Our new overlords, the corporate suits of BD Hotels, have just released their plans for our happy home. Certain quotes are telling. Board member Marleen Krauss, says, "For many, the Chelsea Hotel is
one of New York’s most cherished and legendary landmarks." Yes, but for some its not, including, I suspect Marlene and BD Hotels.
They say they want to "preserve and restore the building." Sounds fine, but it’s words like "enhance," "reinvigorate," and "rejuvenate" that give one pause. Not to mention the diabolical suggestion of "modernization." Though this latter is applied to the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems — which may not sound like a bad idea — we need to read between the lines here: they are going to be tearing out walls, creating an infernal racket, and filling the air with (possibly hazardous) dust. Possibly with a view to driving us out.
I also bristle at the talk of creating "more inviting and livelier common areas," and "better activitating the Chelsea Hotel’s historic spaces." What else is this but an underhanded way of saying they are going to renovate the lobby? Haven’t you done your homework. The lobby is the Vortex of Insanity. You start messing with stuff there and you’ll be sucked down into hell! The ghosts will follow you home, you jerks.
Also disturbing is the obvious suggestion of a "street-front retail program." A big box, in other words, maybe a bank or a Duane Reade. Hell, maybe we can clear all that junk out of Dan’s Guitar’s and get a Starbucks! A big, fat Vomit Latte for the Armani suit of wolves who came up with this nauseating plan.
Ira Drukier of BD thinks that with a little work the Chelsea "can once again become a crown jewel of New York City." But aren’t we already that? (They took the Pickwick Arms on East 51st Street and turned it into something called "The Pod Hotel.") It sounds more like they plan to turn us into just another trashy bauble. — Ed Hamilton (Thanks Gothamist for the photo.)
Living with Legends
Hotel Chelsea Blog
32 responses to “Attack of the Corporate Pod People”
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NO. NO. NO. That’s a horrible and disturbing photo. I think I would like to rip Marleen Krauss limb from limb.
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I think there is only one way forward. Possibly the “New Management” will find the Chelsea to be a huge pain in the ass. Maybe old tenants and new friends will constantly gather in the lobby – handing out “Blurbs” to all who enter – maybe the current tenants will pay their rent as slowly as the law allows – the switchboard will be impossibly busy not to mention all those postcards coming in [great idea! – I have a picture of “Thanksgiving with Bonnie and Gengie” – its on the way]. Maybe “coup” pickets will be out front every Sunday afternoon. Maybe a sidewalk auction of paintings to “Save the Chelsea for the Art Community” and raise money to buy the old girl. If and when it becomes obvious the “New Owners” bit off more than they could chew we could to make an offer to buy the hotel. An offer they can’t refuse! Otherwise all is going to change – starting in the lobby and creeping up the stairs.
Is there someone out there in wwwLand who will tell us what this hotel might be worth? There are 250 rooms. What if it was some sort of a timeshare? I could buy a week for $1000.00 and I become a “shareholder”. 51 other people could do the same. Multiply by 250 and deduct the expenses. A “shareholder” could buy an apartment or a whole floor for a week, a month or 10 years. Is a plan like this feasible? I expect Stanley would know and we would probably want to hire Stanley as the manager. Has the place been showing a profit or at least breaking even? I am just thinking out loud here. E-mail me at BettyBishop@ca.inter.net if you want to talk privately. I won’t quote you.LikeLike
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It looks like what my dad did for me (vacationed at the Chelsea with me for a week back in ’90), I won’t be able to do for my son when he turns twenty. My week at the Chelsea is among my favorite memories.
Sad news, indeed.LikeLike
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Is your hotel re-do going to be inspired by Mr D’s interest in surrealism? An exquisite corpse….what does that mean to hotel design? Could be tricky.
Good luck with your new overlords. If they kick you, make them pay.
From the web:
“Ira Drukier, a member of the Cornell Class of 1966, became interested in collecting surrealist art while still an undergraduate, when he admired a print he saw by Matta. He purchased his first piece, by Andrй Masson, in New York City soon after college. Later his wife, Gale, joined him in the collecting enterprise.
Influenced by the theories of Sigmund Freud, the surrealists aimed at uniting the conscious with the unconscious mind to create a more-than-real, or “surreal” world. Their art and writing were seen as a reaction to the destruction produced by World War I, and the false rationalism that had led up to it. They also saw the unconscious mind as the source of all imaginative works.
