Searching for Greek Identity in Queens

Greek Photographer Niko J. Kallianiotis first came to Astoria, New York's famous Greek American enclave, as a teenager in 1987. Twenty-five years later he has returned to visit the neighborhood, documenting his experience in this photo essay.

Growing Pains for New York's Italian American Museum

The Italian American Museum in New York's Little Italy has outgrown its current space in a restored 1800's brownstone. Plans include selling the building to a developer, and then relocating the museum into an expanded space inside the structure that replaces the brownstone. The museum's current location on the corner of Mulberry and Grand Streets once housed “Banca Stabile”, which served newly arrived immigrants from Italy.

Woodlawn, New York

As the economy in Ireland grows and recedes, so does Irish immigration to the United States.

A perfect example is New York's Woodlawn neighborhood. Woodlawn straddles both sides of the Bronx and Yonkers border. Forty percent of residents here claim Irish ancestry. Although the percentage slipped in the past decade, the number of immigrants arriving in again increasing, concurrent with an economic downturn in Ireland.

Russian Orthodox Resurgence in East New York

East New York has long been a hotbed of crime, one of Brooklyn's most dangerous and run down neighborhoods. Yet East New York's Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity is experiencing a resurgence after decades of decline, due to a new wave of Russian immigrants in the city.

A tribute to New York's Italians

From Fiorello LaGuardia, to Rudolph Giuliani, Italians have left their mark in New York. Now, a proposal calls for a museum dedicated to Italian-Americans on a pier under restoration in the city's Battery Park. It is one of four proposals for the pier. The Battery Park City Authority, which runs the park, will make a decision early next year.

Russian Radio in New York

Corporate take overs and consolidations have made the New York radio dial pretty dull in the last few years. That's why it's so refreshing to find Danu Radio.

Formerly known as "Radio Pozitiv", Danu Radio is a Russian language radio station broadcasting out of Brooklyn that air music and talk shows.  While the music is Russian language, there's an international sensibility to programs like the dance music show that transcends any language barriers.

The talk shows function as an important outlet for the Russian immigrant community.

Programs include a morning show, listener call in programs like Почти дома, an Armenian language program titled Армянское Радио, and a talk show featuring Seva Kaplan, known as the founding father of Russian radio in the US. Danu Radio's website compares Kaplan to the outspokenness of shock jock Howard Stern, although that description is hard to validate as there are so few Russian speaking Howard Stern fans available to judge.
 

New York's Little Syria

A lot of attention has turned to the proposed Islamic Cultural Center planned for New York's lower Manhattan, surely due to its proximity to Ground Zero. At best, many of the arguments against the center are short sighted, overlooking the neighborhood's history. At worst, many of the naysayers are pandering to xenophobia and Anti-Arab sentiment. What many don't realize is during the first half of the last century, this same section of lower Manhattan was home to “Little Syria”. This ethnic enclave was the destination of Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian immigrants, centered on Washington Street just steps from City Hall.

At that time, the Muslim population was no greater than 5%, as most of the Arab immigrants were Christians. No mosques served the community, but rather 3 churches served the mostly Christian immigrant population. This included St. George Chapel of the Melkite Rite, inactive, but still standing 103 Washington Street.

The Little Syria neighborhood has since been razed to make way for urban renewal projects, most notably the World Trade Center and the entrance to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel.

The Russians are coming

Neighborhood demographics change: it's part of the evolution of neighborhoods. A community that fails to attract newcomers is a community that is stagnant.

The latest chapter in the drama of ethnic change is Staten Island. The New York borough is now experiencing growing pains as Russian-Americans flock to the area.

Russian immigrants have long settled in Brooklyn, particularly neighborhoods like Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay. As their children come of age, many are now branching further out, especially to Staten Island.

The move does not come without resentment from long time Staten Island natives. The tension recently peaked over a community center proposed for a neglected  property in South Beach. The center was perceived as something for the Russians, instead of a project that would benefit the whole community as a whole. Locals were not shy about expressing their displeasure at a recent civic meeting.

As is often the case, natives seem quick to forget that they too were once the newcomers. Surely there was a previous generation of Staten Island "natives" who didn't care for the influx of Italian-American and Irish-Americans who now see themselves as Staten Island's long time residents.

Brooklyn meets Poland

New York City, specifically Brooklyn, is a popular destination for Polish immigrants today. The importance of one Brooklyn neighborhood, Greenpoint, is evident in this scene from Krakow. A clothing store in the city's old town bears neighborhood's name.