Brighton Beach

Known locally as Little Odessa, Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach has a long and richly-cultured history of being home to immigrants resettling from Eastern Europe and Asia. Join social historian Melanie Macchio and learn how an area developed as a family playground by the sea, filled with hotels, bathhouses, and vaudeville theaters, then gave way to a middle class neighborhood of Jewish families relocating from neighborhoods around the City and around the world. Hear accounts of the stories of those who lived and worked in Brighton Beach and see why this lively community continues to attract those looking to prosper in their new country.