Living with Legends

Hotel Chelsea Blog

recent posts

about

Category: Hotel Chelsea

  • Twenty-Three Skidooo

    Back in the olden days the men used to stand around on 23rd St. by the Flatiron building waiting for the wind to blow the women’s skirts up.  When the cops came they would yell 23 skidoo and all the men would flee.  Since they got rid of porn palaces in Times Square that’s about…

  • Rooster Stops by The Chelsea

    Earlier this week we were invaded by a film crew.  Tractor trailers blocked our access to the street. Bight lights, cameras, and tables filled with food lined the hallways of the Hotel Chelsea and the sidewalks outside the hotel.  Production people loitered in the stairwells and the lobby.  “What’s going on?” we kept asking.  “They’re…

  • Arman – 1928 – 2005

    Linda Troeller sent us this report from the memorial service for Arman, which was held at the MET earlier this week.  The speakers included painter Frank Stella; collector Ronald Lauder; and actor Geoffry Holder among others. They spoke of his wit, shaman ways and the power of his art.  In attendance were about 150+ family,…

  • Time in Place by Gerald Busby

    Traveling SalesmanIn the mid 60’s I was a traveling textbook salesman for Random House and Alfred A. Knopf.  My territory was the rocky mountain states.  Every day after visiting college teachers I would go to the practice rooms in the music school and play any piano that was free.  One day at Colorado State University…

  • Toast That Damn Puppy!

    May Wilson at Pavel Zoubok GalleryBabydolls and stuffed animals wrapped in stiff canvas, spray-painted in garish colors and trussed up in baling wire: silenced, shrouded, sealed over for eternity, mummified.  This lady sure had some dark, sadistic revenge fantasies.  B&D anyone?  A golden child is crucified, broken on a wheel, or else ensnared in some…

  • All Tomorrow’s Parties: May 15 – 21, 2006

    Tuesday, May 16 and Thursday, May 18 11:00 – 12:00 Tune it to Tribecaradio.net for another episode of Collaborations, the internet radio show hosted by Gerald Busby. Wednesday, May 17, 10:00 – 6:00 Only a few days left to check out "Unwatchable," an exhibit of photographs and sculpture by John Waters.Marianne Boesky Gallery, 535 W…

  • Mother’s Day by George Chemeche

    MOTHER’S DAY Each year, on Mother’s Day, I remind myself of my Oedipus complex. To my antagonistic father I send the bill to pay for my neurotic disorder. by George Chemeche

  • Where is Bonnie Kendall?

    What has happened to Bonnie Kendall?  A number of our neighbors have expressed concern as to the whereabouts of the Chelsea Hotel’s long-time telephone operator.  We haven’t seen her for a couple of months, and we have heard various rumors as to the circumstances under which she left the building.  (It’s been about a year…

  • E-bay Item of The Week

    Hop on over to e-bay and pick up a pack of postcards with an early drawing of the Hotel Chelsea. (No date, but would have to be later than 1905, since thats when the building became a hotel — but surely not much later.) We like the fact that there’s only one car on 23rd…

  • Dee Dee’s Novel is Optional

    If you pay for TimesSelect, you can read Steven Kurutz’s article "Literary New York," in which he gives a nod to the Hotel Chelsea’s storied guest list of writers.  However, we cringed when we read that "Chelsea Hotel Horror" is the definitive literary work about the hotel.  If you have a better suggestion, bring it…