The Sunshine Hotel by Sound Portraits

Today we present an all time favorite of the team at Selects.  This iconic work by Dave Isay and Stacy Abramson is a vivid portrait of New York City’s Bowery, before it got swallowed by a museum and high end retail and luxury real estate.  In the late 90’s The Sunshine Hotel remained one of the last flophouses left on the Bowery, New York’s skid row. As you meet the cast of characters at the Sunshine hotel you will be transported to another time in New York City history.  

This small collection of oral histories from one Bowery hotel became catalyst for StoryCorps, a collection of over 630,000 oral histories now stored in the Library of Congress.  

*****

Original Series Credits:

This documentary comes from Sound Portraits Productions, a mission-driven independent production company that was created by Dave Isay in 1994. Sound Portraits was the predecessor to StoryCorps and was dedicated to telling stories that brought neglected American voices to a national audience.

Produced By: David Isay, Nathan Smith, Stacy Abramson, and Suzanne Clores