Most people get hired for jobs. Some create their own gigs. Our reporters found New Yorkers trying to turn their passions into a living – including an opera singer who pratices in the subways, a vermouth maker and a self-styled superhero set on cleaning up Queens. For some, their hardest work may be ahead of them.
Steve “The Whistler” Herbst vies to revive a lost art form – and make a living from it.
Angela Murdock kicks off races with a bang as a track and field starter official.
Tenor Roberto Esquivelzeta dreams of singing opera at the Met and Carnegie Hall. But for now, the subways will do.
Robert-Charles Vallance crafts wigs for actors – and cancer patients.
Christopher Gonzalez works out personal issues dancing on the subways. But past legal woes prompt him to keep a step ahead of police.
Bianca Miraglia’s start-up company, Uncouth Vermouth, produces only a few hundred cases annually – and that’s how she likes it.
Jeff Orlick’s alter ego is The Queens Qustodian, a one-man cleanup crew who tears down illegal street signs and tackles other urban blemishes.