Up in the Old Hotel & Other Stories [B0740]

1993 PB. Saloon-keepers and street preachers, gypsies and steel-walking Mohawks, a bearded lady and a 93-year-old "seafoodetarian" who believes his specialized diet will keep him alive for another two decades. These are among the people that Joseph Mitchell immortalized in his reportage for The New Yorker and in four books-McSorley's Wonderful Saloon, Old Mr. Flood, The Bottom of the Harbor, and Joe Gould's Secret-that are still renowned for their precise, respectful observation, their graveyard humor, and their offhand perfection of style. These masterpieces (along with several previously uncollected stories) are available in one volume, which presents an indelible collective portrait of an unsuspected New York and its odder citizens-as depicted by one of the great writers of this or any other time.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "If you have any interest in old New York City .. and the fascination of its characters, there is no better place than here to find an entertaining, well-written, pleasurable read. His writing is nourishing and satisfying. You'll want to watch black and white movies set in NYC after reading Mitchell."; "What a masterpiece. Recommended by Robert Crumb in the Guardian Review: 'a wonderful collection of profiles from the New Yorker from 1937-64 by the great columnist Joseph Mitchell, which chronicle New York from the 1920s; it really puts you there. Who knew about the Native American high steel bridge-builders; about the shad fishermen of the New Jersey side of the Hudson River; the bums, the drunks, the conmen, the gypsies, the policemen; the Fulton Fish Market and all its many suppliers; the wrecks at the bottom of the river, and the oysters and clams? Joseph Mitchell did and he put it all in this book, which you should read post haste."; "An amazing homage to New York as a city of eccentrics in a wonderful anthology of essays, or "profiles" as a better term, of odd people or places in its neighborhoods during the '30s and '40s. It's an amazing privilege to walk the streets and neighborhoods that this anthology describes. It's a wonderful tribute to a magical city."