Astoria

It's noon when Catherine and Frank Terrizzi walk through the front door of Terrizzi Pastry Shop. They're not here every day any more, but they can be counted upon to appear every Saturday at this time.

Every day, Jim Pignetti sees the past in the present. He can't help but be reminded of the way things were because his business, Metalmen, is only four and a half blocks from the house he grew up in.

Sylvia Ramsaywak attends to more than 150 students in her Serious Fun after-school programs at P.S. 85 and P.S. 234. Sylvia modeled Serious Fun after the things she liked to do after school when she was growing up in Alaska.

Michelle, a super-shy, self-effacing, self-described sci-fi nerd with a nose ring and a pair of chin piercings, created Starfighter, an online erotic comic strip, three years ago.

Elena Kess is wearing 6-inch lizard-skin stilettos the color of a moonless midnight. She's so high off the ground that she's tiptoeing rather than walking across 30th Avenue.

Chris Bogia opens the door and cranks up '60s rock on the radio. He likes to listen to music when he works in his studio. The art he does -- gluing bits of yarn onto his paintings -- requires a steady hand,

For Camille Pisciotta, this is just like any other day, except that it isn't. By the time she's unlocked the gate at her Pampered Poodle Palace, her big blue eyes are tearing up.

Giuseppe Viterale never starts or ends the day without a cup of espresso. He fires up a little gas burner, spoons in the ground coffee and puts the aluminum one-cup pot atop the steady blue flame. "This is like a religious ritual for me," he says.

An unexpected lump in Anna Kril's left breast gave her a crash course in cancer survival. Spunky and savvy, she was appalled at the lack of resources in Queens for breast cancer sufferers like herself.

Miwako Kimura's designs start in her head; once her mind sees something, she makes a sketch or sometimes simply pushes the pieces of vintage jewelry around until they fit together.

Tom Park has spent his career in the dry-cleaning business, and he lost a shop once before. But he's 49 now, and he didn't see this one coming.

For Michael Serao, banking isn't all about money. It's about helping people enrich their lives.

I moved to Astoria on a February day, when the daffodils were in full bloom and the snow was on the red, red roses. I didn't need a green thumb to figure out what had been staring me in the face: These flowers were fakes.

Pull open the drapes! Betty Gelb wants to see the sunshine. She's as excited as a kid going to the circus because she's opened her eyes to another day. She's pushing 102, and, hey, you never know.

Emily Zhang's story begins in Tianjin, an enormous city in northern China. The house was always filled with music, and, early on, Emily decided that she wanted to scale the scales, too.

Josephine Traversa spent a lot of time shifting English to Italian for her family members, which is probably why she ended up making her career in translation and interpretation.

By the time she was 20, Joanna Psoroyannis had arrived in Astoria with only her dreams and a couple of suitcases. She had enrolled at New York University, where she planned to pursue a fine-arts degree.

Driving the dings and dents out of cars is a delicate art, and Billy Bruckner is a master of this form of metal sculpture. He also loves avant-garde contemporary art, Buddhas and bikes.

Mundo, a jewel box of foreign flavors and cosmopolitan cultures, fuses fare from Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, a mix that stirs Astoria's melting pot with panache.

Enrico de Trizio and Giancarlo de Trizio start jamming to the rhythm of their new-found city. The brothers -- Enrico on the melodica and Giancarlo on the cajón -- have never played to the sky before, but once they start, they don't want to stop.

Suzi, who looks like a runway model, was born in Hawaii right before it became a state in 1960; Jeff was raised in Kansas City, Mo. It was fate that brought them together and sent them to New York City.

Veronica Devine opened Veronica's Bar a dozen years ago. The place's history is as blurry as a drunk's double vision.

Jarda Nehybka never thought he'd have a wife and two tow-headed toddlers, not at this age, 69.

It's Thanksgiving time, and Kim Parshley is getting ready to make her famous pumpkin pie. She wishes the recipe had been handed down from her grandmother. It wasn't; she was left to concoct it all by herself.

Eileen Cuhaj, a plain, serious soul with a wisp of white hair and wire-rim spectacles that make her brown eyes sparkle, was raised a good Catholic girl. All these years, she has called upon her faith to sustain her.