SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

While stereotypes packed the dance floor, producers downstairs fought for a unique identity

Anastasia Kurinnaya, shod in a pair of black Aldo booties with five-inch heels, stepped carefully down the 10 rickety plywood stairs that led from the coat check into the grimy basement of Passion, a popular Russian dance club on Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn.

…

Ms. Kurinnaya, 25, said she had been anxiously waiting all week for this moment. She wanted to get on the show to make her ex-boyfriend jealous.

“If I hook up with somebody I can throw it in his face,” she said.

At 11 p.m. on Saturday, Ms. Kurinnaya was the first person plucked out of Passion’s swelling crowd and led downstairs.

By 4:00 a.m., nearly four dozen other young Russian-Americans charmed, pleaded or simply shoved their way into the audition, determined to prove that the Russian version of Snooki or The Situation can outdo his or her Guido counterpart.

…

The creators of “Brighton Beach” said their show is not exactly a rip-off of “Jersey Shore,” or any other reality show.

“We’re trying to portray what goes on inside the Russian community and to expose people, introduce people, to what Russians are really like,” said Elina Miller, 25, who, along with Alina Dizik and Christine Mahin, is one of the show’s producers.

“Russians have a place in pop culture,” Ms. Miller said. “But it’s not necessarily a realistic or true portrayal. I realized that the best way to break down these stereotypes was through a show.”

- “How Do You Say ‘Jersey Shore’ in Russian?“, New York Times; March 11, 2010

Let me start by saying that you should read the above Times piece in full. It’s well-written, got a lot of great quotes, and they included some audio interviews that are pretty amusing. But when you’re done, come back here.

Now, that you’ve read it, let me tell you this: it’s a fun read, but it misses the point. Every media outlet in the world (including us when we broke the story) portrayed this as the “Russian Jersey Shore” with outlandish characters, over-the-top stereotypes, and regurgitated mouthfuls of Snookie and The Situation with a borscht aftertaste.

And that’s what’s wrong with the Times piece. Despite the producers’ insistence that it ain’t no Jersey Shore-remake, media-types everywhere are contradicting them with cherry-picked examples of the shlubs who reinforce the Jersey Shore narrative. Because, hell, that’s a lot funnier to write about. But is it better to watch?

At Saturday’s casting call, I got a different sense of what Brighton Beach can be. Producers Elina Miller and Alina Dizik are fighting an uphill battle to distance themselves from Jersey Shore’s putrid stigma while still feeding off its popularity.

Continue Reading »

Well, the mystery is over regarding Sheepshead Bay Road’s latest restaurant – it ain’t a sushi joint. Or at least we think it’s not a sushi joint.

Signs went up at 1794 Sheepshead Bay Road late last week reading Royal Bay Restaurant, ending a lot of “hmms” and “huhs” over who would occupy the flashy, windowless façade. Still, other than a love of coat d’arms, we don’t have much more information than that.

If you know who owns it, when it opens, or what they serve – shoot us an email!

I had the pleasure of meeting a lovely young lady a few days ago at an event in Manhattan. We were just at the beginning of our niceties, exchanging some basic information about what part of the city we live in, when she stated something about her experience with Sheepshead Bay.

Young Lady: Oh, hi. It’s nice to meet you, Ray. And where do you live?

Me: I’m from Sheepshead Bay.

Young Lady: Oh, you’re from Sheepshead Bay?

Me: Yeah. You heard of it?

Young Lady: I used to go there a lot, but I don’t like to go to there, anymore.

Me: Really? Why?

Young Lady: Because, every time I go there all the Russian people start speaking in Russian to me. I tell them that I’m not Russian and I don’t speak Russian, but they still keep talking to me in Russian. I don’t know why they do that. I don’t even wanna go back there.

Me: (looking dumbfounded) Oh, I see.

Has anyone ever had a similar experience as my new friend? Would an experience such as the one my new friend described make you want to stay away from Sheepshead Bay or would it make you feel welcomed as part of the community? Speak up, here. Russian language speakers welcome.

A forum contributor over at City-Data.com is considering moving to the area, but as a black man he says he’s heard some things:

I was thinking about moving to a place in Sheepshead Bay but I’ve been told that as a black person I might have some issues in the area and that I might feel uncomfortable. Does anyone know how welcome blacks are in that part of Brooklyn?

My immediate thoughts? No way. In the 25 years I’ve been here I’ve never noticed any explicit forms of racism towards the area’s blacks. I’ve never seen anyone chased down the streets, I’ve never heard the n-word slip maliciously off the lips of my neighbors, and I’ve never seen anyone turned away from a business. But then, I remembered, I’m white. So I began to consider the possibility that it’s there, and I’m just not privy to it.

Forum readers tended to agree with me, though. They touted the demographics of Sheepshead Bay High School (65 percent black) as key evidence for open-minded neighbors. One black commenter pointed out that he’d rather live here than Bensonhurst of Howard Beach. Another black reader reassured him, saying he’s lived and worked here for years without problem.

Some posters, though, gave a totally different answer. No, they didn’t say we were racist against blacks. They said we’re racist with Russians and Eastern Europeans. One commenter, who may have been huffing something, estimated the area was 98 percent Russian. Another said it was 50/50 – but I think even that’s high. Others pointed out that this area is far more diverse than that, with significant populations of Asians, Latinos, Indians/Pakistanis, and other groups. Diversity notwithstanding, one reader argued that there was a significant anti-Russian vibe in Sheepshead Bay:

The comments and negative attitudes I HAVE witnessed, however, are directed towards the Russian and Ukrainian immigrants who make up an increasing percentage of the population. Native-born Brooklynites here have a lot of disdain for Eastern European immigrants.

No one contradicted him. And quite honestly, given some of the comments on my own site, I’m not about to either. So what is it, Sheepshead Bay? Are we racist? And if so, how do we begin confronting those issues?

I was sitting on the Sheepshead Bay train station platform late last week, when I overheard a conversation between a young Russian-American girl and a non-Russian friend she was showing around. The girl, black-haired and loud-talking, was telling the visitor that Sheepshead Bay was where all the “cool Americanized Russians live,” as opposed to Brighton Beach, which is “packed with babushkas.” A raised eyebrow from the man was all the girl needed to spur her to explain: “You know, babushkas, the old, miserable Russian women who sit in the sun complaining about the heat.” Here, I smirked.

I’m not Russian, so I was curious to hear from our Russian readers: is Sheepshead Bay known in the Russian community as where the cool Russians are? How has this shaped our neighborhood? What makes it cooler to Russians?

NBC’s Around Town dining and travel segment chose our neighbors in Brighton Beach to give viewers a quick primer in Russian food. The segment calls Brighton Beach “one of New York’s hottest food spots” and takes a look at food, dance clubs and spas run “by people straight from Russia … who lived there and know how to make it.”

For our bay neighbors who can count themselves as both Russian and Jewish, Sheepshead Bites would like to introduce you to the Russian American Jewish Experience (RAJE) organization. As an organization focused on working with Russian New Yorkers, this division of Gateways, its mother agency, is committed to bringing Russian life together with Judaic life. One of its many ways of doing this is by organizing specialized birthright trips to Israel for anyone of Jewish descent. You can check their well-designed website for more information.

From RAJE’s website:

“We are passionate about building a community that embraces Russian speaking Jews from all walks of life. The core of RAJE is our Fellowship Programming. Our center is continuously buzzing with the energy of new students, inspired learners and lifetime academics. Behind our doors is a staff dedicated to providing excellence in Jewish education and learning. We believe in creating an open environment that encourages people at all levels to explore their Jewish identity.”