SWANS??? The first thing I noticed when I arrived at the Brighten Beach, Brooklyn waterfront were the swans- in salt water! That was a first for me. Hundreds and hundreds of swans. The hotel sent me to Liman’s for dinner. This Turkish restaurant delivered one of the best meals I have enjoyed anywhere! When I asked about the swans- they declared they had always been there and reported the EPA had tried to kill them! Asking Dr. Google for confirmation revealed the STORY Does it get any better? The mute swans could not speak for themselves! I checked with the fisherman and I wish I had had the video running. They had many choice words to describe how the plethora of swan poop had changed the chemistry of the water and ruined the flounder and fluke fishing!!
As I drove under the train on Brighten Beach Boulevard I could not help but think about Neil Simon’s Brighten Beach Memoirs about growing up in Brooklyn in 1937. You can read about the play and see it at the Kelsey Theater.
Brighten Beach changed dramatically in the late 1930’s with the German Jews fleeing from Hitler and Russian Jews from Stalin, next the fall of the Soviet Union and most recently the conflict in the Ukraine have contributed to what is now a predominantly Russian speaking 10 block section of Brighten Boulevard. I can testify. I shopped for sculpture materials. Read More