“It looks at the world differently, perhaps even askew. It’s visual but also mental,” said Drukier of his fascination with surrealism. Its appeal is universal, he said. “As children we all looked up at the clouds and imagined we saw dragons.”
“The Drukiers bought brilliantly,” said Green of the collection. “Although they’re intimate in scale, these drawings convey massive emotions through imagery, some of it violent, sexual or disturbing but also profound in the intensity of its examination of the times.”
A real estate developer and hotelier, Drukier is vice chair of the Johnson Museum’s advisory council and chair of the collection committee. Gale Drukier, a faculty member at Trenton State University for 17 years, is now involved in her husband’s business. The exhibition is especially exciting for them, they say, because it’s the first time many of the works will be hung together.
One highlight of the exhibition is the “exquisite corpse” drawings by surrealist masters in which several artists contributed to a single work on a sheet of paper, folded to prevent them from looking beforehand at what the others had drawn. Also featured is a touch screen in which visitors can leaf online through artists’ books created by Dalн and other surrealists.”LikeLike
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Congratulations Ed, this is the most over-reactionary blog yet. I fear that your head will explode when changes DO take place.
Why should the words “enhance,” “reinvigorate,” and “rejuvenate” give one pause, what is diabolical about “modernization?” We have two out of six electrical outlets that don’t work in the lobby, the Chelsea WiFi, when it works, is hardly high speed, and the elevators are regularly out of order. There’s plenty of room for improvement even if you don’t like who it is doing the improvement.
You wrote: “they are going to be tearing out walls, creating an infernal racket, and filling the air with (possibly hazardous) dust. Possibly with a view to driving us out.”
I’ve been on the second floor for 2 years. When I got there they were knocking down walls, creating racket, and filling the air with dust. Only a month ago did they finish remodeling one of the west side bathrooms (which they had to knock down walls, fill the air with dust, and cause a racket in order to complete) and yet I never felt like Stanley was trying to drive me out.
Again, this sucks for the Bards. This will suck for the people who are behind on their rent. But it’s too soon to get alarmist over aesthetic and technological changes… that is unless you want to add to the atmosphere of anxiety and fear that is already prevalent here. If that is the case, keep up the good work!LikeLike
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Install your own WI FI
Problem solved.LikeLike
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A&B,
First off, I love you guys. I know I’m picking nits here but I feel like there needs to be some balance to this discussion because it does affect everyone. If I come off as unnecessarily hard on people I do apologize.
That being said: the poor young artists (the ones everyone says we want to protect) can’t afford to simply install there own WiFi (some of us have problems just paying the phone bill) and second, you’re missing the point. Things here can be enhanced and modernized. To pretend that everything here was fine and good at the Chelsea and the new management, by virtue of being new, are just going to fuck everything up is reactionary and a bit defeatist.
[On a personal note: If anyone would like to buy any artwork or prints please contact me through my Myspace (http://myspace.com/davidcombsart). The office has informed me my heads on the chopping block this week as I am past due on my rent. Yes, the irony is not lost on me.]LikeLike
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Cowboy, are you a flak for the new overlords or something? Are you David Elder, one of the investors? This blog has been very good at nailing down the facts, and when you look at them, Bard is the good guy and these people are assholes, simply put.
You’re a fairly new resident so I guess you moved in after the place was already gussied up and the investors had forced Stanley to stop taking in long-term residents, a clear indication that they planned for some to kill the Chelsea Hotel art community through attrition if that was the only way available to them. (They still do apparently.) Does anyone remember even seeing these people around the hotel before this?
The more they spin this the more of a scam it is. Now they’re saying, according to the Independent, the NY Times and the Age in Australia, they’re bringing in Drukier and Balaczs to upgrade the plumbing, electricity and mechanical system. If you buy that story, Cowboy, then I might suspect you are in their pay, perhaps as a member of the Rubenstein PR group they’ve hired to spin this turd into tinsel to take a quote from elsewhere in these threads.
You don’t bring in these vulgarians to upgrade the infrastructure. And it’s clear from the Independent article in the UK that these creepy trendsers are salivating for a chance to redo the building in their , overpriced, cheesy, faux art way. The partners, who had never to my knowledge even been in the hotel during my 11 years there had just been waiting for a chance to turf Stanley, the guy who created the place in conjnction with his artists. And they did all this behind his back, with no chance for him to even reason with them.
