Q Confidential

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Q Confidential is edited by Michael Schenkler and Tamara Hartman. Contributors:
Steve Azzara, Ira Cohen, Marcia Moxam Comrie, Barbara Jarvie, Arlene Lewis,
Stephen McGuire, Angela Montefinise, Mike Nussbaum, and Dee Richard.


Photos By Steve Azzara -
steveazzara.com

Models Of Queens
Bayside Beauty: Sweet Sixteen

Julia
Bayside
Height: 5’6”
Stats 34-24-34
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Green  

This beautiful Bayside gal is 16 years old and a senior at Bayside High School – participating in the Major Art Program.

She also has good taste in newspapers.

“I have been reading your column 'Models of Queens' for a few months and I enjoy it very much,” Julia said.

Julia has taken part in some pretty exciting modeling gigs over the course of the past five years, including being photographed for Working Mother magazine, modeling prom dresses on FOX 5’s “Good Day, New York” and modeling at the 2001 Licensing Show at the Jacob Javits Center.

In addition to modeling, Julia is interested in becoming a fashion designer.”

“ I have just completed a college level fashion design course at the Fashion Institute of Technology,” Julia said.

Julia said she has always felt comfortable in front of the camera and has always been attracted to the glamour side of modeling and fashion.

When Julia’s not busy with school and modeling, you might be able to find her at the Bay Terrace Shopping Center in Bayside.

Her favorite spots there – Jack’s Pizza and Applebees, she told us.

Glowing Reviews

When Mira Nair, director of the recent box office boom, “Monsoon Wedding,” discovered Akari lamps designed by master sculptor and artist Isamu Noguchi, she indulged her passion for artwork in beautiful textures and shapes.

The famed Noguchi Garden Museum, nestled in Long Island City, and one of Queens' treasures, is home to an extensive collection of artwork in a garden setting.

Noguchi light sculptures, near weightless paper lamps made in the 1950s, caught the eye of Nair, who will soon have a collection of seven: two each in her Manhattan apartment, her mother’s home in New Delhi and her in-laws' home in Kampala, Uganda.

The seventh is en route from Japan and was purchased by Nair in April when she flew to Japan for the opening of her new production.  The Noguchi fan discovered it was a bargain at $60 when she checked it out at and found a price of $125 for the same lamp.

Queens On EBay

Queens collectibles are “hot items” on ebay lately, and one recent offering caught the eye of QConfer who knew the identity of the high bidder.

The popular internet auction website featured an unused, circa 1915 postcard, with a view of the “New” 1899 County Building in Jamaica with people walking by. The publisher was Valentine Souvenir Co. and the seller was from the Great Northern Catskills.

But it was no surprise that the high bid of $4.49 was made by a regular with an ebay name beginning with “jtrent.”

Jim Trent is the president of Queens County Farm Museum, and one of the borough’s leading preservationists.

Trent told us that the Italian Palazzo style building, now landmarked, is presently utilized as the Jamaica Arts Center at 162nd Street, leased to them by the City. The building was also known as the register building.

The borough historian is gathering material for a proposed book about the borough and frequently surfs ebay for memorabilia. Trent had some inside information to share about the buying habits of some other Queens buffs.

“This card was quite reasonable,” he said, “but some people have deep pockets. I’ve seen people pay over $100 for a postcard.”

Trent is collecting postcards with views of Queens up to the 1950s, and “wants to jar people about what we’re losing.”

Birds

Take a walk around Smokey Oval Park on Atlantic Avenue in Richmond Hill on a Sunday morning during the summer months and find a new Queens sport—singing lessons for black finches.

Bird owners, or minders as they are called, are from Guyana, Trinidad and Suriname.  They are carrying on the tradition of taking their birds out for a walk in the park on Saturday and Sunday and train them to sing and whistle.

Birds are trained when they are young and only the male birds whistle.

Training is done by placing a cloth cover over their cage and surrounding them by other birds that they can only hear, but cannot see. Owners claim that the less they see each other in the beginning, the better they perform.

Competitions are also set up by owners occasionally to see which birds sing louder, faster, and more aggressively.

But one finch had his own ideas for a Sunday morning outing. Instead of participating in the competition, he was in his cup taking a bath.

Two examples of Noguchi table lamps.

 

Confidentially New York . . .

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