Living with Legends

Hotel Chelsea Blog

recent posts

about

  • The Mad Baroness of the Chelsea Hotel

    Today, our thoughts turn to Halloween.  Last year, we published a slew of ghost stories some of which were sent in by guest contributors.  We’ve got even more scary in store for you this year.  As Sherill Tippins admits, this isn’t much of a ghost story, but it’s still kind of scary since everybody in it loses their sanity. (And then at the end the whole country goes bonkers and gives women the right to vote!) It also features a dwarf:

    In 1901, the glamorous Mrs. Frank Leslie moved into the Chelsea–probably onto the sixth floor. Born Miriam Florence Follin in 1836 to an old New Orleans family run to seed, she was rumored to be the Baronness
    illegitimate product of a liason between the debonair, French-born Southerner Charles Follin and one of his slaves. Be that as it may, Miriam was raised by Charles and his wife as a precious flower whose beauty and brilliant intellect might, through a clever marriage, pull the family out of their economic decline. Tutored at home, she learned to speak and read in four languages, to dress to her advantage and charm well-born gentlemen with her quick wit and deceptive submissiveness.
         As she approached womanhood, the family moved to to New York, where the marriage market promised the highest return on their investment. They established a boarding house precariously near the slums of the Lower East Side. When 17-year-old Miriam allowed David Peacock, an older jewelry store clerk, to seduce her in exchange for the chance to adorn herself with the shop’s diamonds, her parents efficiently arranged a shotgun wedding and then a quick annullment to preserve her reputation. Peacock ended up in an insane asylum, where he died.
         Miriam went on to perform onstage with a new mentor, Lola Montez, and then to become the mistress of a retired United States Senator, before finally making the marriage her parents had hoped for–to the famous archeologist and diplomat Ephraim G. Squier. But Squier was much older, and Miriam was bored. When the couple went to work for the even richer and more powerful Frank Leslie, founder of New York’s Frank Leslie Illustrated Newspaper publishing empire, she encouraged Leslie’s divorce and invited him to move in. For several years, the Squires and Frank Leslie enjoyed the era’s most celebrated menage a trois, until Miriam divorced Squire (leaving him to go mad and die alone), married Leslie, and took over Frank Leslie’s Illustrated after Leslie’s death.
         By 1901 Mrs. Frank Leslie had become a multi-millionaire, building her late husband’s business into one of New York’s most successful publishing houses. She had dabbled in romance–marrying Oscar Wilde’s drunken brother Willie and then returning him to his mother and filing for divorce; and engaging in a flirtation with the Marquis Campo Allegre Villaverde, Court Chamberlain to King Alfonso of Spain. But by the time she arrived at the Chelsea, she had decided to simply give herself the royal title she craved, without the bother of another marriage. She checked into the Chelsea as the diamond-bedecked "Frank Prod_16273_2 Leslie, Baroness de Bazus," and began presiding over Thursday evening salons with her coddled Yorkshire terrior, featuring Ella Wheeler Wilcox, the "poetess of passion" ("Laugh and the world laughs with you/ Weep, and you weep alone") and Marshall P. Wilder, the well known hunchback, dwarf vaudeville performer who "broke the ice during dull afternoons" by hiding behind the grand piano and making baby-squalling noises until the others collapsed with laughter.
         As the years passed, rumors spread that the Baroness was losing her sanity. She forgot things, they said; her conversation drifted off in directions. The rumors increased dramatically after her death in 1914, when it was learned that she had left her $2 million fortune to the Suffragist movement. Family members sued; reporters sneered, the legal case dragged on. In the end, half of the legacy was wasted on lawyers, administration fees, taxes, and legal settlements. But about $1 million did go to the Suffragists in time for the final push toward ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. — Sherill Tippins

  • A Cautionary Tale for the Chelsea

    The history of The Windermere, that graffiti covered eyesore at 9th Ave. and 57th Street, parallels Windmthat of the Chelsea Hotel in many respects.  Both were built in the 1880s as a part of the wave of large, ornate luxury apartment houses that were built around the city after the invention of the elevator. Like the Chelsea, it fell on hard times in the early decades of the 20th Century and was carved up into smaller apartments.   The Windermere too, while not enjoying quite our illustrious reputation in the arts, was home to numerous creative people by the 60s.

    As reported in The New York Times (from which I drew most of this info) what happened to the Windermere was that in 1982 the landlord decided to empty the building of rent-stabilized tenants.  The present landlord continued the trend, letting the building run down to the point where pigeons were nesting in rooms open to the elements, finally forcing the city to close the place down and relocate the residents to an SRO.  The landlord used illegal tactics, but as of this point, he got what he wanted anyway!

    I doubt that anything this bad will happen to the Chelsea, but it just goes to show that where money is to be made, landlords will frequently resort to any means necessary to get rid of rent-stabilized tenants. – Ed Hamilton

  • More Legends to Come

         The good news is, Legends of the Chelsea Hotel has been selling briskly at the Barnes & Noble at 6th 51tyntoxi2bl Avenue and 21st Street.  Unfortunately, if you’ve been by there in the past couple of days, you may not have been able to find the book.  That’s because they sold out.  But more are arriving, just in time for my reading on Tuesday, Oct. 23.  If you don’t see any copies, ask for one.
         The book will be available in bookstores nationally very soon.  Watch for the review of Legends in the New York Times Book Review this Sunday, Oct. 28.  To read other reviews visit www.chelseahotelbook.com

  • Recent Efforts to Raise Rents/Empty Apartments

    We’ve heard of a couple of instances recently where BD has been trying to raise resident’s rents. 

