Daily News from New York, New York • 204

XQ 24 Time for fanfare when Queensboro hits 100 UST WHEN YOU thought it was safe to cross A 1 the water, here comes Bridge Celebration II. CL But don't worry. The 75th anniversary of the Queensboro Bridge tomorrow is not going to be anything like the 100th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge that was celebrated for what seemed like most of last year. In fact, it's already over. Whereas the Brooklyn Bridge celebration attracted hundreds of thousands of people and a huge television audience, the Queensboro Bridge celebration drew maybe 150 dedicated history buffs to Queens Borough Hall on Mon- PAUL La ROSA you, how many fancy Manhattan restaurants are named after him like the one named for the Roeblings? Even lovers have abandoned the bridge; you don't hear of them longing to take sunset walks over the Queensboro Bridge as they often do on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Nor can any eatery near the bridge offer the spectacular view and feeling you get when you eat in the River Cafe, which is underneath the older span. The saddest part of the Queensboro Bridge exhibit is the poster showing a shot of the bridge with a single line from Hart Crane's famous poem "The Bridge" beneath it Crane wrote the poem after being inspired by the Brooklyn Bridge and it was meant to describe their bridge, not ours. IN SHORT, THE Queensboro Bridge is the bridge that gets no respect, much like the borough itself. There are a lot of less-than-special feelings about Queens that borough residents undoubtedly hear from time to time. All you have to do is tell someone from Manhattan that you're from Queens, and watch their reaction.

They seem to almost instinctively skew their face in displeasure coupled with mild sympathy. If they do ask what section of Queens you're from, they'll go on to tell you that their grandmother lives there or some aunt whom they-haven't called in years. Brooklyn, on the other hand, is considered fashionable, at least some sections of it, like Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Cobble Hill and Carol Gardens. IF QUEENS DID not contain two of the area's airports, it's doubtful that many Manhattanites would ever set foot here. The Queensboro Bridge may have transformed the borough and caused its population to explode, but it did little to transform people's attitudes.

I've often questioned why that is, especially during the years I lived in Queens. Why is it that Brooklyn is considered hip whereas Queens is considered square? Movies have picked up on this theme, too. John Travolta the hip, cool hoofer did his dancing in Brooklyn while the Liza Minelli character in the film "Arthur" the slightly quirky daddy's girl with no polish lived at home with her slothful father in a cramped garden apartment in Queens. This feeling is not just imagination: I've lived in both boroughs and I know the different reactions I've encountered. I used to get so many negative reactions to telling people I lived in Bayside that I began to feel guilty about it.

ULTIMATELY, THOUGH, it was the positive things about living in the area that convinced me to feel good about it. I could go jogging in Alley Pond Park whenever I wanted and didn't have to fear for my life or worry about getting mugged. I never had any trouble parking my car and, for most of the time I lived in Bayside, the street did not even have any parking signs at all. There were a million other little quality of life things about living there that made it nice: the bank was never crowded, the food in the supermarket was cheaper, and on and on. One can only hope that, 25 years from now, when the Queensboro Bridge celebrates its 100th Birthday, the borough will be better appreciated for what it is a pleasant place to live.

day morning. The celebration was pleasant enough, with a cake-cutting ceremony and plenty of good cheer, but let's face, it the Queensboro Bridge just does not have the mystique or charisma that is attributed to the Brooklyn Bridge. You don't hear anyone talking in hushed tones about the majesty of the Queensboro Bridge or the way it gracefully arcs over the East River. No one has done the definitive biography of the Queensboro Bridge, as David McCuIlough did for the Brooklyn Bridge in his book "The Great Bridge." THE QUEENSBORO Bridge does not even have a fascinating family like the Roeblings to fall back on. It does have Henry Hornbostal, who was the bridge's architect and chief engineer but, I ask Lewis, Bryant High set birthday fetes Send news of your civic group, school or organization to: Bulletin Board, Daily News; 116-16 Queens Forest Hills, N.Y.

11375 dance tomorrow at 9 p.m. at the Galileo Lodge, 200 Levittown Parkway, Hicksville. For more information, call (212) 723-3047. TALENT SHOW The St Ann's School, 14245 58th Road, Flushing, is holding a talent show tomorrow at 8 p.m. called, "A String of Pearls." The show commemorates its 30th anniversary.

