Brighton Beach was always famous as a simple residential neighborhood attracting people with its wide sandy beaches, ocean breeze and tons of attractions on neighboring Coney Island. But did you know that it started as an upper middle class resort with several luxury hotels, largest bathing Pavillion, race track and famous outdoor concert venues. In early 1920s resorts were replaced with the residential neighborhoods and a lot of Jewish immigrants, mostly young families, moved here escaping overcrowded LES and some other areas of the city. They built a number of synagogues and opened many Jewish business. After short period of prosperity the Great Depression hit, and Brighton Beach changed significantly filled with tens of thousands of jobless homeless Jewish families who overcrowded once luxurious spacious apartments. In the following years there were additional waves of Jewish immigrants from Europe escaping the Nazis ,holocaust survivors after the WWII. The influx of Soviet Jews in 1970s changed the face of Brighton Beach completely, filled it with young people, exotic food and culture, made it “Little Odessa by the Sea”. In our tour we’ll visit some of the old functioning synagogues, see the once luxury Art Deco houses where Jewish immigrants of 1920s lived, walk the famous Brighton Beach Ave talking about Russian Jewish immigration, see the spot where the original Brighton Beach resort hotels once stood. At the end we’ll visit the Holocaust memorial park the only public Holocaust memorial park in the city.

Your guide for this tour is Svetlana Kershtein, a professional tour guide who has worked on three continents and holds a a Masters degree in History, specializing in the history of the ancient world.

Born in Russia, she emigrated to Israel where she worked as a licensed tour guide for 11 years. Svetlana's passion for Jewish history, art, music, and cuisine is reflected in her popular tours. She is fluent in three languages (Russian, Hebrew, and English).