Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog

Chelsea Newsmakers

April Barton, of Suite 303, is no longer content just to be part of the Chelsea scene.  She plans to set up shop at the historic Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood.

By fall, the Roosevelt will house even more star attractions. Prominent Southern California chef Tim Goodell and his wife, Liza, who recently opened the restaurant Dakota at the hotel, will add a hamburger stand called 25 Degrees. The couple are also revising the hotel's room service and poolside menus. Demme will open another, more exclusive, club named Teddy's and New York hairstylist April Barton, whose clients include U2 and Elvis Costello, will cater to VIPs from a space overlooking Hollywood Boulevard. A spa, a gym and newly updated rooms are in the works.

It's a Chelsea morning at Tanglewood, where William Bolcom and Arnold Weinstein are the gurus. From the Boston Globe, July 29, 2005.

Studying Bolcom's works
Singer Joan Morris and composer/pianist William Bolcom gave a master class on Bolcom's cabaret songs to the vocal fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center late last week.

Bolcom's songs, written to texts by Chelsea Hotel Resident Arnold Weinstein and tailored to the voice and personality of Morris, have become repertory pieces for most American concert and opera singers, as well as for cabaret performers.  (Photo shows Arnold, William and Arthur Miller at the Chelsea Hotel.)

Both artists had significant musical points to make, but they also emphasized the visual aspect of communicating. At one point, they asked a singer to perform a song on nonsense syllables, while still delivering its full meaning.

Sally Singer tells us why Madonna & children are on the cover of Vogue.  "These are pictures of a happy family at home and that's what is so surprising to see with Madonna."

10 Cops Nab Candy World Bandit

The crime rate on our block went through the roof last night.  At about 8:30, when I was coming home from dinner, I noticed more than the usual number of rubber neckers hanging out in front of the Chelsea.  Their attention was focused on Candy World directly across the street where the cops were bringing out a wanna be bad guy. 

From across the way I spied Sayeed, who works at the neighboring Pita Hut, gesturing wildly and pacing back and forth.  So I walked across the street to find out what was going on.  According to eye-witness Sayeed, the wanna be bad guy tried to rob Candy World, but the quick thinking store clerk escaped and locked him inside of the store.  He was trying to break out of Candy World when the cops arrived. 

I got a look at the guy after he had been placed in an ambulance.  In answer to your question, yes, the guy was overweight.  Not obese, but he had probably spent quite a bit of time casing those candy stores.

November 1969

A fascinating November 1969 interview with Jimi Hendrix in the recent issue of RollingStone.

Fingering through his record collection (extensive and catholic; e.g., Marlene Dietrich, David Peel and the Lower East Side, Schoenberg, Wes Montgomery), he pulls out Blind Faith; Crosby, Stills and Nash; and John Wesley Harding. The Dylan plays first. Jimi's face lights: "I love Dylan. I only met him once, about three years ago, back at the Kettle of Fish [a folk-rock era hangout] on MacDougal Street. That was before I went to England. I think both of us were pretty drunk at the time, so he probably doesn't remember it."

First Podcast from the Chelsea

A brilliant idea.  As far as I know, this is the first podcast from the hotel.  I haven't checked it out yet, but I intend to.  Hopefully, I'll have more info to post about the podcaster(s) later.

Interviews and music from the Chelsea Hotel in New York City or here.

As promised, here’s what the caster(s) had to say about setting up the first ever podcast from the Chelsea.  Personally, I can’t wait for the second episode. 

Not an easy thing to say when it comes to the Chelsea considering that anything worth anything worth mentioning was either done or done first inside those hallowed walls. This is not to say that it was done well. And there we come to the first chelseahotel podcast by me, a 12 year resident, and really just a bit of mockumentary farce in the hopes of learning this podcast thing from the ground floor up and getting something out there. Not to say it aint funny and the music aint hip but it's a bit of a first stab at mild pod like entertainment. Oh yea, and that's not really Arthur C. Clarke reading from the 2001 script. The next episode's gonna be a doozy though. We've got Rene Ricard, live music, more seances to Sid, great tunes and a slicker format and audio quality. So stay tuned!

A Reader Writes...

A reader and former resident writes to ask if I knew that this notorious meeting in labor union history had occurred at the Hotel Chelsea as indicated by a recent article. “…John L. Lewis, President of the United Mine Workers, launched his famous right jab straight across the chops of Big Bill Hutcheson, President of the Carpenters' union. After Hutcheson crashed across a collapsing table, Lewis famously straightened his tie, lit a cigar, and walked out of the convention. Taking along key allies in the cause of industrial unionism, he went on to launch the CIO—an acronym that would forever be connected in to the unprecedented growth of membership, power, and mission of organized labor…” My research indicates that the scene above occured at a Hotel Chelsea which once existed in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  Too bad.  This definitely sounds like something that could have happened in the Hotel Chelsea.

Other Bloggers Visit...

This is a hotel afterall and sometimes other bloggers check in and blog about their experience.

Blogger Jen is Famous stopped by room 222 this week.  Unfortunately, she did not get any pics from inside the room where Leonard Cohen and Janis Joplin knew each other well.

Blogger Robert Paterson stayed in room 822.  A room known to both Madonna and Isabella Rosselini.  He captured a nice image.

