SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

When most hear Brighton Beach, they think “Russians.” But the annual Brighton Jubilee, now in its 34th year, proves that the neighborhood is far more of an ethnic medley than many know.

I paid my first visit to the annual Brighton Jubilee yesterday, and was fired up to find a vibrant market fair as diverse as it was enormous. It wasn’t all kebabs and pirozhi, as I was expecting, but a five-block stretch of Latino, African, Caribbean, Arab and, yes, Russian immigrant vendors (not to mention old-school Brooklynites) selling some the strangest assortment of products I’ve ever seen at a street fair.

Used and new clothes, toys, gag items, jewelry, hand-made crafts, artwork, fur hats, sheets (!) – this wasn’t your usual “I ♥ [enter ethnicity]” fair, ringed with the ubiquitous Italian sausage-mobiles (though they made an appearance). It was far more complex, and vastly more intense – it was easily the most interesting neighborhood festival I’ve visited in Brooklyn.

And it was packed. Tens of thousands of people flooded Brighton Beach Avenue between Coney Island Avenue and Brighton 14th Street. In between picking through the odd assortment of goods, sun-drenched visitors watched performers brought in by Radio Pzitiv and Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz, played on inflatable rides or did a bit of Rock Band karaoke.

No word yet on how much money it raised for the event’s organizers, Brighton Neighborhood Association. The money goes to fund all the groups activities, including senior services, tenant services, social services, youth services and quality of life programs. We’ll let you know when we hear the final numbers.

Enjoy the photos of the fair, and if you have any to add just e-mail them to us at nberke [at] sheepsheadbites [dot] com.

View photos from the Brighton Beach Jubilee 2010.

The suspect // Source: NYDailyNews.com

Police are on the hunt for a man suspected of a stabbing over a parking spot in Brighton Beach last week.

The 48-year-old victim, Vladimir Reyfman, was sitting in his pickup truck on the corner of Brighton 11th Street and Brighton Beach Avenue when the suspect came to his window. Reyfman was asked to pull up so that the other driver could fit his car into a spot, but Reyfman explained that there was a truck ahead of him that was unloading, and he didn’t want to get too close to it.

The suspect then disappeared into a nearby bodega, but when he came out he went straight to his car, got a knife, and plunged it twice into Reyfman’s chest. The victim was taken to Lutheran Hospital and will survive the attack.

“If he was any thinner, the punctures would have killed him,” a source told the Daily News. “There was a lot of blood in the car.”

The suspect is described as 40 years old, about 5-feet-11 and around 250 pounds. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS (8477).

The Brighton Neighborhood Association is gearing up for the 34th Annual Brighton Beach Jubilee, a multi-block festival and fundraiser to celebrate the neighborhood.

The neighborhood tradition features multiple entertainment stages and blocks of merchandise and informational booths, as well as kiddie rides and delicious food. Established 34 years ago, the Jubilee now attracts more than 125,000 people every year and is dedicated to bridging the communication gap through the international language of music.

Organizers of the event, the BNA, use the festival to raise funds for to underwrite programs throughout the neighborhood, including their senior services, tenant services, social services, youth services and quality of life programs.

The group is advertising shopping bargains, international foods, kiddie attractions and lots of giveaways. Two live stages will entertain visitors along Brighton Beach Avenue down Coney Island Avenue to the boardwalk. Enjoy Russian performers from radio pzitiv and the great music of brooklyn including frankie marra and his band, pranha bros. And the ridge.

When: Sunday, August 29, 2010
Where: Brighton Beach Avenue and Coney Island Avenue
Contact: (718) 891-0800

View the flier for the event.

We’re hearing that there was some sort of a shootout in Brighton Beach yesterday, around noon. We’re told it was near Brighton 11th Street, by the bazaar, and may have been a drive-by. Gothamist Maps indicates there was a Brooklyn shooting around that time, but doesn’t give a precise location. Does anyone have any information?

Artist's renderings of the proposed "potato chip" amphitheater.

Opponents of Borough President Marty Markowitz’s plan to bring a $64 million amphitheater to Asser Levy – Seaside Park are keeping a sharp, vengeful eye on the land. And now they’re noticing – and objecting to – things that have been going on for years.

