Ulises the Greek

Ulises landed in New York with his family when he was three years old, from his early years he enjoyed cooking and used to help Grandma in the kitchen while she was preparing with all her love this wonderful Greek dishes for the entire family, it was then where he learned all the of Greek cuisine.

Growing up, his natural passion and talent for fine cuisine lead him to open a Cafe in his neighborhood, Astoria. He named the place "Ulises's Soul Cafe" he believes that "Good food not only feeds the stomach but the soul".

Larry is a regular customer at Ulises's Cafe, his favorite dish is the homemade spinach pie.
Every Thursday night Ulises makes a very special spinach tart just for Larry, in return Larry sets up an amazing juggling act with the restaurant's cups and dishes to entertain the Souls Cafe's clientele.

As Larry's birthday approaches, Ulises will bake a unique and Sumita's size cake for this special occasion. Larry will be gladly surprised with this huge cake.

Oscar the Sea Urchin

Oscar is an outstanding maracas player, he has the rhythm dancing through his blood straight from his Dominican Republic roots. He grew up in Brooklyn where he and Larry were classmates in elementary school.

After a couple of years Oscar's family moved to Washington Heights, it was there where he developed his musical talent and started a merengue band called "Oscar Erizo y sus Players". From the beginning he was quite successful, gigging in little restaurants and cafes in the hood. Now his band has gained more popularity. He and his band have been very busy particularly in summer time when they have the party started all over the city.

For Larry's birthday he has come up with a cool present, a pair of handmade maracas he brought from the Dominican Republic. Larry will love this present, he always wanted a pair of maracas.

Sumita the cirque elephant

Sumita came from India with the Great Royal Circus troupe to perform in New York. She decided to go to Coney Island one afternoon for hot dogs. She got lost in the subway on the way home, and their troupe returned to India without her.
Now she is living in New York doing her circus act on the subway platform at 42nd street.
She loves to perform classical Indian folk dance that she was trained for. But she gets her biggest laugh when she stands on her head or twirls the hula-hoop around her voluminous belly. Juggling Larry, who she bumps into all the time underground, says her swinging hips are the funniest thing in town.
Sumita has been thinking and thinking what would be a great gift for Larry's birthday, finally she came out with a great idea!. She is going to jump out of the cake at Larry’s party if she can find a bakery to make one big enough!

Sumita Details

Henrik the hare

Henrik's parents came to the United States from Ireland a long time ago. Shortly after they arrival, Henrik their new born son opened his dreamy eyes for the very first time in the Brooklyn twilight.
Unlike his practical, business-minded parents, Henrik had the ability of finding beauty in everything he sees, even in the city rats! he is very romantic and sensitive. He loves to write slow moving, lyrical poems and he can spend many hours contemplating the stars.
Lately he has been very inspired by the graffiti walls of his neighborhood. On his way to Larry's birthday the dirty street walls brought him the muse for a new poem. This is just great! he said! just in time, now I have a cool present for Larry, he will love it!

Henrik Details

Jin the marten

Jin is from Korea, as her name means brightness she brights like a star wherever she goes.
She came to New York several years ago to visit some relatives in Flushing. She liked it so much that she decided to stay.
Jin is a great artist, however, she never went to art school she learned all she knows by herself...practicing all day long... and practicing over... and over... and over until she gained the knowledge she now enjoys. Larry admires her work and her patience very much.

Being in New York has been a great experience for Jin. It has expanded her horizons as an artist and, more importantly, as a marten. She feels that she doesn't belong exclusively to her country anymore, now she is more like a citizen of the world...with no boundaries. So she says!

Tonight is Larry's birthday party and she picked the perfect gift for him, a painting she had hanged in her wall that Larry liked so much. This is a very special gift and there is nothing more valuable that she can give to him than a piece of her own art.
Larry is gonna love this gift!

Jin is inspired in my dear friend Mariola Paen who is the coolest world citizen I have ever met. Mariola is a great self-taught artist and just like Jin they both bright like stars.

