2 Days in New York City

4 hours – to explore my heritage

 

 

Where: Brighton Beach (Brooklyn) NYC

My Heritage :  Kiev, Russia -  which is now the capital of the Ukraine, home of my ancestors

I decided to explore those family roots.

My  ancestors were artists, doctors, merchants, hairdressers musicians, and tailors. Artist is what I inherited directly from my father, whose worked in millinery and then in interior design. But what did life look like in the “old country?”   The perfect place to get those answers is in Brighton Beach. What does life look like in Brighton Beach today and then I’ll have a clue about my family roots? I only had 4 hours to get a taste of that heritage.

With camera in hand, I started at the boardwalk and walked through the neighborhood taking pictures of my heritage. It feels like I’ve just reunited with my ancestors. Take a visual walk around Brighton Beach with me. CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO VIEW THEM ENLARGED

My first glimpse of the much talked about Brighton Beach Boardwalk. And now I know, it connects to Coney Island.

My childhood revisited.

I lived on a street of apartments just like these in Chicago (they were only 3 stories high – these are higher, but the architecture is similar.) And food was the focus of every day. Eat…those were the words spoken in my house. And here it is, eating is the focus. The sandwich boards on the beach say it all. We are tempted with delicacies – kinishes – hotdogs – hamburgers. No where else in America have I seen knishes as the prominent pickup food. Immmigrants who arrived from Russia sometime around 1900 brought knishes to America.

The shops looked just like the stores that my grandmother took me to, some 65 years ago. Every street looks familiar. I can see  that I’ve rediscoverd my heritage right here in Brighton Beach. I do believe that this is the way life had to appear in Russia. Find out more about Brighton Beach here. 

Then there are the billboards and posters in shop windows with reminders of the weekend cultural activities. Of course they are in Russian. But what I observed is that culture is another focus of my Russian heritage.

And finally the restaurant…Cafe Glechik,  Simple, delicious Ukrainian home-style cooking. Authentic borsht, palmeni, vareniki and the popular drink Compote (we drank it without the traditional vodka.) Yelp directed me to this incredible restaurant, and I am so grateful. Simple surroundings, authentic cooking and a real taste of my ancestors, my heritage.

The people of Brighton Beach

We were trying to figure out the credit card payment for the parking meter, when a woman approached, spoke to us in Russian, and asked if we needed help. Of course, we didn’t speak Russian. But it was a realization, that we belonged – we were among our family roots. The other people we spoke with were very soft spoken, hesitant, and concerned about why I was taking pictures. I was even asked “what are you  going to do with the pictures?” And then I knew that the soft spoken hesitancy, comes from years of persecution. Through this experiance I have actually come to understand my immediate ancestors, who had that same kind of concerns and hesitancy. Persecution brought them here. Things really don’t change.

Then there was our waitress at Cafe Glechik. Once she saw we were interested in the culture and the food related to the culture, she opened up and welcomed us to this neighborhood restaurant for locals. I didn’t get her name, but she was so vibrant, welcoming, and told us that she arrived in the country 4 years ago. She was about 22 years old and spoke perfect, I mean perfect, English. No accent at all, and then turned around and spoke to her coworker in Russian. She actually hugged me as I went to leave.

It was the best 4 hours, and I actually re-discovered my family roots – in Brighton Beach. And I didn’t leave the USA. This is an incredible melting pot.

Tagged as: ancestors, Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, family roots, heritage, NewYork City