Home to the beach communities of Coney Island and Brighton Beach, District 21 has strong, traditional schools catering to longtime Italian-American residents, and, increasingly, an Asian population, living in single-family homes in Bensonhurst. While its Brighton Beach neighborhood has a strong Russian community, some of the top high school basketball players in the city come from the public housing developments in Coney Island. The district also is home to the New York Aquarium and a few of the most selective middle schools in the city: Mark Twain and Bay Academy.