Chelsea Hotel: Portraits From New York?s Bohemian Mecca

A hardcover book of black-and-white portraits made by Brazilian photographer Claudio Edinger, who lived and worked in New York's Chelsea Hotel in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He photographed his neighbors, the famous and the unknown, in the rooms where they actually slept, painted, and held court. This edition brings a long out-of-print volume back, a winner of the Leica Medal of Excellence, with added images from Edinger's own archive.

The pages mix full-bleed portraits with printed captions, a photographer's statement, and writing from people who knew the building from the inside. Pete Hamill contributes an essay, and residents including William S. Burroughs, Arthur C. Clarke, and Warhol superstar Viva add their own texts. A new foreword comes from Alexandra Auder, who grew up in the hotel, and a new appreciation from photography writer Fred Ritchin. It sits comfortably beside books on Warhol-era New York, fashion portraiture, and the history of artists' communities.

Keep it on a coffee table where the cover, a Chelsea neon sign above a woman's portrait, can start the conversation. It also suits a shelf of photography monographs or a bedside stack. It makes a fitting gift for anyone who loves New York history, documentary portraiture, or the kind of interiors that only a long residency produces.