https://www.npr.org/2023/11/15/1213003434/she-lived-in-a-new-york-hotel-for-more-than-40-years-but-her-life-was-a-mystery

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She lived in a New York hotel for more than 40 years. But her life
was a mystery Hisako Hasegawa lived for decades in a New York City
hotel, and was a mystery to those around her. And all through the
years, she would return small favors with extreme kindness.
[hart-islan]
Special Series

The Unmarked Graveyard

Stories from Hart Island, by Radio Diaries

She lived in a New York hotel for more than 40 years. But her life
was a mystery

November 15, 20235:01 AM ET

By 

Nellie Gilles

She lived in a New York hotel for more than 40 years. But her life
was a mystery

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The Belvedere Hotel. Lena Engelstein/Radio Diaries hide caption

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Lena Engelstein/Radio Diaries

This is the fifth story in The Unmarked Graveyard: Stories from Hart
Island series from Radio Diaries. You can listen to the next
installment on All Things Considered, and read and listen to previous
stories in the series here.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

This story begins in room 208 of The Belvedere Hotel.

Sitting in the heart of Manhattan's theater district on West 48th
Street, the hotel is used to having guests come and go as they see
the sights and catch a show.

Yet for a few dozen, the Belvedere is home. They came to New York
from all parts of the world decades earlier, and stayed on in
rent-stabilized rooms as the hotel changed owners and the city
changed around them.

Among them was Hisako Hasegawa in room 208. She would live in the
Belvedere for more than 40 years, yet remain a mystery even to those
who saw her daily. That anonymity would follow her in death.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Hasegawa was born in Japan in 1934 and it's believed she came to New
York in the '70s. She was well liked among the hotel staff. They
recall how she would walk through the lobby on Friday mornings with a
shopping cart, saying hello to everyone with a huge smile. She
responded to simple acts of kindness with thank you letters.

"If you wrote her a rent receipt, for example, you would magically
find a hand-drawn card the next day on your desk," recalled Ali
Mahmood, who works for the hotel's owners. "Someone took 45 minutes
to make that card."

A bellhop named Jerry remembers her handwriting: "It was beautiful,
like poetry. I've never seen something like that."

Renee Querijero lived across the hall from Hasegawa and perhaps came
the closest to knowing her.

"As far as the nearest neighbor, I'm the only one who she talks to
and she knows my name," Querijero said. "[But she] doesn't say so
much, you know, except the usual greetings, 'How are you? Weather is
nice. I'm gonna get my mail.'" Querijero often played piano in the
evenings after work and Hasegawa could hear the music carrying
through the walls. She would stop Querijero in the hallway to thank
her for playing, saying how nice it was to hear it.

Her writing was admired by Hemingway. Then her books -- and body --
disappeared

The Unmarked Graveyard

Her writing was admired by Hemingway. Then her books -- and body --
disappeared

Other long-term Belvedere residents, like Nancy Boyce, shared the
hotel experience with Hasegawa and understood the way of life there.

Boyce came to the Belvedere in the early 1980s and moved into an
apartment the same size as Hasegawa's -- one big space serving as both
living room and bedroom, with a private bathroom and a tiny kitchen
nook the size of a closet. There were few appliances, but there was a
hot plate and a hotel-sized refrigerator.

Boyce intended to stay for just a year but it was rent-stabilized, so
she stayed on. She married and had a baby and raised him at the
Belvedere, but it wasn't easy.

"People who don't know, like tourists or friends, they say, 'Wow, you
live in a hotel, in the heart of the city.' It's a big deal for
them," she said. But the small space wears on Boyce: "Having lived
here for such a long time, for decades, I can't stand this
apartment."

"At the end of the day, I feel lucky I have my family and a wide
circle of friends," she said. "But I see a lot of older people, like
Hisako [Hasegawa], they are all alone."

[belvedere-]

The Belvedere Hotel. Lena Engelstein/Radio Diaries hide caption

toggle caption
Lena Engelstein/Radio Diaries

At one time, there were many affordable places where a single person
like Hasegawa could live in New York City. Many hotels offered
accommodations consisting of a single bed in a cubicle, or a private
room with a shared kitchen and bathroom.

In the mid-20th century there were close to 200,000 units designated
as SROs -- single room occupancy. But by the 1970s, they had gained a
reputation as hotbeds for criminal activity and the city began to
shut them down. Today, advocates argue that SROs are not the problem,
but a possible solution to providing affordable housing in an
increasingly unaffordable city.

One day, in 2016, Jerry the bellhop realized that Hasegawa hadn't
come down. Management went to check and found she had died in her
apartment. She was 82.

Querijero came home from work to find the hallway filled with police.
One of the investigators started asking questions about Hasegawa's
family and friends. Querijero realized that after all these years of
living across the hall, she had never seen Hasegawa with anyone -- a
thought that still troubles her.

"I should have asked her. They think you are intruding or something,
but no, that's a misconception, I think you should ask," she said.

None of the hotel staff remember Hasegawa having any visitors either.

"New York is a place for the dreamers and we all come from
somewhere," said Ali Mahmood. "To leave, and leave your families
behind, one would hope that you'd find love and meet people, have a
family and maybe not end up alone in a hotel room somewhere."

Hasegawa was buried in a mass grave in plot 379 on New York's Hart
Island, America's largest public cemetery.

[hartisland]

Hart Island cemetery off the coast of the Bronx. Andrew Lichtenstein/
Radio Diaries hide caption

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Andrew Lichtenstein/Radio Diaries

This story was produced by Nellie Gilles of Radio Diaries. It was
edited by Joe Richman, Deborah George and Ben Shapiro. Thanks also to
Alissa Escarce, Mycah Hazel and Lena Engelstein of Radio Diaries.
This story is the fifth in a series called The Unmarked Graveyard:
Stories from Hart Island. You can find other stories from Hart Island
on the Radio Diaries Podcast.

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[hart-islan]
Special Series

The Unmarked Graveyard

Stories from Hart Island, by Radio Diaries

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