On Thursday, September 18, a longtime resident of the Chelsea was attacked outside the hotel by a bouncer working for Star Lounge. The attack allegedly occurred when the resident stepped out of a cab that the bouncer thought had parked too close to his motorcycle (presumably the same one that wakes us all up at 4 in the morning, though the bouncer has lately had his muffler fixed, so it hasn’t been as bad as it once was). Since we were unable to contact the resident, we are not in a position to comment on the exact nature of the assault. Why should any of us have to put up with such an attack in what is essentially the front yard of our home?
Of course, we have our own security team now, members of which guard the front door, seemingly 24 hours a day. And so, you might ask: where were these gentlemen when this attack was taking place? Surely we can count on them to protect our physical well-being when a dispute arises. Well, one of these guards was indeed present, but he reportedly took the bouncer’s side, and joined him in berating the resident!
All of which leads to the obvious question: if these guards are not here to protect us, why are they here at all? We’ve always done fine without them, even through the bad old days of the seventies, eighties and nineties, and now crime in NYC and the Chelsea neighborhood is down to its lowest level ever. Or is there some illegal activity that has occurred, or is occurring, in the hotel that we haven’t been told about?
Whatever the case, Star Lounge is a tenant of this building, subject to the rules imposed by the management of the Chelsea Hotel , and their employees need to be held to a higher standard of civility than appears to be the case at the present time. — Ed Hamilton
Living with Legends 
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