(Above) It's the QConf lensmeister Steve Azzara at Westbury with Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller, the father of the King Of Queens.               (Right) Kate Moss at Vogue party.

Models Of Queens
Salsa Lady From Down The Block

Lenny is the conservative daughter of a Spaniard and a dark skinned Dominica woman and she simply loves Queens.

At 23-years-old,   Lenny works 9 to 5 in the accounting department of a law firm, putting herself through Hunter College as a full-time media communications student.

“It’s tough, I only have time to sleep,” she says.

When she can, she models.

Lenny’s first modeling stint involved standing pretty in a bathing suit and holding cans of Goya black beans for a Spanish TV channel.  “They didn’t know I was 16.  I had a full body.” She also appeared on a Spanish reggae and a salsa video.

Her real modeling experience came doing fashions shows for Bloomingdale’s on Saturdays.  

This Fresh Meadows lady is naturally slim. All she does is half an hour of aerobics twice a week. 

“I can eat everything,” says Lenny, and she says she eats Mom's rice and beans 24/7.

Lenny loves Queens and says she would never leave. 

“I like the variety of people.  It’s close to the city, but not the city.  It’s kind of like the suburbs."

One of her favorite hot spots in Queens is FM in Forest Hills on Sunday "Latin" nights.  She goes there for some salsa and meringue.  She also goes to the bar Melange across the street.

The young Queens model can be spotted at the movie theater in Fresh Meadows with her mother every week and finishing up the night with dinner at Applebee’s.  A favorite restaurant of Lenny’s is El Presidente in Corona.

Lenny had to learn English quickly when she came from the Dominican Republic at 12 and was placed in the bilingual program.   She said if that she stayed in the bilingual program, she wasn’t going to learn.

Lenny’s schools included: Leonardo da Vinci in Corona, Bleecker 185 in Whitestone; New-town and Bayside High Schools.

Lenny goes for outgoing men who are 25 and older, but has not had a boyfriend for 2 years. “Guys nowadays are not real.  They don’t respect women.”

Lenny looks for a guy who wants commitment, respect, and not “just a friend.”  She doesn’t like the type of guy who brags. 

“Just pick me up and take me somewhere,” says Lenny, who we found at UModels.com (#8173).

Queens' Cook To NBA

As expected, former St. Johns and Christ the King basketball star Omar Cook was selected into the NBA Draft last week – but not where he expected to go.

In the last QConfidential, we correctly predicted Cook would go to either the Orlando Magic or the Golden State Warriors – he went to Orlando who had been after Cook, one of the few “pure” point guards in a draft filled with power forwards and centers.

In recent months, Cook has had a war of words with his former coach at St. Johns, Mike Jarvis, over his decision to enter the draft after only one year of college. Jarvis reportedly felt Cook was not ready and would not be selected that high in the draft. Cook disagreed, and many scouts pegged Cook as a first round pick, possibly even one of the first guards taken.

Cook was one of the first point guards taken –  in the second round, that is. The 19-year-old Cook was picked at number 32 by Orlando, considered a shock to many that he fell so low.

Cook’s selection received deafening applause from the hometown crowd at Madison Square Garden.

Virgin Mary In Elmhurst

Herman Morales was reading “Catholic Truths for 40 Days" when he noticed that an image of the Virgin Mary appeared on his formica table. 

It was a tough time for Morales when he picked up the book in Aug. of 1998.  Morales, who has been living with HIV and AIDS for 20 years, was thinking of Mother Theresa and Princess Diana and all the kindness they contributed to this world.   He was also thinking of his late mother who also adored Mother Theresa.

That’s when he decided to return to his religion for its wisdom and consolation and started reading "Catholic Truths for 40 Days."  When he put the book down on his table he saw the Virgin Mary.  She had been imprinted on the leaf of his red, Formica table.  It is a miracle that has been confirmed by dozens of people who have seen the table. 

Today the table adorns Morales’ walls and joins life-size photos portraits of Princess Diana in his one-bedroom apartment in Elmhurst.  The photo collection, which is estimated to be worth millions, is part of an exhibit that Morales is putting on in his apartment in Elmhurst at the second floor of 40-11 79th Street.  It was three years ago that Morales found the regal photos in the trash of Christie’s, the high price auction house in Manhattan.

Hitchcock Never Left

Get ready to sit on the edge of your seat, eyes furtively glued to a movie screen through outstretched fingers — and cringe — to the delightful fear evoked by master mystery guru Alfred Hitchcock.

Queens College sociology professor Bob Kapsis is appearing in the documentary "Dial H for Hitchcock," currently showing on the American Movie Classics and Encore channels, and tv-now.com. He is one of the leading Hitchcock authorities, and a consultant for the video.

While the professor applauds the American Film Institute’s choice of "Psycho" as the number one movie thriller,  “Hitch groupies” give two thumbs up for "Rear Window" filmed at The Belvedere, one of Jackson Heights landmark garden apartments, and "The Wrong Man," based on former Queens District Attorney Frank O’Connor and filmed on the streets of the Jackson Heights historic district.

Dubya & The Mets

When Bobby Valentine took some Mets players to visit President George Walker Bush at the White House recently, sportscasters pointed out the connection — Bush was Valentine’s boss while the former was part owner of the Texas Rangers and the latter was manager . . . until Bush fired Valentine.

What nobody pointed out was another, more interesting connection between the most powerful man in the world and the Amazin’s.

Baseball team ownership in Bush’s family did not begin with George W. According to “George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography,” by Webster G. Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin, the president’s great uncle, George Walker, Jr. was a partner of Joan Whitney Payson when they co-founded the New York Mets in  the early 1960's. He was the club’s vice president and treasurer for 17 years until his death in 1977 when Nelson Doubleday took over as majority owner and chief executive of the team.

Confidentially New York . . .

E-MAIL your items to: conf@queenstribune.com

Queens NYConfidential is edited by: Michael Schenkler and Tamara Hartman.
Contributors:	Nick Abadjian, Uzo Akujuo, Tom Allon, Steve Azzara, David Colby, Ira Cohen, Marcia Moxam Comrie, Barbara Jarvie, Stephen McGuire, Mike Nussbaum, Dee Richard and Richard Schack.