Reddit mentions of Up in the Old Hotel

> How do you usually start conversations?

"Hello, how are you doing?" and then take it from there. They usually ask if I know them, or if they know me. "No, probably not. I'm just dialing phone numbers, looking for neat people to talk to. My name is {$self->real_name}."

>Who was the most interesting person you talked to, and what about?

Everyone is interesting! Joseph Mitchell, a journalist from Asheville, NC, worked for the New York Times in the early 1900s. He wrote a very good book called Up in the Old Hotel. He originally went to talk about the lives of ordinary New Yorkers, only to find everyone is quite extraordinary. I share his philosophy. Everyone has a story to tell, you only need to listen.

That being said, I once happened upon a professor of mathematics at some college. We talked about number theory, first order logic, etc. Wish I saved his number.

>Longest conversation?

Probably with this Portugese girl in New York. Not sure why it went on as long as it did (4 hours), but she seemed nice.

>Are you ever met with hostility?

Nah. Most people who aren't in a talkin' mood hang up. The rest get kind of snarky, but never mean.

"The Hegemony Consul sat on the balcony of his ebony spaceship and played Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C-sharp Minor on an ancient but well-maintained Steinway while great, green, saurian things surged and bellowed in the swamps below." - Hyperion, Dan Simmons

"Joe Gould is a blithe and emaciated little man who has been a notable in the cafeterias, diners, barrooms, and dumps of Greenwhich Village for a quarter of a century" - Up In The Old Hotel - Joseph Mitchell

"He told them he loved them" - Columbine - Dave Cullen

"Kazbek Misikov stared at the bomb hanging above his family. It was a simple device, a plastic bucket packed with explosive paste, nails, and small metal balls. It weighed perhaps eight pounds. The existence of this bomb had become a central focus of his life." - The School - C.J. Chivers

"It was summer; it was winter." The Long Fall of One-Eleven Heavy - MICHAEL PATERNITI

"The human head is of the same approximate size and weight as a roaster chicken. I have never before had occasion to make the comparison, for never before today have I seen a head in a roasting pan" Stiff: The Curious Lives of Cadavers - Mary Roach

I'm currently reading Up In The Old Hotel, by Joseph Mitchell, who used to write for the New Yorker. It's a collection of largely non-fiction stories, most of which concern eccentrics living in New York City around the time of the FDR presidency and a little after. It's a great read, though for some reason I had to accustom myself to it. I'm now enjoying it more than when I started it.

I'm also reading a collection of short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies, for which she won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize. I've only read the first two, but they are terrific. I'm treating the book as if it were a fine box of chocolate truffles. The stories seem too fine to be gorging oneself on them.

I know it's not exactly the time period you specified, but gold is to be found in Up in the old hotel. It's a collection of stories, (or rather encounters) that writer Joseph Mitchell made in his career as a writer for the New Yorker. Truly great writing and some great stories!

This can be found in Joseph Mitchell's book "Up in the Old Hotel"

"Up in the Old Hotel" by Joseph Mitchell (who wrote for "The New Yorker" magazine in the 1940s and 50s). Beautifully written profiles of obscure but fascinating people, places, saloons, neighborhoods, etc. in old NYC, many no longer around. Informative, wistful, sublime, and transporting. http://www.amazon.com/Up-Old-Hotel-Joseph-Mitchell/dp/0679746315/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449304735&sr=8-1&keywords=up+in+the+old+hotel