Nancy Ruhling's Astoria Characters

In the bowels of the boiler room of P.S. 122, Tommy Gawiak sits solo. The sun hasn’t rubbed the sleep out of its eyes yet, and the 1,368 elementary school kids won’t start skipping in for an hour or so. Tommy has been at P.S. 122 since 1979. Tommy, the big guy in the little room; he doesn’t mind the solitude, which is broken only by the creaks of his aging body. He’s the school’s fireman, a title that was conferred on maintenance workers back in the days when coal…

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Everybody else in the house is still asleep. That’s why Tommy Capezza is waiting at the front door. It’s not only about being quiet. Tommy, a bulldog with an accordion-fold face and a prizefighter’s rosy cauliflower nose, has a lot to say, private stuff to get off his chest, and he might not want his wife or his grandson to hear some of it. At least not from his own lips. For Tommy, every year has been an adventure. Tommy — they used to call him Tommy Red when his hair was…

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In the bedroom that also serves as Stefanie Weisman‘s office, a cheap, crisply creased paper map of the world is taped to the wall over the bed. Its continents and countries stare at a floor-to-ceiling unit that features a built-in desk and a mini-library of wildly eclectic titles. There’s an upright piano in the corner, sheet music open. On top of its ebony stool a violin, complete with case, has taken up residence. Stefanie has made a career of being a top student. “My two favorite…

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A job to get through college. That’s all it was supposed to be. Eric Bernabo laughs. Before he can say more, a customer comes in, apologizing for her “stupid question about wine.” Eric never intended to buy Jolson Liquor. There’s nothing too silly to ask, he tells her. When he clears up the matter, he rings up the sale. Like Eric, you’ll have to get used to the interruptions. Even when Jolson Liquor is not busy, and by not busy, we mean a dozen customers every half…

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She wants to be photographed in her sunglasses. It has nothing to do with the sun, which, by the way, is shining but not bright enough for serious shades. Casey has been taking photos since she was 16. Fashion photographer Casey Brooks is used to being on the other side of the lens, and she doesn’t think any pictures taken of her look good. She’s posing in her favorite alley, a long crossed-shaped space that oozes with urban chic. This golden-haired Alice in Wonderland has been shooting…

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