For more information, call IN 3-1238. PIONEER WOMEN The Queens Council of the Pioneer Women's Organization will hold its annual Adopt-A-Child Dinner at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the Cafe Baba of Israel, 91-33 63rd Drive, Rego Park. The guest speaker will be Aileen Novick. GAMBLERS ANONYMOUS A speaker from Gamblers Anonymous will discuss the organization's program to assist compulsive gamblers at a meeting at 8:30 tonight of the 100th (Rockaway Beach) Precinct Community Council at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 333 Beach 90th St.

Rockaway Beach. President Jack Braunstein said the council believes information aabout compulsive gambling is needed in the area because of the possibility that casino gambling may some day be legalized in the Rockaway s. TALK ON ELDERLY Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Flushing) will discuss issues of concern to the elderly at a meeting of the Queens Council for Senior Citizens in Queens Borough Hall at 1 p.m. on April 6.

Representatives of all senior citizens' centers in the borough have been invited to attend the session and take, part in a question-and-answer period with Ackerjnan. r-3RANCIS LEWIS High School has established an I 0 Alumni Association in preparation for the school's 25th anniversary celebration next year. Graduates are asked to contact Stanley Kornhauser, the association's director, at (212) 357-9592 or 357-7740. Volunteers are also needed in planning the celebration. William Cullen Bryant High School, Class of '64, is planning a 20th anniversary reunion.

The event has been scheduled for October of this year. For more information, contact Bryant High School Reunion, Post Office Box 281, Station Flushing, N.Y., 11358. WRITERS' DIRECTORY The Queens Council on the Arts is in the process of preparing a literary directory of writers in Queens. The directory is being prepared to assist groups and individuals interested in locating novelists, poets, dramatists, historians, children's authors, and journalists in Queens. For more information, contact the Arts Council at 161-04 Jamaica Jamaica, N.Y., 11432.

The deadline is May 1. The council also announced that beginning today $42,500 in grants will be made available to non-profit art groups in the borough. The funds will be distributed through the council's Co-Sponsorship Support Program. The deadline for applications is April 13. NEW STUDY PROGRAM Queens College is planning to establish its own study program in Jersusalem this fall.

The program is open to all qualified City University students and others who may wish to earn transfer credits. The classes, which will be in English, will include courses on Jerusalem, Israeli politics, and archaeology. Students will live in dormitories at Machon Greenberg'Kiryat Hatefutzot, the academic institute where the program will be conducted. The cost will be $1,000 for room and board but does not include tuition and other academic fees. Some financial aid is available.

The deadline for applications is May 1. For additional information, contact the Jewish Studies Program at Queens College at 520-7406 or 520-7020. 3 MONTHLY MEETING The Corona Taxpayers Civic Association will hold its monthly meeting tonight at 8 at the Joseph Lisa Memorial Hall, 51-13 108th St, Corona. PLAYTIME The Broadway musical, "Jesus Christ Superstar," will be staged at 8 p.m. tomorrow Saturday, and Sunday at Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception, 72-00 Douglaston Parkway, Douglaston.

Tickets are $5. For reservations, contact Paul Lynch at 6314600. STUDENT FUNDRAISER The Queens-borough Federation of Parents Club will sponsor a fund-raiser dance for its high-school scholarship fund at 7:45 p.m. tomorrow at Hillcrest High School, 160-05 Highland Jamaica. Tickets are $6 each.

For information, call 846-5024. HOLOCAUST FILM A film depicting life both inside and outside Nazi Germany's death camps will be shown at the Ozone Park Library, 92-24 Rockaway at 8 p.m. tomorrow Librarian Rudolph Bold will provide a commentary and lead a discussion after the film has been shown. FREE PAP TEST Women between the ages of 25 and 54 are welcome to go to St John's Queens Hospital, 90-02 Queens Elmhurst tomorrow from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

for a free Pap test The test, which can detect early signs of cancer, will be given in the clinic area; arid the entrance is on the new wing at the front of the hospital on Queens Blvd. For more information, call 457-1300, extension 224. SUDDENLY SINGLE The Suddenly Single group will celebrate its second anniversary with at "3 SZ to -2 DAILY NEWS Queens Thomas Pugh, Queens Borough Editor. Queens editorial offices: 116-16 Queens Forest Hills, 11375. Tel.

(212) 793-7272.