In the 1970s, Brighton Beach, the place in which the photo was taken, was a place in which immigrants from the Soviet Union and Ukraine were arriving. At first, there was a decline in the living standards of the area with people moving out of the area and into the suburbs on top of budget cuts that the area was already facing. Landlords left their properties without repair making it so that the houses were deteriorating, crime also increased at the time. Since young people were moving to the suburbs, that left older people left; this led to homes being “converted into single-room occupancy housing for welfare families, the elderly, and mental hospital patients.” Then, Jewish immigrants facing religious discrimination in their respective home countries came to America following the change in Soviet Union immigration policy, halting the decline of Brighton Beach. An estimated forty thousand Jewish immigrants found a haven in Brighton Beach which became known as “Little Odessa”. Young people and families started to be seen in the area again with the influx of young immigrants, thus people put more money back into the area once more. Although it wasn’t all great all the time, they still faced opposition from American Jews who didn’t like that they weren’t practicing religion like they did and instead were more city-minded (Brooklyn Jewish Historical Initiative).

“Brighton Beach.” Flashbak, 1972, flashbak.com/snapshots-of-brighton-in-the-1970s-397886/. Accessed 31 Mar. 2024.