Debby Gabriel
Jackson Heights
Height: 5’7
Weight: 190
Stats: 40-36-38

In terms of career moves, Debbie Gabriel is thinking big. 

That is, acting on the big screen and cooking in a big kitchen. 

Gabriel, 18, plans to start attending classes at the New York Institute of Culinary Arts in June and said she wants to own and manage her own restaurant and hotel. 

“When I was twelve years old, I remember seeing my mom in the kitchen, cooking up brown rice with red beans, and thinking that I want to do this one day.” 

Gabriel, a resident of Jackson Heights, is enrolled in acting classes at Camera Two Studios in Forest Hills.

She hopes to become a noted actress, and continue with the catalog modeling she has done in the past. 

“When I see a movie, I walk out saying, ‘I want to get there and do that’.” 

 “You gotta push yourself,” she said.  

For the Birds

    While the City Parks Department inaugurated a newly rebuilt Sobelsohn Playground in Forest Park, a press release described the day’s events and the playground’s improvements.  The release stated, “...The woodpecker-like sounds of construction have ended in Forest Park, marking the completion of Sobelsohn Playground’s $920,000 reconstruction.  The playground was given a woodland theme, with many references to the much-adored woodpecker...Landscape Architect Helen Ogrinz’s designs called for the addition of steel play equipment with spinning elements and swings, the construction of a spray shower area with water-spitting frogs, the installation of new fencing with laser cut-outs of woodpeckers, the creation of a curving ground pattern with woodland creatures, the construction of a gigantic bird feeder for children...”

    A Parks Department spokesman said that the bird feeder is a climbing toy for children, and not an attempt by the city to improve kids’ diets.  With the park’s reopening, kids can enjoy the 4-foot tall toy, that’s shaped like a bird feeder.

Sopranos Queens Sit-Down

Fans of the HBO modern mob series “The Sopranos,” may have been disappointed with the lack of “whacks” in this week's season finale but Queens fans may be happy to know that one of the last episode’s pivotal scenes was filmed right here in the city’s best borough.

According to published reports, Astoria Park was the backdrop of the on screen “sit-down” between the show’s main character Tony Soprano played by James Gandolfini and fictional New York boss Carmine Lupertazzi played by Tony Lip.

Those who saw the fourth season’s final episode know that the deal made between the two television mobsters put a hold on a planned hit on Carmine.

The scene was reportedly shot last summer not far from Silvercup Studios where other scenes for the show are filmed, according to the studio’s website.

Will The Real Costanza …

George Costanza, the character on the hit NBC show Seinfeld, is going back to school—but not back to Queens College, where he attended with Jerry Seinfeld according to the storyline of the show. 

Jason Alexander, who played the underachieving best friend of Seinfeld, landed a job as the first George Burns Visiting Professor at the University of Southern California, and this semester will be teaching theater to aspiring actors and actresses.

Meanwhile, the “real George Costanza,” or rather Mike Costanza, who sued the creators of Seinfeld last year, arguing that the show had modeled the character of George after him, got the short end of the stick. 

Costanza, who claimed the show damaged his reputation and caused emotional distress, doted on the similarities of the show’s character, which like him, shares the same last name, is balding, attended Queens College, and detests enclosed areas like parking garages.  But Costanza lost the $100 million lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court, which ruled that the show did not use the “name, portrait, or picture” of Costanza and that the statute of limitations in the case had run out—given that Costanza had not filed the suit within a year of the show’s debut in 1989.

 Alexander, himself, who dropped out of Boston University to pursue an acting career told The Los Angeles Times what he tells his students: “I say, ‘Look, if you are looking for my career, good luck, I can’t tell you how to get it.’  I stepped in the right puddle.  Nobody thought Seinfeld would be Seinfeld.”

Homeboy  Klein

Chancellor Joel Klein said he was a “homeboy” when he paid a visit in Queens last week to speak in front of the Astoria Civic Association in Astoria. 

“Stick with me this far, give me the benefit of the doubt, I’m a homeboy,” he said during his speech, which outlined a broad plan he wants to implement for educational reform in New York City schools. 

Though he is apparently a “homeboy,” he suggested that he might be able to enjoy some of the highbrow luxuries, if he gets the job done.  “I got an email the other night…that was so right on.  [It said] you’ve got a hard enough job Mr. Klein. When a school is really working why don’t you just get out of the way.’”

With laughter erupting, he continued, “Someday, if I get 1,200 schools that are really working, then I can go to an awards ceremony...or I could play golf like all these people do here in politics,” he said, referring to those sitting beside him like Former City Council Speaker Peter Vallone, Sr., Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., and State Assemblyman Mike Gianaris, all who serve the Astoria district.  

Klein, who lived and grew up in Queens for some time, was a product of William Bryant High School in Long Island City.

Stadium to Joisey

Yankee great Phil Rizzuto, who grew up in Richmond Hill, was on hand in New Jersey recently to dedicate a park named in his honor:  Phil Rizzuto Park, located in Union Township.

The 10-acre park is slated to house a soccer field and handicapped accessible playground.

Said the former Yankee shortstop, when he dug a shovel into the earth to begin digging, “Holy Cow.”