Russian District in Philadelphia: Our People in America Are Past in the Past

Statistics show 26 thousand Russian-speaking residents in Philadelphia. Bustleton and Somerton, areas away from the city center, are sometimes called "Little Odessa" due to the significant presence of Ukrainian, Uzbek and Russian immigrants there.

Photo za-bugrom.com

People from Russia, some of whom were poor people who did not have a certain profession, began to settle in Philadelphia at the beginning of the 20 of the 20th century. The next wave of immigration settled in Philadelphia and in Pittsburgh, an industrial city in northwestern Pennsylvania in the 1930s, when fear of the next World War spread in Europe. The most recent influx of immigrants followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many Russians settled forever in northeast Philadelphia. Several Russian-language newspapers are published in this city, several television channels are broadcast, restaurants, medical institutions and other organizations offering services in Russian are working.

Philadelphia is a wonderful city, like New York in miniature. Here you will find skyscrapers of the business center, and old buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries, and slums of the poor, and whole blocks of abandoned houses. Well, typical for a large American city there is a crowd of different people: whites, blacks, Asians, variations of mixtures of all these three. Extremely colorful. There is, of course, a Russian region in which, as usual, “time has stood still.”

Author Site "Over the hill" shared his observation about the life of the Russian district in Philadelphia.

Photo za-bugrom.com

In general, I’ve heard for a long time that there is a large community of Russian speakers living in Philadelphia. Precisely not Russians, but Russian speakers, since there are all representatives of the CIS here. The reason I haven't been there before is the distance. It's all called Philadelphia, but getting there is quite inconvenient by public transport. I live at Cecil B More station, from there I need to get to the fern Rock final station and then take a bus for about 20 km. Moreover, the bus runs once an hour. In general, you won’t get there right away.

Photo za-bugrom.com

But for a mad dog, 20 kilometers is not a detour. Besides, I had a secret desire to try to find a job in the Russian region. The route to the place ran through super picturesque houses and quiet, calm areas where autumn could be felt.

It was difficult to photograph on the go, as I followed the card and sat down at the phone (I, like my old grandfather, have an old Samsung who already refuses to work). As a result, the road took exactly an hour to the landing site of the bus. From there I had to go on foot, about 5 kilometers into the area. That is, in fact, the beginning of American Russia.

Photo za-bugrom.com

After about 20 minutes, I found the first Russian stores and job advertisements. The places are quite pleasant: flat lawns, good roads and small houses. Such a real one-story America.

Finally I got to the place of congestion stores. In some places there were job announcements in Russian, but I immediately decided that today the task is to bypass the maximum area.

Photo za-bugrom.com

Almost all the shops were closed and looked pretty sad. Approximately, as kiosks-flea markets in Moscow at the metro in 2011, while they were not demolished by Sobyanin. That is, about any marketing or an attempt to attract a buyer there is no question.

After this place I had to march through the river and the surrounding area, in fact, just walked along the highway. There is nothing special to tell, except for one interesting detail. Several times the walking path in my path ended abruptly and without any reason, resting against just foliage and bushes. I had to cross the road and look for ways to go around. Finally, I got to civilization, where I saw a familiar gas station.

Photo za-bugrom.com

To be honest, I would not say that it is strongly felt that the district is Russian. At least in this place I did not see a huge accumulation of Russian shops, bears with balalaikas, scattered matryoshka dolls or drunken men in earflaps. Let's just say, ordinary America with rare inserts of something Russian. I didn’t go deep into the area, since all the places are located along Bustleton Ave. But this is what it looks like on Google Maps (200 meters from the boulevard where I walked).

I decided to go to the Russian store “Petrovsky” and suddenly noticed out of the corner of my eye a healthy man in slaps, with a belly and an oooooochen unkind big face (it was a muzzle and nothing else). These are usually in Russia go on a black 200 Land Kresere. I immediately suggested that it was Russian. Guess where I saw him again later? That's right, in the Russian store.

Photo za-bugrom.com

And now a few words about the store. The first thing that immediately caught my ear was the Russian speech in the background. That is, it’s not you who speaks, but someone around you who speaks Russian. I'm already a little unaccustomed to this. Then, I saw a showcase with cooking exactly like in my native Chepetsk! Some fried cutlets, pickles, Olivier, buckwheat. And the sellers in the store - women 40-60 years old - in blue aprons and hair caps! There is a complete feeling that the store is located in a remote Russian outback. On the one hand, everything is so familiar, but on the other, it somehow doesn’t fit in with America in the 21st century.

Photo za-bugrom.com

Photo za-bugrom.com

I spoke with one saleswoman about the work, since there was no owner on that day. Very nice woman, from somewhere in the CIS (from where she didn’t say). She said that now without a work permit, even a loader is unlikely to take.

It turns out that almost none of the workers speak English. However, even outwardly, people around looked very, very Russian: dark clothes, gloomy faces and a sense of some kind of general neglect.

Photo za-bugrom.com

And then I wanted to ask how all these people around, who probably have citizenship or the greens, got here? How and why was there a tired mustache uncle in stretched jeans, 45-year-old woman behind the counter, who has not a word in English and many other very Russian elements. It’s just that someone tries to join Wednesday, goes to universities, passing exams, gets a second education, learns English, tries to crawl out of his skin to find work, and cannot even take it as a loader to the warehouse without permission. And at the same time, you see ordinary laborers, but in America and with official status. Those who have gone through the process of obtaining documents, understand what it takes to get a green card. Even good programmers with American education and work experience can not get it at times.

I recently read that a person freezes when moving to another country when he was leaving. Looks like many Russian people moved from 1995 to 2005 a year here.

In general, I procured the buckwheat, cod liver, sprats and went back to Philadelphia with my philosophical thoughts. On the way, I dropped into another Russian store about working in a warehouse, was immediately refused, as there is no green card and no work permit. I thought that if I had the documents, I would hardly have gone to work at the warehouse. Yes, and live in the Russian region, most likely would not. Somehow he seemed to me dreary.

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.