I lived there from 1965 until 1970. I lived on the second floor until I found out the eighth floor was cheaper. It was hotter in the summer (no air conditioning) and it took longer for the heat and hot water to get to the eighth floor. Virgil Thompson lived across the hall from me. We remained best friends until his death. Long live the Chelsea Hotel!
Bet you have some interesting stories. I just read Patti Smith's memoir Just Kids when her and Robert Mapplethorpe lived there in the seventies. Maybe someday you would like to share your experiences also. :-)
The only reason for its legendary creative space, was due to it being dirt cheap near the cultural scenes. Now its gentrified luxury rooms, the creativity there, will only be the ghosts of the past
Yep! This puff piece is as sanitized as the hotel. I guess Sean McPherson thinks removing his corporate tie and un-tucking his shirt will cover up his passel of lies about the gentrified business
NYC traded its character and cheaper rents for the working class for yuppies and trust-funders that romanticize about the city’s past, but at least one can walk down most of its streets today without getting robbed or mugged, so there are some silver linings.
@@LibbyRal Nope, not at all. It could have a working class population and remain a safe city if the government and wealthy invested in the working class, such as cheaper housing, plenty of jobs in the vicinity of their housing, free education at public universities, primary education no longer zip-code based, etc. Unfortunately, none of this will likely happen anytime soon.
Being made into a boutique hotel… *sigh* gone are the days when humble art students could pool their cash to go and stay for a few days as we did in the 80’s…
AMEN. If that developer truly believed what he said his goals were in this interview, he failed miserably. Places like this can't be made a luxury boutique hotel without destroying much of what was most charming about it.
Yes! I second This as I did w/a HipHop rap group I was helping as their P.R. in the very late 90’s (99” to be exact I believe) It’s such a shame everything becomes so monopolized by the 1% 😢
I'm so glad they are restoring it. Decades ago, I used to be treated at a small dental office there. The dentist did not charge much and had an enormous collection of plants, it was like a green house. The building was grungy then, but you could still see regal Victorian bones!
Enjoyed working there BEFORE it became a hotel now. I was a Front Desk Agent and it was operating as a ‘Private Residential building’. Many ups and downs BUT it build character for me. Was there during the end of the construction phase. I’m glad it’s up and running. Met some cool staff members while I was working there. Had to leave unfortunately because I’ve got word that ownership was bringing in their own people (Staff Members from other Hotels) to work the concierge/front desk and those that were there previously would be cut OR become demoted to much smaller roles. I had to make a decision on August 2021 and glad that I did. Those that were there when I was there, 97% of them are gone. Miss the residents. Man Lai, Gerald D, Weinsteins, Mr Bill and his family and everyone I forgot to mention.
One of my neighbors used to work maintenance at Hotel Chelsea. Liked the job, hated the management. Your story rings very true. You seem to be happy with your new path. Be well!
Good thing you decided to leave on your own schedule and not theirs. By any chance, do you know if the long term residents got to stay at their old rate or were they forced to accept an increase or shortened lease terms?
@@donneone I have no idea to be honest. As a front desk agent, we weren’t told much about anything that was going on with the residents. We were left in the dark. I was just thankful that I got word about what was going to happen.
@@girlfromthebronxbywayofelb7288 Appreciate it. Thank you. I can honestly say the team we had, we made the best of it despite the bad situation and lack of communication from previous management.
If I may advise, for a moment…If you ever find yourself in a situation like that again don’t leave because that’s what they want people to do-let them be forced to pay you a severance or collect the unemployment compensation that You Deserve! because you were there first and that’s not fair. These companies have more than enough money to pay you if they don’t want to take you on as part of the new team. Hope you’re doing great wherever u are now✌️
If your trying to "let it be what it always was", you wouldn't be turning it into a pricey boutique hotel that the average person would have to sell a kidney to be able to stay at.
Well yeah anyone with common sense knows he said that for the camera and he’s using the history and the attention from other people because of that history for money, who wouldn’t tho.
As Americans living in Argentina my family stayed at the Chelsea on 3-4 occasions for a month at a time while my father worked in New York. It has obviously changed a lot but it was a great place as it was easy to access the subways, walk to Macys. The staircase has not changed and that was memorable. I remember the Deli that was next door as we got many snacks and meals there during our stay. My aunt who lived across the street found the Chelsea for us and it was a great adventure for 6 kids .
In the '80s the hotel had a faded feel, a touch of a dump. I hope the hotel doesn't stray in the other direction, too far in "boutique" territory, which could well happen. Over the past few decades it seems everything in NYC has been scrubbed up, made glossy and kid-friendly and affordable for only the rich. It's heartening to see that longtime tenants will still be living there, and dolling up their apartments to suit their very eclectic tastes.
@@brainscott8198 perhaps that top floor and the income it will generate will pay for the rest of the hotel - - the renovations, and to keep it affordable for others. (I can’t believe I’m trying to be optimistic here, I am a dyed in the wool New Yorker and barely recognized the city anymore with all its “positive” changes.)