First there was the amplified sound law, which local synagogues are only just noticing have been violated for years. Now there’s the issue of using free labor from city and state prisoners to help set up and break down the Summer Concert Series shows.

According to the New York Post, “busloads of inmates in red-and-white-striped jumpsuits paying their debt to society by setting up and breaking down 2,000 chairs for the overflow audiences” are commissioned by the borough president’s office. And that’s fueling criticism from the amphitheater’s opponents.

“I’m shocked people are making a big deal out of it now after all these years,” Debra Garcia, the series organizer, told the Post.

Markowitz’s office is trying to reassure residents that the inmates aren’t a security risk, saying they’re “carefully selected” low-risk inmates. They’re also pointing out that it saves the nonprofit organizer thousands of dollars annually.

What do you think? Is this a legitimate danger, or are amphitheater opponents grasping at straws?

How much is $315 worth to you?

For Alexandr Aliev, a 60-year-old Brighton Beach landlady, it was worth going to jail for.

According to the New York Post, Aliev was arrested for shoving a 21-year old renter down a flight of stairs at an apartment building on Brighton Beach Avenue near Brighton 4th Street on June 28. Aliev was enraged when the renter asked for a few more weeks to pay the $315 she owed.

Tragic as the incident may have been, it did prove one time-honored mobster tactic. After suffering a broken leg, the renter came up with the money.

You hear me, bill-skipping advertisers? You hear me?!

[via Gothamist]

To most of us, the idea of walking around the neighborhood and listening to its sounds is about as boring as, well, walking around the neighborhood in a totally aimless, pointless way.

So when I first saw Gothamist’s interview with Todd Shalom, founder of the artist-led walking tour company Elastic City, I closed the window and mentally filed the story in the drawer labeled “hipster hooey.” But I recalled a conversation I was having this weekend, about my all-time favorite day in Sheepshead Bay: August 14, 2003.

Continue Reading »

Here are some tips we got over the weekend:

Hit and Run? A reader sent in the above photo, saying, “May not be able to see to the left of the man in yellow shirt, but it is a man leaning over a woman who was just hit by a car turning on Ocean and W. Her leg is broken. I was asleep and awoke to screams. I thought someone might have been mugged but instead this was the case. It might have been a hit and run.” This happened on Saturday, around midnight.

Drowning in Brighton? Reader Elina N. sent in a note a little before 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, saying, “Someone drowned right now in Brighton beach, search crew and boats and helicopters everywhere.” Well, boats and choppers don’t always mean someone drowned, as we’ve already learned. Gothamist Maps has this listed as “Water Job” at West 12th Street on the boardwalk.

Trapped Under the Boardwalk: No, it’s not a new R. Kelly hip hopera. A few hours after the above incident on Sunday, there were reports of a person being trapped under the boardwalk on Brighton 4th Street.

Gerritsen Fire: And since we were over at Gothamist Maps checking on some of the above incidents, there was this one that no one’s mentioned. A fire broke out at around 5:13 p.m. yesterday. That’s all we’ve got.

If you have any information about the above incidents or any other news, please leave it in the comments section or e-mail us. Thanks!

There won’t be no R-E-S-P-E-C-T for the bad news that Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin has cancelled her two free Brooklyn shows, but, considering the circumstances, it’s possible that I Say A Little Prayer… (Ed. — Hah! Get it?)

Coming in via NY Times:

Aretha Franklin has canceled two free concerts in Brooklyn next week because of an injury.

The shows — at Wingate Field in East Flatbush, on Monday, and Asser Levy Park in Brighton Beach on Aug. 12 — were part of two series presented by Marty Markowitz, the borough president, and they were to be Ms. Franklin’s first concerts in Brooklyn. But she will not appear, according to Debra Garcia, who organizes the concerts for Mr. Markowitz. There was no immediate word on the nature of Ms. Franklin’s injury.

A fire at a grocery store and residence broke out in Brighton Beach early this morning. FDNY trucks arrived at Neptune Avenue and Brighton 5th Street around 6:00 a.m. to put out the flames. A reader, who sent these photos, said it looked like the fire started in the basement or the ground-level floor. The reader added that something unusual must have been burning, because there was a stench that seemed to be more than smoke.

We’ll update with more information as it becomes available.