SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

The aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing. Source: hahatango / Flickr

Ripples of sadness and concern rippled through the predominantly Russian neighborhood of Bright Beach when it was learned that the bombings at the Boston Marathon were allegedly perpetrated by two Chechen brothers.

The New York Daily News reported that local Russian immigrants, while saddened by the tragic events in Boston, were also worried that it will now be tougher for Russians to gain entry to the United States.

Reactions from across Brighton Beach ranged from empathy to anger over the alleged acts of terrorism by 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his now deceased brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

“The people who did this listened to the devil,” Elena Rasinkina, 59, told the New York Daily News. “It’s simple — they were evil.”

“I’m glad they found the people who did this. I hope it never happens again,” said 29-year-old Jesse Chase, a local worker at the Best Buy International Food on Brighton Beach Avenue.

Others expressed fear that the actions of the Tsarnaev brothers would make it harder for Russians of all faiths to immigrate to America:

Fara Sabivov, a Russian Muslim who moved to Brighton Beach from Uzbekistan about 10 years ago on a green card, fears that other Russians will be denied entrance into the U.S. because of the Boston bombings.

“Everybody is sad over this,” the 35-year-old restaurant manager said.

“For Russians coming to America, it’s going to be even harder. They’re worried.”

Despite the concern over potentially stricter immigration laws, most were mainly as stunned as the rest of the country over why anyone would perpetrate such a heinous act.

“It’s shocking,” Munira Ruzehaji, 59, a Turkish Muslim told the Daily News. “Who would want to do this?”

Anna Malkina-Shumayev, left, and Bella Deleu, right, were crowned Your Highness Grandmothers last weekend. (Source: Be Proud Foundation)

Here they come, Your Highness Grandmothers, here they come!

The Be Proud Foundation crowned the 2013 Your Highness Grandmothers in the quirky, colorful Brighton Beach pageant last Sunday, awarding Anna Malkina-Shumayev the title in the Queen Grandmother category and Bella Deleu the title for the Grandmother category.

The event marked the 11th year of the pageant, celebrating the lives of grandmothers across Southern Brooklyn. Regaling audiences at National Restaurant (273 Brighton Beach Avenue), Malkina-Shumayev and Deleu joined approximately a dozen other contestants for the good-natured competition. A panel of grandfathers rated the contestants on their handmade costumes, singing and talent abilities, and even belly dancing.

The pageant spanned four generations, involving the children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren of the contestants, who ranged in age from… well, a lady never tells.

Anna Malkina-Shumayev, who took home the Queen Grandmother title, was born in Russia to a family of 10 children. She move to America, and has been singing at events around the community, and translates Russian songs into English. She was attended to at the event by her four grandchildren and great-grandson.

Bell Deleu won the Grandmother title, a separate category for the younger batch of grandmas. Deleu graduated from Beltsy Teachers’ Training Institute and worked as a day care manager. She sings, dances, paints and gardens in her spare time. She has four grandchildren.

Congratulations to Malkina-Shumayev and Deleu and all of the event participants!

Source: Wikimedia Commons

If you live on the far end of a New York City borough and have the distinct pleasure of sitting through a 45-50 minute commute into Manhattan every day, you gain a unique experience. The trip highlights the diversity of races, cultures and economic classes as the train rumbles from your more modest home towards Fancytown. While it’s easy to notice the types of people you see on the train – homeless, hipsters, lawyers, mothers and tourists – it’s harder to guess their socioeconomic status, even if you have a rough idea. Thanks to the New Yorker, you can now know exactly how much people are making through their handy interactive graph which charts the median household incomes via subway stops.

The results will probably depress you, especially if you are a normal schmo from Bensonhurst, Sheepshead Bay, Brighton Beach or practically anywhere outside of the confines of Manhattan. The luckiest New Yorkers live off the 2 and 3 lines by Park Place and Chambers Street. If those people are even using the subway, they are on average earning more than $200,000 a year.

Riders near the 18th Avenue D stop in Bensonhurst clock an average of $39,524. Borough Park riders near 55th street also earn about $39,000. Further south by the Sheepshead Bay Q station, riders earn an average of $33,616. Brighton Beach riders are even less affluent, with the median being set at $28,398. If Q train riders from Southern Brooklyn want to see some fancy people living off their line, all they have to do is drop $2.50 and ride up to 5th Avenue in Manhattan where the median  household income is set at a breezy $171,000.

