Chi had just arrived in town with backpack on his shoulders when we met near Tompkins Square Park. He said he was a skateboarder and had run away from home at age 15. We drank some coffee at Alt Coffee, then took several portraits inside a boutique jewelry store on Avenue A.

I ran into Chi several days later at Bowery Bar. He had met a woman that afternoon who had taken him home with her. Her boyfriend, it turns out, was a talent scout at American Modeling Agency and they gave him a place to live and a job modeling for fashion magazines.

Within a few months, Chi was featured in fashion spreads for L'Uomo Vogue, The Face and Paper magazine.