Astoria Characters: The Party-Favor Maker

Rosie Segura opens her shopping bag, and like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, produces a beautiful bloom. Rosie was born in Mexico. She runs her fingers over the petals of the deep-pink paper rose – it’s the size of a dinner plate — and smiles. Rosie’s rose is her signature piece. To it, she adds a pale pink rose and a white one and a couple of fan-like leaves, creating a pretty sculpture on the sidewalk. “I’ve always loved crafts,” she says. “I grew…

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Astoria Characters: The Teacher Who Makes Music Fun

There’s no music playing, but that doesn’t stop Laura Ziegler from dancing. Laura’s the face behind JAM. Arms thrust triumphantly in the air, she spins around to the tune in her head, her peasant skirt, the color of caramel, twirling around her like a top. She stops, reluctantly. She’s really happy. With her life. With her job. And she wants to express – and share — her joy. Laura plays several instruments. Laura, an exuberant woman whose wardrobe features…

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Astoria Characters: The Comic Who Always Sees the Funny Side of Life

Has Stan Talouis told you about the time he was waiting outside a club in Manhattan getting ready to do his stand-up routine when this guy pepper sprayed him in the face? Stan started doing stand-up comedy in his 20s. How about the time he bought a car, a luxury he couldn’t afford, to keep a job only to quit (“I was SO BORED!”) after a mere six weeks? Or the time he passed out in his kitchen at the beginning of the pandemic, waking up in the hospital with a severe case of Covid-19? The…

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Astoria Characters: The Dads of Doggie Day Care

When the wooden gate swings open, Beycon, Brandon and Django rush to the front of BB’s Playhouse, barking a furiously shrill greeting to their pal Trish, a big, fluffy snow-white Goldendoodle. Richard with Beycon. They do zoomies around the space, playing paw tag among the leafy-green trees, grass and storybook clouds of the hand-painted mural that covers the walls. Tony Bendinelli and Richard Pando, partners in life and in business, are having just as much fun as the canine charges…

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