    In one case, they were successful in getting the person to leave.  This individual had been living in the hotel for several months when BD told him his rent was going to increase from $200 a night to $315 per Laws night.  When the tenant made an effort to talk to BD about this outrageous increase, reportedly their response was to tell him that he would be evicted if he didn’t pay the new rate.  We also heard that BD threatened to call the cops.  Faced with such hostility and threats, regretfully this tenant moved out. 

    Though this tenant had lived in the building for less than a year, we’ve also heard rumblings that some residents who have been here for years are being threatened with rent increases.  (Obviously, we can’t discuss these cases in detail, as the tenants wish to remain anonymous.)


    The bottom line is, it’s all about the money. They want you to leave and give up your rent stabilized apartment, which is probably worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to them. Not to sound like a broken record, but if there is anybody in this building who hasn’t talked to a lawyer yet, you really need to do so.  Don’t think that you can negotiate with these people yourself.  They will say anything – including lying as to what your rights are – to get you to leave.  — Ed Hamilton

    (more…)

  • PR Triumphs Over Reality at DeNiro’s Greenwich Hotel

    "Hey, why is the wood floor squeaking in this room I’m paying $1500.00 a night for?"  "You dumbass, we designed it like that so it would seem old!"  Thus does mind triumph over matter at DeNiro’s new Greenwich Hotel, and developers everywhere are paying attention.  Take note that BD Hotels is DeNiro’s partner in this venture.  "Why is the hinge on this cabinet in my million dollar condo broken?"  "It’s supposed to remind you of an old railroad flat from the 50s." "Why is the bathroom tile cracked and yellowed?"  "It’s like one of those very cool ticky-tack houses in a cool town, like Woody Guthrie sang about."  "How come the walls are so thin that I can hear my neighbors talking?" "It’s like living in a shantytown in Tompkins Square Park in the 80’s.  Doesn’t it make you nostalgic?"
         Sorry, but I don’t want the floor buckling underfoot when I get up to take a piss in the middle of the night.  Did you artifically splinter some of the boards as well?  Are these  nails sticking up for that little extra touch of realism?  Shoddy materials are a bitch, but no reason we can’t put a good face on things. — Ed Hamilton

  • Vali Myers, “Witch of Positano” Remembered in New Memoir

    Gianni Menichetti lived for 30 years with the Australian artist, witch and free-spirit Vali Myers in her mountainous retreat in Positano Italy.  While Vali painted and worked her magic in a specially designed cage with her pet fox, Foxy, Gianni roamed the town looking for food to feed their huge pack of dogs and Valicov_4 goats and various other animals.  In Gianni’s revealing memoir, you’ll learn how he and Vali conspired to get rid of her husband, Rudi, so that their love could bloom unencumbered.  You’ll also read about Vali’s lover, Caroline, who lived in a near-by cave.  Find out if a fox can be house-trained, and what he’ll do to your Victrola if allowed the run of the place.
     
    Vali didn’t spend all her time in Italy, but rather cycled back and forth between there and New York where she could sell her art.  Read the book and find out what Stanley Bard did when she couldn’t pay the rent.  That one is too explosive to print in this family-oriented blog, but here’s an excerpt that mentions two more of our fellow Chelseaites:

      Someone Vali often spoke very fondly of was Mason Hoffenberg, who wrote the infamous novel Candy with Terry Southern. I never met him but Vali described him as a man of few words, very stocky, with a pigeon chest and a deep voice.  She told me that he could drink a lot, and they did drink a lot together.  The way she described him, he was hardly an Adonis, and yet, once, they made it together.  At the end of it, Mason Hoffenberg said, “Well, that’s that.”  Vali told that story over and over.  She thought it was so funny! …

    It was through her friends Ruth and Donny Shomron, from whom he was taking Hebrew lessons, that she first met Hoffenberg.  Ruth and Danny had been living crammed into a tiny room at the Chelsea Hotel, and when someone moved out of a much larger one, they moved in without asking owner Stanley Bard’s permission.  Lucky for them, he didn’t kick them out.  Vali especially loved Ruth, who was very good to her during difficult times.  Ruth and Danny acquired one of Vali’s original drawings, called Wala Wala.

