Visiting Russia and Ukraine in One Afternoon
Brighton Beach in Brooklyn
In my other pieces about New York City, I’ve attempted to highlight unique experiences that may not be on everyone’s radar. For example the Met Cloisters or the White House Tavern (I’ve linked my ‘NYC’ list below).
It’s natural to want to visit the usual suspects like Times Square or the Statue of Liberty. Why not? They’re must-visit locations of course, if you’ve never been before. But if you have a little more time on your hands or like to see things off the beaten path, read on.
There’s a corner in Brooklyn where you can find many people with Ukrainian and Russian roots. In fact, this corner houses New York’s largest Russian-speaking community. But when did they come to New York and why?
History
In the mid-1970s, Brighton Beach became a popular place to settle for Soviet immigrants, mostly Ashkenazi Jews from Russia and Ukraine (Wikipedia). The area became known as “Little Odessa” after the Ukrainian city because of its overwhelming population of Ukrainian Jews.
In the 1990s, another wave of immigration followed from countries such as Kazakhstan and…
