Living with Legends

On April 3, the Museum of the City of New York will host a reading and panel discussion to commemorate New York ’s famed Chelsea Hotel, home over the years to stars ranging from Dylan Thomas and Arthur Miller to Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen.  The public will have a unique opportunity to grill the experts on the past, present and future of the iconic landmark, including the recent corporate takeover that threatens the hotel’s historic role as a haven for the arts.  I will read from, and sign copies of Legends of the Chelsea Hotel: Living with the Artists and Outlaws of New York’s Rebel Mecca (Thunder’s Mouth Press).  Panelists for the discussion to follow will include preservationist Edward Kirkland and author/Chelsea Hotel historian Sherrill Tippins.  Former Chelsea Now editor Lawrence Lerner will moderate the discussion.
            As an additional treat, a recent video interview of former hotel manager Stanley Bard, making one of his first public statements since his ouster in June of last year, will be shown.  Some of the questions that Stanley may address include: How is he handling his forced retirement?  Does he plan to continue the fight to regain control of the hotel?  What’s in store for the future of the Chelsea Hotel?
     I’ll provide the inside scoop about how it was to live through the hotel’s recent transformation from a wild and wooly artistic flophouse into something that’s increasingly coming to resemble a fancy boutique hotel.  In addition, I’ll handle all questions about how to keep junkies out of your bathroom.

Noted author and historian Sherrill Tippins (February House), who is presently at work on a history of the Chelsea Hotel (Dream Palace: The Extraordinary Life of the Chelsea Hotel), will discuss the Chelsea’s origin as an arts coop and how it has persisted as a cultural institution and haven for the arts throughout its 125 years.  Will she break our hearts by telling us that Sarah Bernhardt and Mark Twain never really stayed at the Chelsea?  Any questions about ghosts at the Chelsea should also be referred to her.
      Edward Kirkland, Chair Emeritus of the CB 4 Chelsea Preservation and Planning Committee, will be on hand to answer any questions about the Chelsea’s landmark status.  Will the new corporate management company be able to tear down the famous staircase? What was the Chelsea like when it was originally landmarked? Kirkland is the man to ask.
     Former Chelsea Now editor Lawrence Lerner, who in his time at that paper expanded coverage of education, illegal hotels, real estate development, affordable housing, the LBGT community and myriad other issues, was present at the Chelsea Hotel’s recent takeover, providing in-depth coverage of the issues surrounding the Bard family’s ouster. 
            Seniors and students get in for $5.00.  Everybody else pays $9.00. The Museum is located at

A former resident, someone who cares deeply about the Chelsea, and who will be missed by those of us remaining, writes in to correct a common misperception:

I think it should be established that BD Hotels does not just push out those behind in their rent, they force people who pay their rent. It still baffles me. They calculate each room based on an assumption that it will be rented every single night of the month at a premium rate and that is without figuring in the cost of renovation and furniture.
My rent was raised with no cap on what it would eventually go to….Just an arbitrary number would be billed each month. Who can live like that? It was too unpredictable and threatening. And I am still deeply saddened to have left.
I really think that the board of the hotel are being led down the wrong path. Change is inevitable– but honoring the tradition of the hotel in hosting residents and guests would reward them far more. And in this unstable economy, it would be wise.

This is apparently what is happening to Jann Paxton as well: BD is just charging him whatever they feel like, month to month. (The letter above suggests that there may be other rationale involved, but who knows?)
It’s also important to point out that the residents who were forced out because they owed back rent are not necessarily deadbeats. Some of them owed money only because BD jacked up their already high rent to a level they could no longer afford. BD’s purpose wasn’t to get a tenant who cuold pay more (probably no one would pay that much), or even to rent the rooms by the night, as the rooms from which they removed tenants now mainly sit empty.
BD’s intent is to destory everything that makes the Chelsea what it is today. It’s true that what they’re doing makes no economic sense at this point, but I assume their future plans will become clear in time. And yes, the board probably is being hoodwinked: Marlene Krauss and David Elder couldn’t have outsmarted Stanley without Born & Drukier’s help (they tried for and years and years), and now they’ve created a monster that just might turn around and bite them on the ass. — Ed Hamilton

     We have it on good authority that BD is refusing to put through the calls of a resident it claims owes back rent, and what’s more, even telling people who call that the resident doesn’t live here!
     Longtime phone operator Amy Miller has only been gone for a couple weeks and already we’ve fallen toa new low in customer service. I’m afraid the famous Chelsea nuttiness is finally rubbing off on the management as well — to think they can get away with this nonsense.