Jin's details

Coqui

Little Coqui wasn’t much bigger than a tadpole when he came to New York with his parents. It was in the streets of el barrio where he picked up the violin.
The legend says that if you take a Coqui frog out of Puerto Rico it will never sing again, but that is not really true. Coqui still sings to the moon every time he contemplates it in the sky because it reminds him when he was in his wonderful pond in Puerto Rico. He still misses his ground, but you know mami ! either you sink or you swim! he says. He chose to swim.
Bernard often sits and listens to him play in the fountain of the park on warm, summer evenings—when the park most feels like home.

Coqui's urban forest

Bernard the Gargoyle!

Bernard lived all his life in Notre Dame Church in Paris, he was SO SO SO bored of being in the same place for so long that one day he just packed his belongings and flew away. He has been traveling the world since then, he has visited almost every corner of the planet. One of his favorites places is New York City because it is like the whole world in one spot he says!. He liked it so much that he decided to stay for a while.

Larry and Bernard met in the street while Bernard was asking for directions, he was kind of lost. Larry thought Bernard was a very cool animal. He has never seen a gargoyle before so he invited him to Magda's birthday party that night. Larry wanted everybody to meet this curious, cool, amazing animal....all the gang was there and everybody was charmed by Bernard's traveling stories... specially Magda.
Bernard was so glad to have met all this cool new friends in the city, he felt so welcomed, he felt part of the gang.

Bernard before and after...

I love what patience and color can do.


Yelow, yellow,yellow....may be the spring coming!

Cecilia is on the stage!

Cecilia is the youngest member of a large wool producing family. She was supposed to spend her life growing hair for carpets and sweaters as it was the tradition in her homeland Peru, but she didn't want this destiny for herself. Instead she wanted to be a Vedete and have her own show, so one day she stowed away on a ship bound for New York. At the beginning she struggled a lot and had to do odd jobs for a living. Time passed by and she finally found a theater called "El Teatro del Silencio" to perform, her show is a success.

Cecilia's dress

Rimshi is on the house!

Rimshi is a refugee from Tibet, she is the only member of her family who survived the Chinese invasion to Tibet and had the chance to escape somewhere else... so here she is in New York City.
Being a refugee has not been easy for her, however she always kept a bag full of dreams... some of them have come true already some others may in the future, is just a matter of presence and patience. She knows that!.
Now she helps other immigrants and refugees to adapt themselves to the new environment. Larry used to volunteer in the organization she works for, it was there where they became very good friends.
In her free time she likes to sing and play the guitar, she does it very well by the way!.

Rimshi is inspired in my dear friend Natalia who is also a warrior who fights for other's people's rights and helps them to become greater. Natalia also sings and has a bag full of dreams too, probably bigger than Rimshi's.

Rimshi detail

Rimshi process (not legal)

Wonderful time!

Caroline the wonderful writer who is collaborating with me in this project stopped by my place.
We had a great time talking about Larry and his friends and some other very interesting matters about life and it's mysterious ways of unfolding reality! life is so good sometimes! if we can turn those "sometimes" into every times that would be heaven...
Thank you Caroline for all your help, love and effort you are putting in this project. I really appreciate it!.

Gugu is in town!

Gugu is a magnificent drum player...he left his family behind in Africa in search of new horizons and adventures. He met Larry in Union Square while Larry and Magda were performing, they connected instantly, now they are a very close friends.
Gugu is the sweetest guy ever! everybody loves him.

Gugu's making-of

Magda behind the scene!

I am always amazed by the transformation the character takes from the drawing to the final...is like magic!

Magda has come to life so beautifully!

Polish parents sent Magda away to live with her aunt in New York several years ago. She was supposed to study very hard to become a secretary, her parents thought that was a good career for her. Instead... being exposed to the big city and it's high perspectives she discovered her true passion: tight rope walking.

Sometimes Magda and Larry do very cool performances in the streets for bread and butter, they rock! people love their show!