An afternoon in Little Odessa

Take the B or Q line down to Brighton Beach, the southern end of Brooklyn, and spend a weekend afternoon watching Russians enjoy life in the American diaspora. The one block walk from the station to the beach shows already something is a little different here. Typically you don’t find this type model on American streets.

The license plate says it

Right at the entrance to the beach are a few restaurants with strictly eastern European menu and flair. I sat down at Tatiana’s.

and had a nice mint tea while exploring the local clientele.

Then it was time to grab the camera and document the Sunday afternoon tradition of elderly Russian expats. The first thing to note was how people socialized. Clearly it was a generation not yet glued to their I-Phones or lost in some other tech gimic, these people actually talked to each other like old friends do.

To be honest the talking was limited to mostly women or as above grandparents and grand children. The Russian male seems to have other ideas how to spend the afternoon on the beach.

Bare chested seems to be a particularly popular trait of the younger Russian male or those who simply refuse to acknowledge age.

Sun worship seems to cut across gender lines affecting everyone equally, old, young, male or female. It gives any visitor the chance to admire a distinctly eastern European fashion show. Glasses, hand bags, hair styles take you back to the seventies and eighties.

But a day out and about can be exhausing, so one or the other sun worshiper decides to take a nap before retreating to the brick desert that Brooklyn is.

What I like best, no one is shy and they seem to stick to their roots.