By Anastasia Medytska
These days, the East Village is filled with hipsters slinging back $2 PBRs at Sly Fox or satisfying a 3 a.m. craving for pierogis at Veselka without any knowledge of the rich Ukrainian history behind these neighborhood hotspots.
Behind the overcrowded bar, above shelves stocked with an array of Ukrainian vodkas, hangs a sign with the words “Lys Mykyta” or Sly Fox in Ukrainian. The dive bar resembles a log cabin in the famed Carpatian Mountains of Ukraine, which is why it goes by a second name, often known only to the Ukrainians that frequent it during off-peak hours, Karpaty Pub.
A sign outside Veselka pays tribute to the neighborhood.
Just one building over, on the corner of Second Avenue and 9th Street, sits Veselka Restaurant, open 24 hours to accommodate the merry revelers of Sly Fox and places like it. Veselka holds a major place in pop culture and the hearts of many American youth.
From movies like Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist where the titular characters grab a late-night meal near the ending of the movie, to teen-favorite show Gossip Girl, where Blair and Dan nosh on pierogies at the eatery. But what its multitudes of visitors don’t know is that it opened as a result of the Ukrainian Diaspora, when multitudes of Ukrainians fled a Soviet-controlled nation post World War II.
The neighborhood — with its unbeatable nightlife, cheap eats and Japanese markets — has a past teeming with Ukrainian culture. From retro eateries like Stage Restaurant to kielbasa connoisseurs’ favorite meat market, Baczynsky, first-generation Ukrainians built a neighborhood to carry on their culture. Today, that Ukrainian heritage is sometimes easy to miss among the many changes, but pockets of the area’s Eastern European past remain.
“I’m proud that they are still keeping the culture alive,” said Olha Medytska, a first-generation immigrant and teacher at St. George Ukrainian Catholic School, a K-12 school located on 6th Street and Taras Shevchenko Place, which was developed for Ukrainian immigrants during times of mass immigration. “Although the majority of my students are not Ukrainian, they are still required to learn the language and they do it great! It’s good that it hasn’t been closed down; I’d be sad to see that.” However, this wasn’t always the case with St. George.
When Ms. Medytska tried to enroll her kids in St. George during the 1990s, she faced a shocking reality, “It was crazy, they told me that there were no seats in the first grade.” The neighborhood thrived during this time and it was an extremely tight-knit community. However, she said the situation has changed since then. “Today there are very few Ukrainian children at St. George and almost no first generation immigrants. The kids are American,” she said.
This phenomenon has been a more recent development in the neighborhood as it became more gentrified than what it was merely 60 years ago.
Surma Book & Music Co., a Ukrainian shop that was opened in the 1800s, has weathered all waves of Ukrainian immigration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7SnIYRpztU&feature=youtu.be
Ukrainian immigrant and active member of the Ukrainian-American community, Natalia Yezerska explained, “The end of World War II caused something known as the Ukrainian Diaspora, during which thousands of Ukrainians fled a country overtaken by the Soviet Union. They knew they could never come back to their motherland and so they developed their own ‘Little Ukraine’ here in New York to hold onto their culture.”
Little Ukraine was the 1950s moniker for what is now the East Village.
It was during the following decades that places like Veselka and Baczynsky Meat Market opened. “These immigrants worked hard to ensure that the generations to come would know what it means to be Ukrainian, without ever visiting the country,” said Ms. Yezerska. Their achievements included the opening of restaurants, shops, bars, schools and after-school activities. However, the developments stopped there. It wasn’t until 40 years later that Little Ukraine received an influx of fresh blood that would keep the neighborhood alive.
“In the 1990s, post-Soviet collapse, Ukraine finally gained independence and with it, Ukrainians earned the freedom to emigrate to America. This caused what is known as the fourth wave of immigration,” Ms. Yezerska said. During the 1990s, Little Ukraine experienced a revival as a flood of immigrants came to Manhattan, a place that was already pre-furnished with everything they needed to comfortably settle into a completely foreign country. Ms. Medytska, the teacher at St. George, came with her family during the fourth wave.
“I was lucky because I had family here already but this community helped me be more comfortable and I know it helped so many people who didn’t know anyone or a word of English,” She said.
During this time, the Ukrainian community was blossoming once again. However, despite the changing tides of immigration today, Ms. Medytska is happy that that Ukrainian spirit lives on even during the more recent gentrification.
Wares inside Surma showcase Ukrainian heritage
Ukrainians are fiercely proud of their cultural heritage, a result of Soviet domination for most of their history. Even though they may no longer flock to Manhattan, as a result of rising rent prices and falling immigration, Ukrainians still make the trip for a piece of “Little Ukraine” on weekends.
Every Saturday morning, throngs of Ukrainian parents come to the East Village to engrain some Ukrainian culture into their American-born children. The typical day starts with Ukrainian school in the morning. There are two such schools in the area, one housed in the St. George School building and another, just a block away on Second Avenue, in the Ukrainian National Home.
Children learn the Ukrainian language as well as history and customs in classrooms adorned with Ukrainian flags and symbols. Afterward, they go to either PLAST or CYM, two international Ukrainian Youth organizations. Donned in khaki uniforms adorned with badges and medals, the idea is similar to an American tradition- scouts.
However, instead of selling cookies and tying knots, the children often learn Ukrainian songs and poems and do fun activities for holidays, such as Easter egg painting. The day doesn’t stop there for some. Many children also attend dance classes, either at the Roma Pryma Bohachevska School of Dance or with a small group in St. George, where they learn Ukrainian folk dances.
Meanwhile, parents shop at Baczynsky meat market, the only remaining Ukrainian meat market in the neighborhood out of three, and visit the Ukrainian National Credit Union, the local bank with branches nationwide. They might grab a meal at the Ukrainian East Village Restaurant or go to a holiday party in the Ukrainian National Home. Then they drive back to Connecticut, Brooklyn, New Jersey and Upstate New York, only to come again for church at St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church on Sunday mornings.
The locals, who are no longer majority Ukrainian, still support the businesses on the days there are no Ukrainians coming in from the suburbs.
“This is a place for Lower East Side hipsters on weekends. Many of the young people here don’t even know it’s Ukrainian until they spend some time here,” said Ariel, a bartender at Sly Fox. Places like the Stage Restaurant, Veselka, Sly Fox and Backynzky have become somewhat of a culture icon for locals. They are a reminder of New York’s ethnic niches and of days gone by. So although there are no new places being built and the locals may no longer be Ukrainian, with the support of both visiting immigrants and local New Yorkers alike, Little Ukraine thrives on.