I decided to map out all of the Russian establishments in Brighton Beach. During our visit, it was very obvious to me that it was a Russian community as there was Russian writing on almost every storefront and everyone we spoke to had an accent/ was speaking Russian. Food seemed to be a really important part of Brighton beach and it shows on my map as there are a lot more items in the restaurant category than in any other one. There were definitely more restaurants that aren’t mapped just because they aren’t online, however, you can still see the significance of restaurants and Russian culture in Brighton. I included markets and grocery because while we were visiting there were literally no big grocery stores, just Russian markets, and small convenience stores. People sell meat and produce on the street. Almost every single place in Brighton Beach is Russian, and if it’s not it is still a small independent business. The only slightly recognizable thing I noticed was a single Starbucks which looked really out of place. I really enjoyed seeing how different the culture in Brighton was compared to other parts of New York. The Russian community was really interesting to explore and I enjoyed showcasing it on my map.
(let me know if my image is too low quality to view and ill send a new one. I couldn’t post an illustrator file so I exported it as a Jpeg and it lost some quality.)
