Patti Smith’s New York

Weaving together the story of one of the most interesting and enduringly popular musicians to come out of New York City with the story of the city itself, this guidebook and cultural biography explores Smith's personal and artistic odyssey from the 1960s to the present in a city undergoing radical transformation. From the squalid, bankrupt, and culturally dynamic streets of NYC in the 1970s to today’s stylish, expensive, and exclusive cultural capital, readers follow Smith from her early haunts such as the Chelsea Hotel, where she lived with boyfriend Robert Mapplethorpe, to avant-garde art spaces such as The Kitchen and the punk rock mecca CBGB. Providing an intimate portrait of Patti Smith and New York City's bohemian community, this colorful account of the artist and her city offers surprising stories of New York neighborhoods and landmarks in site-specific histories of the places where she lived, worked, and performed.