Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog

Resistance Surfaces on the West Coast

A West Coast reader calls for Stanley Bard to be reinstated on the Board.

Ringing in the New Year with Continued Resistance

Who Could Hate the Chelsea?

There was a German couple staying next door to us in the transient room.  One afternoon I ran into the man coming out of his room, and I said, “How are you enjoying your stay here at the Chelsea?”

            “Oh, it was great until yesterday, when my wife packed up and went back to Germany without telling me.”

            “Wow! That is a bummer,” I said.  “Did she not like New York?  I know it can be very fast-paced and intimidating.”

            “She liked New York fine.”

            “Then maybe it was the hotel.  You know, there are some people who really hate it.”

            “No, she loved the hotel,” the man said.  “I think it was just me.” -- Ed Hamilton

Adam "Jaz Jericho" Rushfield: Redefining Tradition at the Chelsea (And Standing up to BD Hotels)

Pianist and singer/songwriter Adam Rushfield, who goes by the professional name of Jaz Jericho, comes from a long line of musical talent: his great grandfather banged singer Sophie Tucker!   When we met with Adam in his tiny room/music studio recently, he played us a tape of longtime resident 87-year- old Stormé DeLarverié belting out an old standard, "Since I Fell For You," her voice still as impressive as in her heyday in the 50s and 60s, husky, evocative, and powerful.

Of course we immediately asked Adam if we could share Stormé's song with our blog readers, but it turns out he wants to keep it under wraps for awhile, as he is working on a song cycle partially revolving around the remarkable recording.   (The work will delve into the lives and lore of Chelsea residents as well as other stories.)  He played us a couple of pieces on his piano and they expertly evoked the dysfunctional family dynamic of the Chelsea.

Where are you from?

I was born in Okinawa, Japan in 1979. I grew up in Las Vegas, where I lived from the time I was six months old.   It's a very comfortable place to live, but not easy for a musician unless you play cover tunes and don't care if people listen to you or not.   Everybody wants to get out, but nobody does anything about it.   But by this point in my life I was ready to go, I needed a change.  Some of my friends who were musicians moved to LA, but that wasn't for me.  I visited NY three years ago and something about it just grabbed me.

How did you hear about the Chelsea?

Just from folklore and movies and books and then later through my work in music.  When my friend and I visited NY it was too expensive to stay here the whole week, but on our last night we walked in to check the place out and the guys at the front desk were really cool and offered us a discount, so we decided to stay one night.   We rode up in the elevator with Rene Ricard, of all people.  He was carrying an envelope and he opened it and showed us that there was a knife inside.   He said, jokingly, that we'd better not be up to no good.  If we were here to steal the art, we'd have to answer to him.   That was when I knew I had to move to the Chelsea.

How did you become interested in music?

My Dad's a musician.  He plays in a 50s and 60s rock band.  So I grew up around all kinds of music.   My great grandfather played in a big band, and banged singer Sophie Tucker.  That's his claim to fame.

What are your main musical influences?

Bowie, Beatles, Motown, everything.  In college I was a musical theatre major, and I'd like to write musicals someday.   Or maybe not, since they're so cheesy.  Rock Operas, really, that's what I'd like to write.

You moved into the hotel in February of 07.  How did you score your room at the Chelsea?

I called Stanleyfrom Vegas and told him I was thinking of coming to New York soon, and asked if he had any rooms available.   He said not right now but just let me know when you're on your way and I'm sure we can find something for you.  I called him when I crossed the Mississippi.   When I got here he brought me right up to this room and I took it, the first one he showed me.  It was pretty expensive and he was charging me by the night, as a transient guest ($75/night, plus hotel tax), but he said he'd try to get my rent down, and he did lower it at one point, right before he left ($70/night, plus tax).   I believe that he would have eventually offered me an affordable, permanent, monthly rate.

At that point he was forced out by the minority shareholders and BD Hotels took over.   What did BD say about your rent?

They still tried to charge me the high rate.  I said I had been here long enough to be considered a permanent tenant and I was being illegally overcharged and they needed to reduce my rent, but they refused to listen to my arguments.   I decided not to pay until the courts could resolve the issue. Though I kind of feel like I was cheated out of my full Chelsea experience since Stanley's no longer around, I plan to get as much as I can out of what's left of it.

Where will you go if you have to leave the Chelsea?

Well, I think the Chelsea has spoiled me, so no place else in New York would do.  Maybe the Lower East Side, but everything's too expensive anyway.   I have some friends living in Providence so maybe I'll crash with them for awhile.  There's a pretty cool art's scene there, with lots of space in all the abandoned factory buildings.   The Chelsea is a place where I can just relax and be, and I know it's not going to be easy for me to recreate that vibe somewhere else.

Withholding his rent allowed Adam to buy some time at the Chelsea, time well spent, it turns out, as he has been using it to soak up the inspirational atmosphere and transform it into music.   I accompanied him to Housing Court on Wednesday, Dec 12, hoping I could at least offer moral support.  He met with BD's lawyer and they negotiated a deal whereby Adam will be given an affordable rent through the end of February, at which time he will be expected to leave the hotel.   So, while it certainly wasn't an ideal result, at least it will make a full year that Adam has lived at the Chelsea.   We'll be sorry to lose Adam, as he seems a perfect fit for the Chelsea, with his respect for the history of the hotel, coupled with a forward-looking creative impetus to celebrate and reinvigorate that tradition.   On the other hand, he's not gone yet--and no one knows what the situation at the Chelsea will be in two months. -- Ed Hamilton

Happy Birthday Storme Delarverie

Born on Christmas Eve, 1920, in New Orleans, Stormé worked professionally as a drag king and torch singer.  Pictures of her in drag show her to be suave and handsome; uncompromisingly androgynous, you could mistake her for a man trying to look like a woman.  In the forties through the sixties she was the emcee—or, better yet, the ringmaster--for the Jewel Box Revue, a traveling gay drag show, the first in America to be integrated.  Playing to mixed race, as well as mixed gay and straight, audiences, the revue gained mainstream acceptance in larger cities around the country.  In this context, Stormé was the subject of the 1987 film, Stormé: The Lady of the Jewel Box.  Produced by DC filmmaker Michelle Parkerson, the movie emphasized Stormé’s appropriation of male symbols of power, such as suits and ties, in furtherance of the gay rights struggle.

