Chelsea Hotel

When the young Brazilian photographer Claudio Edinger moved into the Chelsea Hotel in the late 1970s, on the recommendation of a friend, he was just looking for a place to live. He had little idea that this twelve-story Victorian Gothic pile at 222 West 23rd Street had been, for almost a century, one of Manhattan’s chief bohemian enclaves, where authors, writers, and musicians lived, played, and sometimes even worked. But Edinger was quickly fascinated by his new surroundings, and turned his lens on hotel residents both celebrated—like Warhol superstar Viva, stylist and nightlife impresario Susanne Bartsch, and composer Virgil Thomson—and obscure, from Dan the mime to Corey the porn starlet. Together, these portraits—taken in their subjects’ memorably decorated living quarters—form an invaluable record of the Chelsea Hotel community at one of the peaks of its flourishing, under legendary owner-manager Stanley Bard. Chelsea Hotel met with immediate acclaim on its original publication in 1983; Edinger’s absorbing black-and-white photographs were wonderfully complemented by an introduction from Pete Hamill, dean of New York newsmen, and contributions from such legendary hotel residents as William Burroughs and Arthur C. Clarke. Now this highly collectible and sought-after book is back in print for the first time in decades, with additional, previously unseen photos from Edinger’s archives and intriguing where-are-they-now updates. The revised and expanded Chelsea Hotel will be a must-have for anyone who loves the creative side of New York.