Finally, this confused blogger thought that he was headed to the famed Hotel Chelsea, but he ended up at “The Chelsea – a short term executive housing complex.” I’ve noticed this happens a lot, other hotels and apartment complexes use photos of the “Hotel Chelsea” in their promotional materials to convey a relationship to the real thing.

A Second Chance

Stanley Bard says that getting into the Chelsea is harder than getting into an Ivy League college.  He says he does extensive research on each potential resident.  And while I’ve no doubt that this is true, it sometimes happens, even at the best of schools, that the Registrar loses your transcript.

A man in his forties was moving into the Hotel.  He wore his gray hair cropped short, and was slightly overweight.  Seemed respectable enough—in the Chelsea sense, that is: he wasn’t wearing a suit or anything.  He had his van parked out by the curb, and in between carrying in boxes, he stopped up at the desk to say hi to the manager, a tall Hispanic man named Harvey.
         “I used to live here before, back in the eighties,” our new neighbor said.  “Stanley says he doesn’t remember.  ”You remember me, don’t you Harvey?” 
          “Yeah, I remember you,” Harvey said, though he didn’t sound too convincing, and I thought maybe he just said it to make the guy feel better.
          “I lived here for almost a year, and Stanley doesn’t even remember me!”
          “We get a lot of people passing through here, you know,” Harvey said.  “And sometimes it’s hard to keep them all straight.”

“I was worried about that, whether he’d remember me.”

“Well, he let you in anyway, so he must’ve liked you.”

“Back then I was a drug-addled 18-year-old,” the newcomer said.  “Partied all night.  Totally irresponsible.  Never even paid my rent.  Maybe I paid it once.  Stanley kicked me out himself.”
            Harvey didn’t say anything.  He looked on impassively.
            “But now it’s cool,” the new guy said.  “Blank slate, you know.  Now it’s all good.”

Ed Hamilton

All Tomorrow's Parties - July 25 - August 1

Monday, July 25, 5:00 - 9:00 p.m.
The opening reception for "Hung," will feature, for one night only, the work of Cynthia Plaster Caster.  Cynthia is famous worldwide for her plaster casts of rock's most well known penises.
Cynthia Plaster Caster's most famous subject was guitarist and former Chelsea Guest, Jimi Hendrix, immortalized in plaster Feb. 25, 1968. The 5 3/4-inch cast shown in the photo below was to be exhibited this month at Cambridge's Club Passim but was nixed by club officials concerned about upsetting kids and families. 

Censorship didn't slow Cynthia down.  She  was recently in the Chelsea casting about for another model.
"Last month I had the pleasure of staying there for the first, and hopefully, not the last time.  I'm in LOVE with that place!  The people hanging out in the lobby, the stairwell, the lovely, unpretentious-but-comfortable rooms..I want to CAST that hotel itself!!
    But I only have a brief story to tell about my stay: I was sitting in the lobby at 2 a.m., reading my E-mail when Ethan Hawke strolled in with a blonde girl (Not Uma).  They walked into the elevator before I could give him my calling card.  Sigh...I'm not always on my toes at a late hour..."
Club Passim
47 Palmer Street in Harvard Square, Boston MA 

Monday, July 25, 7:00 p.m.
Chuck Klosterman will sign copies of his book, "Killing Yourself to Live," a travel book with pit stops at famous rock and roll death sites.  First stop, Hotel Chelsea.
Borders Books
10 Columbus Circle, NY NY

Wednesday, July 27, 7:00 p.m.
Stop by and hoist a drink with Elisa Albert, Rania Marie Kelly and Judy Sheehan as they read from their forthcoming books at The Kettle of Fish reading series.
59 Christopher St., NY NY

Singing for her Supper

French actress Julie Delpy, who I've often seen living the Bohemian life at the Chelsea, has recently been dumped by her agent.  Perhaps that explains why I've seen her in the halls and elevator of the Chelsea, dragging a guitar along behind her and humming John Denver's "Sunshine." She was trying to keep her spirits up. 

"My agent dumped me when I was writing Before Sunset, because he thought I was wasting my time."

Delpy, who went on to get an Oscar nomination for co-writing Before Sunrise with co-star ETHAN HAWKE and director RICHARD LINKLATER, admits her agent-less years were very tough.

She adds, "I couldn't get hired and even when I did a good job, no one would notice it.

"I went from agent to agent and it didn't really work with anyone, and people would tell me terrible things. It was very difficult."  (Source: contactmusic.com)

Or, perhaps she wanted to be at the ready in case her pal Ethan were to burst into a rendition of Elton John's "Daniel."  If Ethan is such a superstar, can't he help Julie get an agent.

Fourth?

Andy Warhol's family home doesn't have the cache of William Burrough's home, which received a historic designation in Lawrence, Kansas last month.  Warhol's home is fourth on the Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh's list of the "Top Ten Best Historic Preservation Opportunities in the Pittsburgh Area for 2005."  Oakland Planning and Development Corporation (OPDC) recently purchased the home for $1,000, plus related costs.   The intention, says David Blenk, director of OPDC, is to restore the home and lease it to art students studying at Carnegie Mellon University.

Rene Ricard and Victor Bockris, former members of Andy's posse, continue to make their home at the historically land marked Chelsea Hotel.

In a December 2003 interview Bockris discusses Andy.
Bockris Now and Then!       

Rene Now and Then!