouring area adjacent to Brighton Beach, Coney Island, is being rebuilt, with about a third of the population being African-American, descendants of service workers at once popular resorts.

Vladimir Belogolovsky in the Russian-language magazine "Architectural Bulletin" wrote in 2008 about the further prospects for the development of Brighton Beach:

Recently, a grandiose project was unveiled that promises to turn this coastal area of New York in the south of Brooklyn into a new giant entertainment center. The author and developer of the project – Joe Sitt, 43-year-old homegrown billionaire, founder of Thor Equities, personally came to talk about his tempting plans. Coney Island is considered the birthplace of all amusement parks. It can be safely called the predecessor of Disneyland and the progenitor of many other amusement parks. The first attractions, cabaret theaters, hotels and baths on Coney Island appeared in the 60s of the 19th century. It was here that the famous hot dog was invented (1867); roller coaster (1884) and the world’s first indoor amusement park (1895). How many moon parks have been created all over the world! All of them owe their name to one of the three original Coney Island parks, which no longer exists, the first Moon Park (1903-1946). About his incendiary energy going to the sky, wrote Maxim Gorky. In 1879, Thomas Edison lit his first light bulb. In the summer of 1909, according to one report, 20 million people visited. Including Sigmund Freud, who called a visit to Coney Island the most interesting event of his American tour. Vladimir Mayakovsky liked to visit here, who claimed that Coney Island would easily eclipse the famous Paris World Exhibition in 1925 with its brilliance. And test pilot Charles Lindbergh even stated that the trip on the Rolokoster Cyclone is much more impressive than his flight across the Atlantic.

Culture

Brighton Ballet Theater (Brighton Ballet Theater) - established in 1987, is known as the Russian choreographic center in Brooklyn and is one of the most famous schools of Russian ballet in the United States. During this time, more than 3,000 children received vocational training in ballet class, modern and characteristic dance, folk dance.

Residents

As of 2010, Brighton Beach had 23,431 residents. Of these, 11,135 were men and 12,296 were women. The district is distinguished by a high age of residents, the average age of men is 47.5 years, women - 53 years. The population density in Brighton Beach is high, 52,109 people per square mile, which is 1.5 times higher than the Brooklyn average (34,917 people per square mile) and almost 2 times higher than the New York average (27,012 people per square mile). The average household size in Little Odessa is 2.1 people, the average for New York is 2.6 people. Only a third (34.8%) of Brighton Beach households were family-owned, with the New York average of almost half (49.7%). 8.5% of all households in the district are single mothers, which is lower than the city average (9.6%).

The standard of living of the majority of the population of Brighton Beach is low. In 2010, the median household income in the area was $36,574, with an average New York income of $55,217. In Brighton Beach, 29.4% of the population lives below the poverty level, and the average for New York is 14.4%. Cars in an area per capita are about half the city average.

Most of the population of Brighton Beach are immigrants. While in the entire city almost two-thirds of the population (63.8%) belong to the indigenous population and only one in five was born outside the United States (21.9%), in Little Odessa less than a quarter (23.3%), and almost three-quarters were born abroad (72.9%). Because of this, the area is characterized by a lower spread of English than the city average. More than a third (36.1%) of the population of Brighton Beach speak little or no English, while the average in New York City does not speak or poorly speak English only one in fourteen (7.2%).