Living with Legends

What do you do?
I am a jazzmusician/artist from Frankfurt/Germany. Now I live in Seoul since 2001.

When and for how long did you stay at the Chelsea?
First time in 1975.I had arrived late at night from Germany & could not reach my friends in NY.  So I asked a taxi-driver to get me into a fitting hotel. He drove me directly to the Chelsea – he seemed to be an artist himself. Stepping into the lobby I wondered about all that art-pieces by famous people hanging like on a fleamarket & a kind of dusty all over the lobby. I did know nothing about the Chelsea. Also many years after I had stayed there not. For me it just was a hotel in New York which was strange to me anyhow at those times…  (Photo:  Lobby, 1972)

The second time I went there to celebrate my stay more consciously.I was attending the Beat Generation Conference at NYU in 1994.

What inspired you to stay at the Hotel Chelsea?
In 1994 I just wanted to be on the traces of the Beats somehow.
 
Do you think there is a creative energy in the Chelsea?
Yes, I did some artistic works in my room. Liked the stairs too & a dolphin altar.
 
Did staying at the Hotel Chelsea affected your creative development?
It was nice to have been there. (Photo: From 1994)
 
What other creative people at the Chelsea or elsewhere have influenced your development?
People in the elevator.
 
What’s the best/worst thing that has ever happened to you at the Chelsea?
Being taken to a dark patina office with strange old frescos at the ceiling and a big safe in it…