" I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel You were famous, your heart was a legend You told me again you preferred handsome men But for me you would make an exception…" - Leonard Cohen
Janis was a vulnerable person. A true human would have gotten that. Hiding behind rock and roll, how empty headed. You've said all you need to say about your priorities.
This makes me so sad. That's not the Chelsea. The Chelsea was starving artists, junkies, prostitutes, and insane drag queens that would make people run in absolute terror. THAT what made the Chelsea so storied and iconic. That was its charm. Few people lived there at the height of their success and more of them didn't even find success until they were gone entirely. You can't scrub this place up, charge $400 a night, and expect it to retain any of its identity. Not even a shred.
The art was on display before the renovation. The rooms were all different and the elevators were sketchy. It was all about the people there, and in many cases they were sketchy too.
One day back around 2008 I was walking around NYC and decided to check out the hotel. And it was very interesting inside. I took a lot of pictures that I still have. 😊😊😊 so much history.
Such a great building. My friend and I went in there in 2009 to sneak around while taking pictures. We were trying to find the room where Sid killed Nancy.
I grew up in the Penn South co-ops on 26th street and passed by the hotel all the time, especially when I started working at MetLife on 23rd and Madison in 1979. You could sometimes see a celebrity walking on 23rd Street near the hotel. I really miss the neighborhood.
Blues legend Johnny Winter stayed at the hotel Chelsea when he first moved to New York in 1969 with his band Tommy Shannon and Uncle John Turner recalls Johnny in his autobiography book raising Cain 0:04
I stayed at the Chelsea with my cousins in 1989. 4 of us in a tiny room. Worlds scariest elevator. My only regret is not exploring more of the hotel itself while we were there. I don’t remember it looking that nice though.
They are “sanitizing” the space by making it into a luxury boutique hotel (aka an expensive, inauthentic experience for the rich). I’m so tired of this. We’re losing sacred spaces by the day, especially in NYC. Once you scrub out the “soul” of a place, no amount of money gets it back. These developers could use their money, power, and privilege to make the world better; but they’d rather squeeze out every last dollar instead. The only thing keeping spaces “pure” is dedicated citizens who fight the good fight💪🏾
I knew there was a sad, dark chapter to this. Because nothing today can remain beautiful anymore. Of course, some corporate conglomerate guy comes along and decides to make it a boutique hotel. What an absolute shame and tragedy! He is not pulling the wool over any of our eyes with using language draped in oh we want to keep it the way it was etc. What a tragedy the Chelsea was something so special and there’s so little of that anymore anywhere you go.😢 Happy to be old when things were amazing.
Do you think now that it's an expensive boutique hotel it will attract young artists from around the world like in the past? Of course not. That chapter of the famed Chelsea Hotel is gone
@@davidanthonystone5165 Janis was great but so was the band BBHC. The drummer, Dave Getz and bass player Peter Albin still play w a band the Dinosaurs in San Francisco. Guitarists James Gurley and Sam Andrews died a few years ago both in their 70s
"I can still hear the sounds of those Methodist bells I'd taken the cure and had just gotten through Stayin' up for days in the Chelsea Hotel Writing "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" for you." -Bob Dylan "Sara" (1976) from the Desire album
When The Chelsea gets turned into a chi chi boutique hotel, what will happen to those who are currently renting rooms as their apartment? Will they be priced out or grandfathered in? Sometimes progress, even if it's under the guise of preservation, can have catastrophic affects on lives.
Grandfathered in, as I believe. Must be, because if their apartment rate went to the current room rate, they’d never be able to afford it. Let’s hope they all have 30 year leases.
Hope has little impact on the weasels that control NYC real estate. We should know that by now, one of these grifters accidentally fell backwards into the presidency. Hope the surviving residents had intensely talented attorneys. I feel sad for NYC, truly cheap living space was THE reason that Hotel Chelsea played a role in culture and history. I can't wait until we elect a truly courageous mayor who refuses to accept one dollar of real estate money in her campaign, and then moves forward to break the strangle hold real estate has on NYC politics. Then people will be able to afford both rent and food for a change. We need a new Mayor LaGuardia to step up and just scream at these creeps until they stop.
It already has been turned into that hotel. I found rates via Windsurfer® CRS, a Central Reservation System for Hotels starting at $450 a night up to $1350
It wasn't super cheap. I had a friend who lived there in the early '80s who paid close to $1000/month for a studio apartment. My tenament apartment, by contrast, was $400. But she had a fireplace, an elevator and Stanley.
I remember back in 1981my mom only paid $235.00 a month for a 2 bd room apt. But the neighborhood was kind of stretchy back then (it's even worse now) so paying $1000.00 a month for rent in 1981 was like unimaginable.
@@flameripper5502 I can tell you are not a New York City resident. The neighborhood is not "worse" today. Not even close. Street crime is nothing like it was in 1981. The suggestion that crime is "even worse" today - is laughable.
