The Pilates Performer

Emma Bryant is an actress. She’s not waiting on tables. She’s not waiting for the big break. Nope, she has taken charge of her career. “I believe in myself,” she says. “I know it’s a cliché, but I trust that something will happen. I don’t know whether I believe in fate and destiny, but I know that something good will come.” She pads across the living room in bare feet and cocoons in the cushions of the couch. Sir Didymus, an orange and white Pekinese-Sheltie…

Continue Reading →

The Old-School Sculptor

With a flourish of his hand, Rafael Petrosyan, formally attired in red patterned vest, black striped dress shirt and grey pinstriped suit slacks, bows. “After you,” the sculptor says as he follows me into the Modern Art Foundry. “Two centuries ago, gentlemen bowed when ladies arrived. Ah, but it is no more.” At the top of the linoleum-covered stairs, after a right and then a left, is what Rafael calls his cave. It’s one immaculate room doing double duty as two. There’s…

Continue Reading →

The Celebrity Pastry Chef

He’s been on his feet constantly, 24/7 more than less, since June 10. That’s when pastry chef George McKirdy opened Astor Bake Shop, Astoria’s sweet-treat hot spot. “I need some caffeine,” he says, sucking down a liter-size glass of the shop’s signature ice coffee through a straw as though it’s water. Before he allows himself to sit, he checks the kitchen, rings up a sale at the front counter, confers with a customer about a wedding cake and greets a little…

Continue Reading →

The Crusading Composter

Stephanos Koullias is running a little late, so when he parks his Bucky Buckaw Work Trike on the sidewalk at the Sunnyside Greenmarket, he jumps off and jogs across the street, high-fiving the autumn sky. In a flash, he’s back with the collapsible tent, which looks like one of those fold-up thingies you hang wash on to dry, and green garbage pails to set up the booth for the Western Queens Compost Initiative, a group he and his environmentally minded friends founded. Stephanos, as long and…

Continue Reading →

The Down-to-Earth Traveling Salesman

In the living room, kneeling against the ruby red wall, is a Thai goddess. Above her head, in golden frames that match the trim of her royal raiment, are three Chilean oil paintings — the Virgin Mary and Jesus in the center and an archangel on each side. On the ground, grazing on the Turkey carpet, is a herd of wooden elephants from Africa. When Rambo and Daisy Mae, two cheeky Chihuahua mixes, lead Joseph M. Santana inside, the goddess smiles a cheery welcome with her cherry lips. Joseph and…

Continue Reading →