Living with Legends
Hotel Chelsea Blog
Category: Ed Hamilton’s Slice of Life
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After the recent, highly disturbing commotion at the Chelsea Hotel, minority shareholder David Elder had retreated to his bungalow in L.A., 3,000 miles being what he figured was a safe distance from the scene of his hilarious public humiliation. Having disconnected his phone and discontinued his mail service, he figured there was no way any…
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With the recent problems resulting from BD incompetently overloading the elevator some guests have written in to our blog to make sure they are running before they make the trip. Well, we’re pleased to report that they are presently running if not smoothly then at least some what jerkily. But that is not the only…
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Susan and I went to a party the other night hosted by a fellow blogger named Trevor whom we met online and then started running into around the neighborhood. It was already crowded when we got there. Trevor, the host, told us that one of his friends was visiting from out of town, and he…
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There was a German couple staying next door to us in the transient room. One afternoon I ran into the man coming out of his room, and I said, “How are you enjoying your stay here at the Chelsea?” “Oh, it was great until yesterday, when my wife packed up and…
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“There’s this guy staying on the other end of the hall,” Carla, the beautiful dancer, said as she passed me in the hall. “And he was smoking crack in the elevator!” “And nobody said anything?” I asked. “What do you think? Of course not,” Carla said. “And in the lobby!” she added. “You know who…
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It was like the Murders in the Rue Morgue, only at the Chelsea Hotel. On August 15, 1922, the diabolical Finnegan escaped from his cage in a pet store at 256 West 23 St. After a jaunt across various roofs and flag poles and other high points of the area, he scaled a drain pipe…
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It came as a strange but pleasant surprise when a friend from San Francisco told me that my book had been mentioned on the Howard Stern Show. The occasion was that Artie Lange had given it to Richard Christy as a Halloween present. (Thanks, Artie) Though they didn’t mention my name, they discussed…
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He was the angel-headed hipster who dragged himself through the Negro streets at dawn, looking for an angry fix. He was the man who taught Bill Burroughs how to shoot heroin, and helped him grow marijuana on his farm in Texas. His exploits are recounted in Ginsberg’s Howl, Kerouac’s On the Road, Burroughs’ Junky, and…
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Welcome to everyone who’s coming to the blog from the NYTBR. I’m sure you’ll find much of interest here, including updates on what has transpired since the beloved Stanley Bard was ousted as manager over the summer. In a nutshell, the long term manager and majority owner of the hotel Stanley Bard, was…
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By 1920, the theatre district had moved uptown to Herald Square, except for a few bawdy houses and burlesque palaces that remained on 23rd Street, and the neighborhood was getting a bit rundown. The Chelsea Hotel, however, was still at or near its peak, the stained glass windows and plate glass mirrors remaining intact, the…
Living with Legends 