It’s a fascinating graph filled with huge spikes that tower over the lowly millions in far more precarious economic situations. Sigh…

The Oceana. Source: Google Maps

Residents of the Oceana condominium complex (50 Oceana Drive West) took to the streets to protest the  city construction of a public bathroom that they claim obstructs their million dollar view of the ocean, according to a report by The New York Times.

Last week, we reported on how the city’s late night repairs to the boardwalk and beach had been driving residents crazy by keeping them up late at night. Oceana residents were less concerned with the noise and more annoyed at the planned public restrooms being installed right in front of their fancy condominium.

“People pay this much money because they want some luxury,” Irina Nesterenko, 43, told the Times. “What kind of luxury will we have if we have this monster-sized bathroom?”

Oceana residents want the bathroom station moved to a busier part of the boardwalk, fearing that the facility will bring the homeless and rambunctious teenagers to a spot where their children normally play. Other residents expressed fears of public nudity and people washing their unmentionables in plain sight of their normally stunning ocean view.

“I personally don’t want to see people washing themselves nude, washing their underwear,” Eileen Trotta told the Times.

Source: Facebook

The family of a Brighton Beach woman say their 29-year-old daughter went to pay a visit to a salon yesterday, but never returned home.

From the New York Post:

Elizabeth Tuul, 29, was last seen at a salon on the corner of Brighton 5th Street and Brighton Beach Avenue about 4:30 p.m. yesterday, cops said. She did not go back to her home nearby on 5th Street near West Avenue.

Cops say Tuul is 5-foot-9, and about 150 pounds. She was wearing blue sneakers and a pink sweater when she disappeared.

According to Tuul’s Facebook page, she previously attended local schools including Leon M. Goldstein High School in Manhattan Beach and Brooklyn College.

Police note that Tuul has gone missing several times before.

Anyone with information regarding these crimes is urged to contact Crime Stoppers. All callers to Crime Stoppers remain anonymous. Crime Stoppers can be reached at 1-800-577-TIPS, via the website, or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577.

Jason Clark (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Is Southern Brooklyn becoming Hollywood’s latest hot-spot? Late last February, Spider-Man 2 was being secretly filmed in Bensonhurst and now, another big budget flick, The Candy Store, is heading to Brighton Beach, according to a report by Digital Spy.

The Candy Store tells the story of a former covert operative who stumbles upon an insidious organization that sets up shop in Brighton Beach. The film stars Jason Clark, who you may recognize as the guy who waterboards terrorists in Zero Dark Thirty, and Omar Sy, an actor set to star in the new X-Men movie.

Clark and Sy are replacing the much more famous Brad Pitt and Denzel Washington, who sadly won’t be running around Brighton Beach with fake guns. Oh well, it’ll still be cool to see a bit of Hollywood glitz and glamour injected into Brighton Beach.

Source: Igor Khodzinskiy via Daily News

As the city rushes to repair the beach and boardwalk after Superstorm Sandy in time for Memorial Day, Brighton Beach and Coney Island residents are getting fired up over late night construction, and now they’re planning a protest.

The city is making repairs to the boardwalk and beach, as well as improvements like three new public restrooms and lifeguard stations. But residents say that work, including thunderous pile driving, is being done as late as 3:00 a.m.

Daily News reports:

“It’s this constant banging deep into the ground. It’s like a boom sound,” said Marian Rosenfarb, 79, who lives a block away from the beach. “With this noise I don’t know if I’ll reach 80.”

Rosenfarb says the vibrations from the construction causes her building to shake. the noise is impossible to drown out, she added.

… Three new buildings are being constructed along the boardwalk, at West 2nd St, Brighton 2nd St. and New Brighton St.

The modern modular structures – which are also being added in Queens and Staten Island – will replace old lifeguard stations and public bathrooms that were destroyed during Hurricane Sandy.

All three stations will be wheel chair accessible, designed with green features like solar power and skylights, and constructed above flood levels.

Pile driving into the sand is expected to last until next week and the new structures should be completed by the start of beach season.

“Work is going on 24 hours a day in order to finish the project as quickly as possible,” said spokeswoman Meghan Lalor.

“While we acknowledge that this may present an inconvenience, we ask for the community’s patience while this important restoration work is being done.”

Residents, though, are not happy with mere acknowledgement. They want the city to cut out the late night work, and the noise it generates.

