Brighton Beach, Brooklyn: A Photo Essay

Looking west down Brighton Beach Ave., near the intersection with Coney Island Ave.

As some astute readers may know, I don't actually live in Seattle anymore. As of April last, I moved to New York City, and have been living in far South Brooklyn between Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay (it's a long story). While the area has sizeable Jewish, Pakistani, and even Mexican communities, it's primarily known as a Russian immigrant neighborhood (colloquially known as "Little Odessa," though the local business community prefers "Little Russia by the Sea"). (Note: It was pointed out in the comments--and I thought I had written it this way, but re-reading I realize I did not--that the neighborhood is much more complicated than simply being "Russian." In fact, the original Russofication wasn't Russian at all: it was Ukrainian Jews. Today, it's linguistically Russian, but ethnically comprised of people from all over the former USSR, from Belarus to Uzbekistan, who come here for the linguistic access and relative affordability. If I can find proper demographic data, I'll add it--see the comments section for the discussion.)

The Russian Santa Claus Ded Moroz (Father Frost), with his granddaughter Snegurochka, in a store display.

Yesterday I woke up late after covering two shows the night before, the latter of which ended at midnight, leaving me an hour-long train ride on the Q (I call it "train" rather than "subway" because a good portion of the line isn't underground; between Brighton Beach and Coney Island, it's actually an el), and wandered down to the local Starbucks for a coffee. It's been extremely cold in New York, hovering in the mid-thirties all day, so people have been thoroughly donning their cold weather clothes, which, in Brighton, means fur: more fur than you usually see in the US. Noticing this, I decided to photograph a long, chilly wander I took through my 'hood that was originally in search of the perfect shot of a babushka in furs (pace von Sacher-Masoch). And I apologize to all the photography purists out there who sneer at Hipstamatic--it's better than my basic iPhone cam.

An elderly woman selling shawls on Brighton Beach Ave. near Brighton 4th St.

Shopping for chocolates.

Resting.

Real mink stoles being sold on the sidewalk.

A tree in the parking lot next to the Brighton Beach Boardwalk, near Brighton 3rd St.

Looking north up Brighton 4th St.

Women chatting. The apartment buildings between Brighton Beach Ave. and the boardwalk are largely inhabited by older people--mainly women--whose children are more integrated and live elsewhere in the city. Many of them do not speak English, which is a distant second language in Brighton Beach.

Cakes in the Mexican bodega/bakery/lunch counter I frequent.

Juan, the cook at the lunch counter.

The ocean off the Brighton Beach boardwalk. This photo was actually taken in October, but I felt I should add it as I didn't take one yesterday.