Since they won’t be taking any new long-term residents, it is clear how they see the future of the hotel. And every bit of additional spin and pr just makes them look creepier and greedier. As I said before, they got a free ride out of this place because of grandparents who invested.
Me, I have compassion fatigue for greedy, rich people who bulldoze things of real value.LikeLike
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“There’s plenty of room for improvement even if you don’t like who it is doing the improvement.”
Mr. Cowboy, are you not the least bit suspicious that they brought in these high-priced hotel and management people to fix the plumbing? I never ahd any trouble with the my plumbing nor my electricity, and I ran plenty of appliances, but in any event, I think I might hire a plumber to do the plumbing.LikeLike
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Oh, I get it, Cowboy. Your head’s on the chopping block, there are new owners, you’re being nice to them so you can stay.
You shoulda just said you were kissing up to them to keep your apartment at the Chelsea. Now your posts make sense.LikeLike
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I don’t think Cowboy is evil, merely naive. If he’s the fellow who spent a year painting in the lobby with Stanley’s permission, I would like to see him try and replicate the project at the Maritime, or the Mercer, or any other hotel that Drukier is associated with, and see how far he gets. The truth of the matter–and I hate to be the one who breaks this to him–is that the people lowest on the pecking order, from the new management’s perspective, are young marginal artists like him who bring no kudos, and therefore add no commercial value, to the establishment. Either way, if he thinks that a bar is going to be installed in the lobby in order to cater to the likes of him (or us), he obviously hasn’t spent enough time in the wrong places.
One thing I do find truly objectionable, I should add, is his disparagement of the artists who live here and who know first hand, as unfortunately he will in due course, how difficult it is to maintain, over a period of years, their vocation. It’s true that it’s unattractive to claim special privileges on the grounds of creative activity; but it’s also true that these claims are made out of necessity and not out of any sense of superiority. If you knew what is involved in maintaining a creative career, year in year out, in the face of an indifferent commercial world, you’d understand that the true meaning of being an artist isn’t painting in the lobby for a short period of time, taking for granted the unique generosity of the Bards, but sticking to your mission even during those times–as happens to 99% of us–nobody gives a damn about it. The Bards gave a damn, and there are very few, if any, landlords out there who could say the same. You have no idea about the different environment that awaits you–perhaps not in the next few months, but soon after. These people have not taken over the hotel with your interests in mind.LikeLike
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Street front retail? I fear this means the guitar shop will go, and the little tailor shop, and El Quijote? This is horrible.
I suspect that fixing the plumbing, electricity, etc. would give them the chance to rip the place apart bit by bit — and then rebuild it their own way. By doing this and by removing the artists one by one, they’ll be removing the true history and value of the place, and be slapping up a fake version. Renovation is one thing, but my read of their comments suggests not renovation but serious change. I’m thinking of warning people on the hotel booking sites. If they really mean they want to keep the artistic community alive there, and are just planning to make minor renovations and improvements, they should be willing to put it in writing, shouldn’t they?LikeLike
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Street front retail? I fear this means the guitar shop will go, and the little tailor shop, and El Quijote? This is horrible.
I suspect that fixing the plumbing, electricity, etc. would give them the chance to rip the place apart bit by bit — and then rebuild it their own way. By doing this and by removing the artists one by one, they’ll be removing the true history and value of the place, and be slapping up a fake version. Renovation is one thing, but my read of their comments suggests not renovation but serious change. I’m thinking of warning people on the hotel booking sites. If they really mean they want to keep the artistic community alive there, and are just planning to make minor renovations and improvements, they should be willing to put it in writing, shouldn’t they?LikeLike
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Okay maybe we should try to get back OT? Time to gather good ideas may be of the essence.
Cowboy is no kind of flak he’s actually a favorite ’round these parts – the only thing us Chelsea diehards are saying is that we like things just the way they are. Exactly, precisely the way they are. We’ve got live wires hanging from our bathroom light fixture but its fine. We pay well above market for this tiny place but its fine. Its the corporate suits that are encroaching on our lives that need to be fixed. They have no respect for what we stand for, and they sure as hell won’t remember us when we’re gone from this wildly unique assemblage that Stanley has created. There are plenty of ‘modern’ hotels around NYC to accomodate those who like modern (and may we say ‘boring’) hotels.