Neighbors in the Oceana condominium complex (50 Oceana Drive West) are organizing a rally this Sunday, April 7, at noon on the boardwalk at Coney Island Avenue. The rally isn’t just against the construction; the residents of the posh complex are hoping to kill plans to install a new public bathroom in what they claim is their yard.

“No one ever gave a thought that there is no need to build yet another filthy anti-sanitary condition in our front yards. In the past this bathroom attracted many strangers and caused much destruction to the neighborhood,” resident Ella Rabinovich wrote to Sheepshead Bites.

Residents have also organized a petition, which they’ve sent to the Parks Department. Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz also sent a letter to the Parks Department in opposition to placing the bathrooms by Oceana.

Female Lifeguards Of Brighton Beach. Source: StephiaMadelyne via Bettmann Corbis

In this photograph we have a group of three female lifeguards standing vigil over the waters of Brighton Beach in the swinging jazz days of 1921. In case you are wondering, these are not the vintage ladies we featured last December. Those female lifeguards, who very well could have been the daughters of the lifeguards featured above, were from 1940 and protected Manhattan Beach right before the outbreak of World War II.

This is a fantastic photograph that invites all sorts of interesting sociological observations. I love how the guard on the far left is laced up in what could be a pair of early 20th century Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars. Converse, which had been around since 1908, introduced its first pair of Chucks in 1921, so this young woman could very well be the world’s first hipster. After all, she meets all the other criteria; slim figure, skin tight leggings, and a chic, short haircut. She even has a hipster name, Gertrude Neumarker. I wonder how she expected to swim effectively with water logged canvas and rubber weighing her legs down.

As much as we fantasize about buxom Baywatch beauties giving up mouth-to-mouth after nearly drowning in the ocean, in reality, I’d much rather have the woman in the middle coming to my rescue. This guard, identified as Bertha Tomkins, is a buffed-up militarized-looking ocean protector, guaranteed not to let anyone drown on her watch. With no shoes or leg coverings, she is not constrained by the fashion taboos of her time, realizing that modest beachwear is clunky and slows down rescues.

I don’t know what to make of the last guard, Gertrude Goodstein, on the far right. She seems about as strong as the woman in the middle and as modest as the woman on the left. If I were taking the photo, I’d tell her to stand in the middle because she just seems to represent a mix of the three ladies present.

Anyway, thanks to StephiaMadelyne for posting the photo on her Now York City blog and thanks to Bettmann Corbis for providing it in the first place. If anyone else has more vintage Southern Brooklyn lifeguard photos or videos, please send them our way. We love this stuff.

The first day of spring was yesterday. It was cold, windy and generally miserable. Today isn’t so different. In honor of spring’s horrible two-day start, I thought it might be appropriate to share this video of the cold and snowy Brighton Beach winter captured by alekseyfedorov on YouTube.

His video contrasts the sad, frozen landscape of Brighton Beach with beautiful images of soaring birds, frolicking snow lovers and pretty icicles hanging off rocks by the beach. Good stuff Aleksey.

Source: Susan Sterner via Wikimedia Commons

When Congress passed the $60 billion Sandy aid package this past January, they agreed to provide 65 percent of the needed funds to finance sea walls, and repair dunes and beaches for our area’s coastal communities. The idea was that the city and state would provide the remaining 35 percent of the money but thanks to Senator Charles Schumer, the feds have agreed to pick up the rest of the tab, according to a report in the New York Times.

The remaining 35 percent needed to complete the beach restoration projects, which totals $1.2 billion overall, amounts to $436 million. The new funds will help finance projects that will be administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The projects the money covers include dune protection and repair for several miles of beachfront property in Long Beach and other locations in Nassau County and hurricane prevention and beach erosion control along the coast of Fire Island.

Our area will receive beachfront repairs in Coney Island and Brighton Beach. The Rockaways and other parts of Brooklyn will also receive similar repairs.

Schumer stressed the importance of these projects to the Times”

“These are some of the most important projects in New York and you might even argue in the country in terms of protecting heavily populated areas from storms,” Senator Schumer, a Democrat, said. “They have been held up for decades — the Long Island one for 50 years — for lack of funding.”

The projects, some long dormant, will finally get some much needed attention and funding after Schumer loosened language that limited the Army Corps’ ability to finish the work.

Schumer hopes that their final completion will payoff in the case of a future devastating storm.