But Stormé’s real claim to fame is that she’s the person who threw the first punch at Stonewall, the rebellion (named for the bar) on Christopher Street that gave birth to the gay rights movement.  Prior to Stonewall, gay people were subject to arrest, pretty much arbitrarily, for such offenses as kissing or holding hands in public, or for dressing in the clothes of the opposite sex.  The police staged raids on gay bars at unpredictable times, arresting whoever they pleased.  The night of July 27, 1969, was seemingly like any other, with one exception: earlier that evening the city had mourned the passing of gay icon Judy Garland in a funeral attended by twenty-two thousand people.  Whether this had anything to do with what happened next is open to speculation, but this time, when the police raided the Stonewall Bar in the early hours of July 28^th, they soon found that the gay people had had enough and were ready to fight back—in particular one formidable drag king.

            I doubt that Stormé went there that night looking for trouble, but she wasn’t going to run from it either.  When a plain-clothed policeman punched her outside the bar, she retaliated, slugging him in the jaw.  When asked what the policeman did next, Stormé, in an interview for the gay TV news magazine, In The Life, replied, with characteristic terseness, “He was on the ground. Out.” (Excerpt from Legends of the Chelsea Hotel: Living with the Artists and Outlaws of New York's Rebel Mecca)

Season's Greetings from the New Chelsea Order

Wishing all you Chelsea Hotel residents a joyous holiday season, and a wonderous New Year in your new homes -- wherever they may be.   Beamingly yours, The Minority Shareholders and BD Hotels

Hollow Victory for Chelsea

  Last year we compared our Chelsea Hotel christmas tree with that of the Allerton Hotel  on 22nd and 8th Avenue, and found that our sawed-off little runt came up seriously short.  But this year we blew them away!  (Photo: Chelsea Hotel Lobby, 2007)
     Seriously, the Allerton which closed over the summer, was home to the most destitute among us and its loss was a serious blow to the Chelsea community.  Those who applauded its closing are most likely the same people who would like to see the Chelsea turned into a Pod hotel.  Thankfully we have more resources to draw on than the residents of the Allerton, but wherever those displaced souls ended up, we hope they landed on their feet.  Here's wishing them a safe and happy holiday season. -- Ed Hamilton  (Photo: Allerton Hotel Lobby, 2007)

Show Your Support for Unfairly Removed Employee

If you live at the Chelsea, it has perhaps come to your attention that a beloved long term employee—here for almost three decades—was last week unceremoniously removed from his or her job.  Though discretion prevents us from revealing the employee’s name, position, or the nature of his or her alleged offense in a public forum, we feel that no matter what his or her offense, the employee shouldn’t have been fired without a warning.  We feel, furthermore, that he or she should be given a second chance.

(The Scrooges at BD tried a similar move against another employee and were stopped dead in their tracks.)  It’s important, however, for all of us to show our support by demanding the employee’s timely reinstatement.  Ask around among your acquaintances at the hotel to find out what you can do to help.

What’s happening here is that BD is gradually chipping away at the foundation of the Chelsea, eroding everything that makes the place unique: here they evict a vulnerable tenant, there they institute a restrictive policy, and sooner or later the place is unrecognizable and there’s nobody left to fight back.  BD’s ultimate goal is to throw out everything related to the old guard.

The injustice of this removal is of course compounded by the fact that it occurred over the holiday season.  What should be a joyous time of the year is turned into a miserable, unsettled time.  In addition to the loss of his or her salary, don’t forget that the employee was probably also counting on your holiday tips.  So ask around the hotel, and someone will no doubt tell you the contact person who will deliver your cards.  You might also want to throw in a little something extra, because despite our best efforts it might be awhile before this employee sees a regular paycheck again. -- Ed Hamilton

Electronic Bohemia

We’ve heard it through the grapevine that BD is getting set to reveal their plans for the future of the hotel.  Among their many less-than-innovative ideas, they apparently plan to install key cards on the doors of the transient rooms.  What a brilliant stroke of genius, and a tremendous waste of money.  Hey, News flash: the Chelsea is an old time hotel, and people who come here --  tourists and residents alike – are attached to the slightly down-at-the-heels grandeur of the place.  We have beautiful, heavy, solid wooden doors of a craftsmanship seldom seen these days, and the last thing we need is for these philistines to cut holes in them for their diabolical Big Brother madness.  Which brings me to another rpoint: the people who stay here prefer to come and go as they please.  You have to be a bit of a free spirit to want to stay at the Chelsea. . -- Ed Hamilton

Glennon's Holiday Wish Comes True

Surprise! Glennon got an early holiday gift in the form of a wanted poster pasted in the elevator.  It’s a good thing to as he was getting really jealous over all of the attention being paid to David Elder. If I remember correctly the reward was higher for Elder – a bunch of virgins or something.  But then again he was guilty of leg humpin whereas Glennon is only a snitch (he ratted out a resident to the cops for supposedly smoking pot, something we still find hard to believe has happened at a place like the Chelsea).