So why is it (anyone?) that this supposedly upscale management company hasn’t bothered to so much as introduce themselves to the building’s residents??? I think they sent letters to those who owe, but thats it. Tomorrow morning will be a week. We see you in the lobby. Smug looks and all, making no real effort to seem accessible to those around you who are wondering what their future at the Chelsea will be. In our book thats just plain rude, so we should take it as a harbinger of things to come and they should get ready for a fight if thats what they want.
People, if you know any professional architects, ask them their opinion of what the long range plans for the Chelsea (probably) are. You’ll be enlightened. It likely involves condos and the literal gutting of this entire building within 5 years which is how long the paperwork will take to get approval. The Chelsea WILL eventually sell you an apartment, but it won’t be the Chelsea that you recognize. Its either the building stays ‘as is’ or it gets cosmetic improvements, or it gets gutted. there’s no in between unfortunately.
They really went about this the wrong way. Now the question is who will pay most dearly for their decision. Its up to us.LikeLike
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Every space in that hotel is historic, and not just in terms of art history, which is awe-inspiring at the Chelsea Hotel, but in terms to the intricately-linked human history that happened there. How are they going to better “activate” the historic spaces in the hotel? Activate? It’s not an ATM card PIN. Even the language they use is corporate and cold-bloodedand says a lot about them.
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Betty Bishop, your postcard sounds great — send postcards and send lots of them, often! But it will take more than $10 million to buy these people out. We will need either some very good art-loving rich people or an awful lot of others to raise the cash. It’s worth pursuing though, and it is possible. We just have to keep up the outcry until we reach the right people.
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I was trying to wrap my head around why I would get such vitriol and then I looked around this place. This Hotel gets under your skin, it becomes a part of you in a profound way. So I get it. For me to “stand up” for New Management is a bit like defending Mom’s new boyfriend when the siblings were hoping for a reconciliation. I’m just saying Mom’s new boyfriend hasn’t touched us inappropriately yet, even if we think we saw him on To Catch a Predator.
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This press release signifies exactly what we all fear– that this last piece of New York is being gentrified so that the other partners can make a profit by throwing out those who have occupied this building for years. Their words are selected carefully but foreshadow what is in store for the Chelsea Hotel– a glossy hotel a la Chateau Marmont with a Starbucks and trend-oid restaurant.
Sadly, I am sure Stanley had a plan to increase revenue while maintaining the integrity of the Chelsea Hotel. Now it will be in the hands of those who disregard history for personal gain. The tone in the lobby shifted with their mandated arrival. It was once a relaxed atmosphere with familiarity and wamth– it now feels like a menacing eye taking inventory and a lingering sense of disdain for residents.LikeLike
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Betty, your ideas and the other ideas posted here are inspirational. We have to keep this in the media. The investors should never be able to relax and say, oh, nobody’s looking now, we can do what we want, quick!
In addition to the postcards being sent, buy flowers – they’re not expensive at the Korean grocers and you can sometimes get three small bouquets out of one big cheap one — and stick them in the railings outside the hotel, in the stairwell balustrade, wherever. Deliver them to the desk! Attach a big cheery card addressed to Marlene Krauss and David Elder, to Andre Bal-however you spell his name and Drukier, with the message of your choice.
There’s a wonderful Indian film called Lage Raho Munnabhai – rent it if it’s available. It deals with a similar situation in Mumbai. It’s a romantic musical comedy about Gandhian protest and an old folks home threatened by an underhanded developer named Lucky Singh. Very sly, sweet and entertaining movie, and only the coldest of hearts isn’t thawed by it. In the movie, they set themselves up outside the building, and have flowers delivered to Lucky with get well cards. The idea spreads and soon Lucky can’t go anywhere without someone handing him a bouquet and hoping he gets well soon. Before long, every time he sees a flower anywhere he is reminded of his guilt.
Those who can’t afford real flowers, or are out of town, can send a few art cards or cyber bouquets a day to the reservation email address (once we get a proper one outta somebody) to cheer them up as they weather the outcry.
Moma has decent e-cards in a variety of categories, including painting and sculpture:
http://www.moma.org/ecards/
The Met too, click on the link below and then go to the bottom of the page to “The Timeline for Art History” and clink on the e-card link there.
