Before the 20th century, Brighton Beach was a area called Gravesend. After being purchased by a Mr. William A. Engeman in 1868, he renamed the land Brighton Beach after a city on the coastline of England called Brighton. In the following years due to the increase of infrastructure In New York, Brighton Beach became much more accessible to many New Yorkers living in the dense city. During the Early 20th Century many of Jews living in East New York found there way to quieter coast of Brighton Beach. Once there the Jewish population began to make significant cultural and political presence. During the 1930s and 40s Brighton Beach became flooded with European refugees escaping Fascism in their home countries. Due to the increase in immigrants moving to Brighton Beach, many of the streets became numbered “Bright” in order to make navigation in the area easier for these immigrants. During the 1950’s and 60s, the beach grew in popularity but the surrounding neighborhoods began to degrade as its inhabitants grew old. In the following years many of the families moved out of Brighton Beach into other quieter suburbs, leaving the houses there to rot away since no one wanted to move into them. Fortunately a few years later the soviet union began to relax its immigration policies, allowing several Russian jewish immigrants to move into the neighborhood where there presence is still heavily felt today. Because of its heavily Russian population, the area became known as little Odessa, named after the port on the black sea.