Living with Legends

Hotel Chelsea Blog

recent posts

about

  • Who Killed Nancy? Did Anyone Bother Asking Stanley?

    According to this new documentary, Who Killed Nancy? by Alan G. Parker, neither Sid Vicious nor Rockets Redglare was the killer of the nauseating one.  Instead, Parker fingers a shadowy blond-haired Brit from the 6th floor of the Chelsea Hotel, known only as “Michael.”  Who is this Michael, and what has become of him?  He could still be living on the 6th floor, for all we know!  Only Stanley Bard knows for sure.  Bring Back the Bards!

  • Out With The Old, In With Ikea!

    Here are some antique Chelsea Hotel doors that Andrew Tilley threw out on the street.  No doubt Stanley Bard was keeping them around in case any of the doors of the Hotel needed to be replaced.   If ever there was proof that the new management doesn’t respect the history of the Chelsea Hotel this is it.  And why did they need to cut then in half like that – so nobody else could use them. 

    Chelsea Roof Garden Rubble and Antique Doors 2

  • Tenant Scott Griffin Discusses Landlord/Tenant Issues at the Chelsea Hotel

    Live — on WBAI FM  Go to WBAI.org and click on "Listen Live" — Now Playing!  If you miss this live broadcast the show will be archived.

  • Hey Dude, Where’s my Security Deposit Interest?

    We just thought of something, the Hotel owes us interest on our security deposits.  In all of the time we’ve lived at the Chelsea Hotel we have never received any Percent interest.  We would like, (and I’m sure many other tenants would like as well) some accounting of this money and of course to be paid.   Here is the relevant paragraph from the NY Rent Guidelines Board. 

    The security deposit must be kept by the owner in an interest-bearing account in a New York State bank. The owner must notify the tenant of the name and address of the bank and pay the tenant the full annual interest, less 1% of the security deposit per year for the owner's administrative costs. The tenant can choose whether the interest is to be subtracted from the rent, held in trust until the end of the tenancy, or paid in a lump sum at the end of each year.

    In addition to the tenants living here now, we assume that there are lots of former tenants who likewise have not received the proper accounting of their security deposits.  We think that all of them should contact Chelsea Hotel manager Andrew Tilley and ask for their money.   Let us know how it turns out. — Ed Hamilton

  • Bards Forever

    Arthur Nash has reinforced his pro-Bard sentiments as he girds for battle.
    Bardreinforcement

  • Look, It’s The Chelsea Hotel! Really?

  • To Stay or Not To Stay at the Chelsea Hotel?

    A reader from Germany writes:

    hello!

    my father-in-law and me will visit ny in april.
    he has been to ny over 30 times in the past 20 years for jazz events.
    he never got the chance to stay at the chelsea.
    now i would like to surprise him, but after all i heard and read about
    new management i can not arrange with my point of view to book a regular
    room. i do not want to help on the management with its ideas and ideology.

    could you kindly answer following question:
    is there any chance to rent a room or suite without spending money at BD?

    would be the biggest surprise for the last ny visit of my father-in-law.

    thank you,

    greets from hamburg/germany,

  • Bring On the Guards!

    On Friday there was a security guard placed up on the tenth floor to bar access to the roof.  Given the unseasonably mild weather, Tilley believed that a rogue resident or two might try to sneak up there and have a barbecue.  Since we seem dead set on becoming a serious police state here, we have a few suggestions for other spots around the hotel that could use a security guard or two:

    -The laundry room, in case residents try to do an unauthorized load of knickers when no one is looking

    -The balconies on the front of the building: these represent a serious spittle and water balloon hazard for David Elder.  In addition, snipers could be placed on the roof of the building across the street in case anyone tried to post anymore BRING BACK THE BARDS banners
    – The secret passageway to 22nd Street, so Tilley can't use it to sneak out early 
    – Sid’s room, just on general principal 
    – the trash bins: no dirty diapers or cat litter permitted! 
    – the shared bathrooms: no more junkies lately, but someone still keeps stealing the toilet paper!  
     - Stanley ’s office: you never can tell when he’ll show up unexpectedly and try to manage the hotel  

                 - Bob Dylan’s room: an obscure folk singer might show up there seeking inspiration.  Or else some psychotic lunatic might try to destroy it with sledgehammers  
                 – the airshafts, to listen for unauthorized shower-singing and audible lovemaking.  We’ll have no more of that in the New Bohemia!

    Never mind that many of these sites are currently monitored by cameras.  Much mischief could occur before the guards can ride the elevators upstairs.  Luckily, the hotel has, by some reports, sunk into the single digits in occupancy lately, so that gives us some time to get these security guards in place before the inevitable upsurge to the potentially unmanageable 20% mark! — Ed Hamilton

  • Sale of Chelsea Hotel Tee Shirts Expected to Compensate for Revenue Lost Due to Mismanagement

    Hurray! Tee-shirts will save this sinking ship.  Good Plan Marlene Krauss and Andrew Tilley.   Actually there were already tee-shirts in the display case on the left of the desk.  Now they’ve also appeared here on the right hand side of the desk.  The tee-shirts in this case replaced the New York Times article on the history of the hotel as well as other documents related to the culture of the hotel. 

    This is not even smart from a business point of view as people who come here are interested in the rich counterculture history of the place.  That’s the only thing that will make them want to buy a tee-shirt.  Otherwise, they might as well have one from the Holiday Inn or the Hard Rock Café.  And isn’t $30.00 steep as well.  On the other hand, they’ll need to sale a lot of these tee-shirts to make up for all of the revenue they’re loosing on the vacant commercial space, not to mention all of the empty rooms (occupancy rate continues to hover around 30%).

      
    Banner3    

    Chelsesatees

  • Chelsea Hotel Rooftop Gardens, Among First Such Gardens in the City, Endangered

    Chelsea Hotel historian Sherill Tippins, author of the forthcoming history of the hotel,   Chelseaseeingeye “Dreampalace,”  weighs in on the roof garden issue.  This should give the building’s tenants a bit of ammunition in their fight against the destruction of the gardens.  Obviously it wasn’t the original intent of the architect to have a club on the roof.

    Chelsea architect Philip Hubert, 1884: The roof "will be reserved for the exclusive use of the occupants..It will be fitted up with seats and awnings, and will be found a cool and delightful resort in summer."

    Is there no landmark protection for one of first roof gardens in the city? Hubert is considered the inventor of the New York roof garden.

    (Photo: The All Seeing Eye of the Roof Top)