Or you can just fill in the online comments form at http://www.hotelchelsea.com, and write the word Flowers in the comments space.LikeLike
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Sparkle – love the flowers idea! Leave them on the doorstep. Call the press! Sympathy cards would be nice too. I e-mailed Charlie Rose and suggested he have Stanley as a guest. Has anyone seen anything in the Village Voice etc etc etc. Publicity is what we need now – lots and lots and lots of it. Write somebody. I wish I lived in NY [mind you if I lived in NY I would likely be living at the Chelsea and that wouldn’t be so nice right now]. Any accountants, lawyers, real estate people out there to give us advice? These new people are true to form when they don’t introduce themselves – it is not a smart way to play!
You know 10 million wouldn’t be so bad for someone who had it [NOT me!] surely a million a floor would be a bargain in Manhattan? Somebody e-mail an ex-resident with millions!How many long term residents now live in the hotel?LikeLike
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I apologize for wondering if Cowboy was a flak, I didn’t see his later post and having checked him out … I like his art a lot. But I get tired of the accusation of elitism so often leveled against artists. Usually it comes from the real elitists or is parroted by their followers. The Chelsea was not an elistist place when I lived there, not at all. And if anyone is elitist in this situation, it’s the new order. It’s not like they’re down with the “working people,” or creating anything for the enjoyment of same. Given what we know, the facts, about these investors and managers, I just could not and still cannot understand his arguments. It’s especially hard to take from a relative newcomer who doesn’t realize how much was already lost at the Chelsea before he arrived.
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Got a balcony? Get some white cloth and paint a sign, Bring Back Stanley Bard, and hang it over your balcony! Get your friends and neighbors to do it too, on a particular day. Take photos. Get prints and plaster them everywhere.
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“Cowboy is no kind of flak he’s actually a favorite ’round these parts”
round these parts meaning your floor? he’s no favorite of everyone, that’s for darn sure.LikeLike
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Cowboy said: “I’m just saying Mom’s new boyfriend hasn’t touched us inappropriately yet, even if we think we saw him on To Catch a Predator.”
Hey Cowboy – once he touches you its too late!LikeLike
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‘For me to “stand up” for New Management is a bit like defending Mom’s new boyfriend when the siblings were hoping for a reconciliation.’ says Cowboy.
Well, sure, it’s just like that, if Mom’s new boyfriend was a greedy backstabber who had underhandedly and secretly plotted against Pop, then thrown him out, moving into Pop’s house while rudely ignoring the children, then plotted ways to profit from another man’s house and the hard work that built it. HTNOTH.LikeLike
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Whatever protest is done, a banner, a postcards, a bouquet of flowers with a get well card, it should be photographed/videotaped, and posted online. Maybe your friends all tapdance? have them meet in the Hotel chelsea lobby, and then tap dance out of there. Have a spontaneous art party in the lobby, and if any from the new order complain just explain that you’re waiting for a friend. If they kick you out, make sure it’s on video. Then post the videos on youtube and vimeo (with a link here). Photos can be posted on Google picasa or in the hotel chelsea flickr group (I administer it and you are welcome to use it):
Chelsea Hotel/Hotel Chelsea
I just can’t bear that they are going to squeeze out the artists and turn the beautiful, authentic Chelsea into some overpriced hotel for rich people, as if NYC doesn’t have enough of those phony hotels already. It will destroy everything essential that remains about the place.LikeLike
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Why stop at shops in the lobby? What about the other wasted space? The hallways? The area by the stairwell and the elevators on each floor. The stairwells themselves? Squeeze every slimy penny out of that place! Put ads in the elevators! Hang them from the balconies. It’s a cash cow now,
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Too bad they cannot make it a historical landmark so they could not just tear and rip up history! I do not see why this would not qualify as a Historical Site.
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Anyone planning a Chelsea Reunion/Protest/Plan day – maybe in the fall? Maybe every 6 months as things progress? Maybe The Heirs would come, in person, and explain their position to the world? These people only have a 3 year contract – hopefully they won’t want to renew it.
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I sent you a card Stanley – it is a picture of the door of my old room and I wrote on it “Not to worry – everything that goes around comes around”. I do hope you receive it but for gods sake don’t go behind the front desk!
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Katy, the exdterior is landmarked, but unfortunately, not the interior of the people and spirit that made it a legend.
Guys, if they rip anything apart, try to get the pieces thrown away and keep them. Someday (soon) we will get this place back, and need to reassemble the hotel.LikeLike
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that pic made me throw up a lot in my mouth.
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