Nancy Ruhling's Astoria Characters

To get to Jimmy Christodoulou’s office, you have to go around the back to the basement and down a trio of narrow brick steps that are painted battleship grey. Jimmy set up JC Insurance Brokerage in 2021. Just follow him and Koko, his 5-year-old Shih Tzu, a rescue who isn’t keen on cuddling or even being held. This is his parents’ house – they are Cyprus immigrants who came to New York City before Jimmy was born – and he’s living here while he gets his new business off the…

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“I want to show you my Wall of Life,” says Rob Davis as he opens the door to his home office with a flourish. Rob’s a consummate creative. The wall, a pictorial time line of Rob memorabilia, is filled with framed photos and painted portraits. It goes back a long way – Rob, polymath, philanthropist, performer and prolific composer and author who once walked across hot coals, is 78. Here’s Rob during his teenage modeling years (he regularly appeared in Seventeen magazine…

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The cushions on the couch are perfectly aligned, a trio of decorative pillows marching lockstep across them. Shirley is from Germany. The books are artfully arranged on small suspended shelves. The kitchen countertops are unoccupied by appliances. And there are no toys scattered across the living room floor. You’d never know that two adults and a 3-year-old live in this apartment, and that’s because Shirley Roberts makes her living organizing people’s spaces. It’s not…

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IPhone glued to her ear, Lisa Devine pulls her stroller up to 2nd Chance Candles and unlocks the front door. Lisa’s the face — and guiding force — behind 2nd Chance Candles. At 23rd Street and 21st Avenue across from a row of shops, 2nd Chance Candles has been the source of much neighborhood curiosity — and speculation — since its debut this year. Part of that’s due to its limited schedule. Right now, it’s open only on the weekends; Lisa has three young…

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I hung an enormous vintage mirror in my bedroom at the beginning of the year. It was, if you will, a gift from the grave. It belonged to Marie Milo, who would have celebrated her 98th birthday this week. Marie loved to go out. As showy as a peacock and as tough as her perfectly painted nails, Marie, 5-foot-3 and 90 pounds, was larger than life. Marie wasn’t the life of the party. She the party. She quaffed margaritas (the message on her answering machine said, “I’m out drinking…

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