Rita Barros has lived in the same room at the Chelsea Hotel, in Manhattan, for 42 years. Born in Lisbon, she arrived in New York in 1980 to study English and ended up staying. A temporary room, taken in 1984 while she looked for an apartment, became room 1008, a place she describes as a “cocoon” and a “warm, protective space” that has accompanied her through every stage of her life and work. Listen to “The Heart & Hustle of Portugal”