Last Friday at about 5:00 a.m. the fire alarms went off and dozens of residents and guests gathered in the l obby — but we didn’t hear the alarms, and a lot of fellow residents didn’t either.  They must not be loud enough, or maybe they don’t go off on all floors.  And our question is: isn’t this a little bit dangerous?  I guess we could’ve still escaped through the window once the smoke started coming under our doors — but really, we’d prefer a bit more of an advance warning.  Hey, maybe it’s time to check those alarms.  (Photos: flickr i’m back bitches)

Thanks to Chris Schott for keeping the plight of the Chelsea in the news.  Writing in the Observer today, he exposes important details of BDs plan to gradually destroy everything that makes the Chelsea great.  He interviews four residents who were forced out (or are in the process of being forced out) of their apartments in the past month: Marta Rodriguez, who ran the facial salon, Musician Adam (Jaz Jericho) Rushfield, Painter David Combs, and Singer/songwriter Jann Paxton. He also interviews Artie Nash about his problems with the new management.

            Marta is unfortunately already gone. That’s her reward for spending $50,000 to renovate the place.  They’re not looking for anybody to pay any more in rent either: they are just going to warehouse this and the other spaces for reasons yet to be determined.

            Adam, who gave a farewell concert on his last night in the Chelsea, owed some back rent—primarily because BD jacked up his rent unfairly (he was already paying market rate) and he refused to pay it.  (We’ve written about his case in detail elsewhere in the blog.)

            David, the cowboy artist who often painted in the lobby, was a very visible member of our community, and he will be missed.  However, as David was outspoken in his support of BD, there are many Chelsea Hotel residents, who, quite frankly, don’t have much sympathy for him.  But there was no malice in the things he said.  He was merely naïve, and couldn’t see the writing on the wall: that there is something inherently wrong with BD coming in the back door like it did and taking the hotel away from Stanley Bard.  David was blind to what seemed obvious to most of us: that this corporation was not brought in for the benefit of tenants, or to keep the hotel the old way.  But whatever his opinions, David deserved to stay on —particularly as he fought so hard to stay here, painting daily in the lobby until he finally prevailed upon Stanley to give him a room.

            We spotted a note demanding  payment on Jann Paxton’s door a couple of months ago, but were not certain who lived in the room.  Apparently Jann does not get out much to socialize with other residents for the very simple reason that he is bedridden with a terminal illness.  For the same reason, I presume, he doesn’t have much income coming in and owes a lot of back rent.  He has nowhere else to go and feels he will certainly die if he is evicted.

I suppose our question regarding this final case is the same as everyone’s: what kind of depraved person (or organization) tries to evict a dying man?  Oh yeah, the same kind (Marlene Krauss and David Elder) that unceremoniously throws 72-year-old Stanley Bard out on his ass after 50 years of service.  The same kind (David Elder) that deprives 80-year-old Piri Thomas of his rightful inheritance by tying up his money in the courts in the hope that he’ll die before he has a chance to spend it.  Please, will someone in this organization show some compassion in Jann Paxton’s case!

            To date, BD has forced out, by our count, twelve or thirteen Chelsea Hotel residents.  There have probably been others that we don’t know about, and there will doubtless be more to come.  There were extenuating circumstances in all these cases, but what BD is doing is going after the easiest cases first.  They will work their way up to the rest of us in due time.  The thing to remember it that we can’t afford to be complacent.  If you haven’t already done it, seek legal help.  And don’t suffer in silence: if they come after you, let somebody know. — Ed Hamilton

[Note: while Stanley backed out of the April 3^rd panel discussion at the Museum of the City of New York due to a scheduling conflict, he has promised to give us a video statement to show at the event.]