    For more on Vali, see my article in Chelsea Now.  And, come to the book launch party to eat, drink, and be merry – and buy a book!  Click through for the invitation:

    (more…)

  • Decline & Fall of Fun: Michael Maher Administers Last Rites to Coney Island

    Australian filmmaker Michael Maher, who shot a documentary about the gentrification of the Chelsea Hotel and Chelsea neighborhood for his "Postcards from New York" series, is back in action again, having set in sights on another threatened New York institution, Coney Island. In case you haven’t heard, what’s happening out there, is that developers are tearing down most of the seedy old amusement park so they can build condos for rich people who, apparantly, don’t like to have fun.  (Is anyone taking bet on how long it will be before they complain about noise, drunks, etc., from the Cyclones ballpark next door.)
         The film features interviews with Coney Island characters such as Captain Bob and Freak Show Kingpin Dick Zigum, and a great aerial shot of Coney at night.  So check out the film, and get out to Coney for one last hot dog before seriousness triumphs once and for all over frivolity.  (Oh well, at least they they transformed Times Square into Disneyland.)
    Usa_coney_island_spruiker

  • The New Lost Generation in New York

    A life-long New Yorker writes in to lament the current state of things at the Chelsea, and in New York.  Unlike some of us, however, he believes he’s found a silver lining.

    Ed,

    Somewhere between the many letters you must recieve from those abroad that are concerned with the current conditions and the uncomfortable chatter of permanent residents you must recieve letters from that "energetic new blood" you speak about. If you haven’t, this is one. And it is a concerned one yet a hopeful one.

    While I haven’t been a resident in my 25 years I have been a lifelong New Yorker (which ironically makes it easier now to play with the outsider aesthetic in this city). I first realized things were going all wrong last month when I stopped in the hotel to have a recorded chat with Mr. Bockris. While waiting for the elevator I couldn’t help but hear two guests ask the front desk if there was "any decent food on this block". The elevator door opened. The front desk started calling off names of fancy five star restaurants in midtown. The elevator door closed just in time.

    I’m not surprised to hear about what is going on in regards to management. There’s a certain sadness in knowing the doors won’t be open to new residents and that great change has plagued the air used by the ones already there. Living at the Chelsea is a pontification not a circumstance. Am I wrong to be romantic about this?

    I could only hope that this city’s gentrification will be a new kind of challenge to the artist and a new kind of work will be produced by the threat. As artists we reserve the right to rewrite things. Well let’s rewrite Hem’s history and call his era something else. This is the Lost Generation. Unfortunately we’re lost in our own backyards. But like any lucky kid we could say we’ve got the biggest backyard on the block.

    Regards,

    Julian Stockdale, New York Poet

    Thanks Julian.  That’s just like BD: they are complete outsiders, out of touch with whats going on in the hotel and the Chelsea neighborhood.  Author Victor Bockris by the way, a long-time Chelsea resident is no longer with us.  Bockris, a fixture of the Warhol Factory who penned biographies of such counterculture figures as Patti Smith and Lou Reed, is a recent causalty of BDs ongoing campaign to gentrify and homogenize the Chelsea.

  • BDs Incompetence Costs The Chelsea Another Customer

    Here’s what happened when Kelly (who we wrote about last week) tried to book a room.

    I wanted to let you know that i’ve been toying with the idea of staying still…so i decided to call and try to make reservations today…notice i say try.  i called the number provided on the website and was quickly redirected to the "front desk", the "front desk" told me "just a moment" and i am still on hold….i have been on hold for five minutes.  now i’m just holding on to see how long they leave me on hold….going on seven minutes now.
    does the chelsea hotel not give a f*ck about guest reservations?

    i hung up after 8 minutes and 12 seconds.
    promptly called back, asked the lady who answered if anyone was taking reservations, she asked "for when" i said december, and that i had just called and they put me on hold for almost 10 minutes….just told me to hold on….placed me on hold, and then disconnected me. 

    okay…so i went online and it quoted me a room for 3 nights at $169…i FINALLY spoke with some guy (who sounded like he could give a shit) who put me on hold again…when he came back he told me the only rate he had was for a junior suite at $609 a night.  seriously…are you fucking kidding me?  so i told him that it quoting me $169 a night online…he said well you won’t have a bathroom, you’ll have to share.  i said, well it says here online that i WILL have a private bathroom.  so what gives?  so he says, well…we’re all sold out of those.  so i respond with…then why the hell is it allowing me to book this online?  and he says…well it says we are all out of those rooms here.  so i ask, well then what the hell does that mean?  it’s letting me book a standard room online with a private bath and you’re telling me you don’t have them? does that mean i get there and you’ve booked me for a room you don’t have?  he says, well book it and i guess they’ll have to find you a room when you get here?

    wtf?  i mean seriously….is this a joke?  what the hell is going on there?

    who wants to go in to a trip and stay there with that kind of first impression?   i’ll be booking somewhere else.

  • Sid’s Room

    Today is the 29th anniversary of Nancy Spungen’s brutal murder in room 100 of the Chelsea Hotel. Whether or not you believe Sid killed her, the spirits of this tragic, doomed couple continue to haunt us here at the Chelsea.  When the elevator stops mysteriously on the 1st floor, the door opening upon an empty hallway, resident’s joke nervously that it’s Sid’s ghost getting on.  But we are haunted by their lingering presence in other, more insidious, ways as well.  This video, shot in 2006, tells the story of punk rocker Dee Dee Ramone’s disturbing late-night encounter with the shadowy trace of the horrific event that occurred in room 100 way back in 1978.
    Credits: Snap Films, Legends of the Chelsea Hotel