History of Little Odessa

 History of Little Odessa 

Little Odessa has a rich history. Before the 1870s, Little Odessa was undeveloped and consisted of farmland with little to no development. In the 1870s, William Engemann, a German-American and mogul of real estate and railroads decided to develop Brighton Beach. William Engemann built a hotel and resort for the upper-middle class which included a railway that took people to Brighton Beach. Engemann had the vision of this being for the well-respected middle class and most importantly non-Jewish area for families to spend time, unlike Coney Island which was predominantly Jewish in the late 19^thcentury. Beginning in the early 20^thcentury, the development of Brighton Beach continued as a place of vacationing with a race track, theater, restaurant, and dance hall. By this period of the early 20^thcentury, the majority of the population of Brighton Beach was Jewish with many of the houses being makeshift and temporary. The roaring 1920s saw a major real estate development boom for Brighton Beach and many Jewish people occupied the apartment complexes that were built. A wave of approximately 20000 Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union came in the 1970s to Brighton Beach. It was around this time where Brighton Beach was coined as Little Odessa. Then when the fall of the Soviet Union occurred, many more thousands of immigrants from Eastern Europe flocked to the United States with a sizable portion settling in Brighton Beach. The fall of the Soviet Union was a major turning point in Brighton Beach becoming Little Odessa, where many Eastern Europeans and Russians became proud to make Brighton Beach carry on their culture. 

 

The name Little Odessa comes from the city of Odessa in Ukraine. Odessa is a major and well-known port city on the coast of the Black Sea. Many parts of Eastern Europe including Odessa were under Soviet Union control. That is why Brighton Beach became nicknamed Little Odessa.

                                        Source: Getty Images

                                        Source: New York Adventurer Club which features images of Brighton               

                                           Beach as a seaside resort

                                        Source: Brooklyn Jewish Historical Initiative which features an old          

                                        image of the Brighton Beach Boardwalk 

Sources Used:

Ariellekandel. “Discover Brighton Beach, a ‘Little Odessa by the Sea’ in Brooklyn.” New Women New Yorkers, 16 Aug. 2017, www.nywomenimmigrants.org/brighton-beach/. 

Brooklynjewish.org, brooklynjewish.org/neighborhoods/brighton-beach/. 

Lowenstein, Alison. “What to Do in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.” TripSavvy, www.tripsavvy.com/what-to-do-in-brighton-beach-brooklyn-4138233. 

“NYC Planning Population FactFinder.” NYC Population FactFinder, popfactfinder.planning.nyc.gov/profile/94/demographic. 

Untapped New York, et al. “NYC's Micro Neighborhoods: Little Odessa in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.” Untapped New York, 23 Jan. 2014, untappedcities.com/2014/01/23/nyc-micro-neighborhoods-little-odessa-brighton-beach-brooklyn/.