Daily News from New York, New York • 342

40 DAILY NEWS Tuesday, June 4 1991 URBAN GAZETTE (mm? 1 i I TTuHEi Saturday Junket Saturday morning children's television encourages eating habits that can lead to tooth decay, heart disease and cancer, say a congressman and a public interest group. r' Jt-' 1 lrlS- i.ff wniL. By BRIAN MCDONALD YOU WOULD EXPECT to hear the rumble of a few dozen Harley-David-sons outside a cinder-block bar on West St, or see the glistening chrome of "choppers" lining certain streets in the East Village. But in front of the Metropolitan Opera? On the sidewalk outside Elaine's? In the case of the Gotham City Riders, a motorcycle club of a different order, the Opera House and Elaine's are just a couple of the upper-crusty venues preferred by these bikers. "Our common bond is a desire to ride," says former TV writer Bert Pence, the president and founder of the club, "but secondly, and just as important, is that we share interests that are of an intellectual and stimulating nature." The Gotham City Riders go on "foliage runs" each fall, dine together in New York's better restaurants, and arrived for the opening of the spring season of the American Ballet Theater at Lincoln Center in a thunderous roar.

"We wanted to pay homage to one of our members, Charles Barker," P'ence explains. "He's the conductor of the symphony orchestra at the Riders go to the ballet. MICHAEL PURCELL the tycoon "You're not dead until you are." As a club, the Gotham City Riders are not just about grownup boys and girls with toys. At a time when movies like Brian Bosworth's "Stone Cold" are perpetuating the outlaw biker image, Pence is out to create a positive image. From 8 a.m.

until noon each Saturday, children tune in to shows sponsored by high-sugar, high- fat and high-sodium fast foods with little nutritional value, claims Rep. Ron Wyden (D Ho is asKing the Federal Trade Commission, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. surgeon general to look into the situation. Wydon's actions are based on a study released yesterday by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a 20-year-old, nonprofit consumer health advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.

Mike Hammer Sickle The latest Western export to the Soviet Union: private eyes. Shamuses now lurk in embassies, factories, farms and even millionaires' homes across the Soviet Union, because big-time crime has arrived and some people fear the police cannot cope. Alex, a security agency that operates 80 offices, says it has about 25,000 operatives, including former KGB agents, police officers and soldiers who served in Afghanistan. Cooos oh Good Health Your boss has to sell a whole lot of widgets to pay for your health care. According to Investor's Daily, a Fortune magazine survey found that to pay for one appendectomy: Dayton Hudson must sell 39,000 Ninja Turle action figures; Atlantic Richfield must sell 192,000 gallons of gas; Southern California Edison must sell one year's worth of electricity to 330 households; Anheuser-Busch INETY-NINE PER cent of the bikers are not like that," he in sists.

"But if 40 of us go on a run to, say, Lancaster, and people there saw 'Stone Cold' the night before, because that's the only movie playing in town, they're going to be frightened of us. They have no way of knowing whether we're the good or the bad bikers." The Gotham City Riders do their best to be good. They volunteer at the Holy Apostle soup kitchen and the Madison Square Boys Club. And to keep their image as tony as possible, they are becoming legendary for acts of blatant sophistication. You need only know that they rode to Kennedy Airport last November to meet the first shipment of the 1990 Nouveau Beaujolais to realize that this club will stop at nothing for its rightful space in the society columns.

Malcolm would be proud. (Brian McDonald is a freelance writer.) A' ill- 1 -s i 1 HIGH ON THE HOG: Gotham City American Ballet. Thirty of us on Harleys, wearing tuxedos showed up. Before the performance, we took some of the ballerinas for rides on the hogs Harleys." In addition to the symphony conductor, the gang's membership includes several successful businesswomen, advertising and Wall Street execs, a couple of film producers and a cloth- JACK SMITH DAiLY NEWS their stock-and-trade of ciga-rets, candy and newspapers. Located across the street from NYU's Greenwich Village campus, the shop is now the hot spot for the $14.95 tanks that can turn every kid on the block into a Hollywood star.

Some of the wannabes are running up hefty charges on their parents' plastic, and the Goldsteins are answering to many an irate father or mother that, no, the kids did not buy $50 or th of smoke stuff. Mila Andre pislIliM ing designer. Still, one shouldn't draw any conclusions. Just because these bikers have most of their teeth and more money than tattoos, they're hardly a bunch of sunblocked wimps. "Our credo is: Financially stable, mentally questionable," says Pence.

"The personality of the club is such that it attracts members who do lots of adventurous stuff. We have members who also belong to the Explorers Club and spend their vacations in the Arctic Circle." Pence's inspiration for the T0ur credo Is: Financially stable, mentally Gotham City Riders came out of a chance meeting with the late Malcolm Forbes. "I met him when I was out for a ride and he was riding with his motorcycle club, The Capitalist Tools. He liked my bike and we got to talking. He was one of those guys who had a tremendous appetite for fun." Pence pays tribute to Forbes, who he says "did more for motorcycling than anyone," in the Gotham City insignia, which is emblazoned with a quote from THE FRAGRANCE FOUN-dation, which calls itself the educational arm of the international fragrance industry, is smell bent to increase your olfactory awareness this week.

Dubbed "A New World Is in the Air," Fragrance Week began yesterday with a mayoral proclamation and will continue through Friday with a welter of retail happenings, including contest drawings, quizzes, demonstrations, giveaways and personal appearances by beauty editors. Most of the action takes place ft WHY IS this tank tops? THEY STARTED POUR ing into the Waverly Smoke Shop about two weeks ago asking for "Switch" tank tops. Owners Mel and Jerry Goldstein drew a blank. But now the brothers know. The young seekers were lamoring for the gray and purple tank with the NYU logo that Ellen fiarkin wears in a scene from "Switch." But Mel and Jerry can be forgiven for ha ing forgotten their shirt are more pi oocuppied with must sell 11,627 six-packs of beer, and Goodyear Tire Rubber must sell 461 radial tires.

Market Crashes Food shopping can be hazardous to your health and especially so to your children's. Injuries involving grocery-store shopping carts sent more than 19,000 children 4 years old and under to hospital emergency rooms last year, now federal safety figures show. That was more 58 of the Americans who sought emergency medical care lor shopping cart s.tys a report by the Con sunnor Products Safety rriinmissiO'T. From OnMy Nw mttm irvkt from noon to 2:30 p.m. at stores around town, and is directed almost as much towards men as women.

The big bonus is the number of current magazines being given out (until they run out) at perfume counters during these hours. For instance, on a lunch break you might pick up New York magazine at Manhattan Plaza, Allure at Benetton (586 Fifth Elle at Bloomingdale's, and Redbook at Giorgio of Beverly Hills. 47 E. 57th St. At Penney in Queens, you'll find Soap Opera Digest.

Liz Rittersporn fif-? i.