In 1995, it was about 1500.00 a month. Just about any place with a room and a door was starting at that price in Manhattan at the time. I had friends living at the Chelsea, it was showing its age then. Glad it got cleaned up and even if it was run down the prices would still go up.
But it's not. Hanging a few old artworks and uncovering a ceiling doesn't make up for all the gentrification and raising of rates accompanying this boutique hotel
That Joni Mitchell was not mentioned once, I consider a major omission to this otherwise fun story! Who else wrote and sang a song about this fabled place?
She wrote a damn song about the place. Chelsea Morning. It's where Chelsea Clinton gets her name, like many, many Chelsea's from 1969 on. Perhaps CBS was worries about paying for 3 seconds of song.
@@sandbridgekid4121 perhaps, more likely not! The Chelseas that you were discussing are decades later from when Joni wrote her song! That and there are rules that allow you to play a few seconds of somebody’s song without royalties! Ad-libbing exposes ignorance unless you really know what you’re talking about.
I've been researching this and surprisingly, she never actually lived at the Chelsea, she lived on 16th Street in the Chelsea neighbourhood and wrote the song while living there. She did frequent the hotel as a visitor though.
I stayed there about 15 years ago (by choice!) because of all the history. it was a complete dump! At least back then and not even a cheap dump. The sad part was you could tell at one time it was grand, the high ceilings, the detailing and old sinks, tubs etc. but it just wasn't maintained properly. Paint over paint, cracks in bathroom fixtures repaired with cheap fillers and glues. Broken windows. I guess I got to say I stayed there.
In case you missed it. Once those 45 residents die, the essential creative spirit of the Chelsea Hotel dies with them and capitalism takes over. Sad end of an era.
I had not heard of the Chelsea Hotel before, (thanks CBSSM for the segment!) but upon further reflection, I indeed HAVE heard of it, but just wasn't aware of the context -- "woke up it was a Chelsea morning," et al. I'm now going to pleasantly ponder what other references may be out in the mileiu...
Nothing is sacred. Gentrification is ruining the world. Even in the "artsy neighborhoods" in Indianapolis, artist can't afford to live in them anymore. Sad to see this happen to such an icon.
Sean MacPherson trying not to do... is EXACTLY what has been done, turning it into a corporate "luxury boutique hotel" for all those rich cultural tourists. A few art studios would have been a gracious gesture to retain its cool.
Keep driving that class divide. "Everyone is accepted at the Chelsea"... except anyone that's not incredibly wealthy anymore. I want to see a homeless writer, who's avoiding creditors, even try to go to the bar, or get a room... he wouldn't make it past the doorman. The class divide is destroying our country.
I suppose society is not what it once was. One must be an established artist where money is no object. This seems a hotel for those w cash who want to reminisce about the musicians and music they loved. Ironically, they likely say, “music is not as meaningful as it was back then.”
The architecture and design details are beautiful. It WAS an enormous factory of creative thought, but will be no longer after turning it into a boutique hotel Also, saying American Culture wouldn't be what it is without the Chelsea is a bit of a stretch. "American Culture" is deep and wide. There are millions of people in this country who've never even heard of the Chelsea. However, people make decisions and have to live in what is currently the truth. Nostalgia is a dream that is almost impossible to travel back to. I live not too far from NYC and appreciate the efforts to preserve architecture. However, these statements are fairly typical of "the world revolves around NYC" arrogance and provincialism of many of it's residents.
Thank you! Could not have put it any better. I worked in that area and was lucky enough to stay at the hotel, and spent many very happy hours at El Quijote (the bar there). Agreed on the nostalgia factor as well, i.e. no going back. Those 'halcyon times' especially the 60's - 80's - the social upheaval, the political landscape of NYC, AIDS - not anything I'd like to go back to. Ah, the music, art, fashion, etc. that was the Stuff. Thanks again, you really stated it Way better than I could!
Maybe I got my hotels mixed up but didn't a guitarist from a famous rock and roll band once rode his motorcycle through the Halls of the Chelsea hotel?
Stayed there in the 90's during an experimental film festival, and my friend who also had film in the fest booked us 2 nights. But on entertaining our room, I was appalled how seedy it was. There were bare patches in the rug and the heater banged through the night. A true dump.
Did you do ANY research into it before staying there? It's hardly been a secret that the place was precisely as you described it (well done, by the way). It housed starving artists, junkies, prostitutes, and insane drag queens that would make people run in terror for years. But that is precisely what made the Chelsea so storied and iconic. That was its charm and the reason there's a book on it. Few people lived there at the height of their success. Some of them didn't even find success until they were gone entirely.
@@giggles7179 Yup. I looked at staying in the Chelsea in the 2000's and was heavily advised to just see it from the outside (and even, then, be careful walking around the outside.) I was, in no uncertain terms, told not to actually spend the night there. Broke my heart a little, but come to mention it, a refurbished and upscaled Chelsea Hotel kind of breaks my heart too.
@@DoomGoober It's bizarre; if you asked me if there were a place and a time I would have loved to have lived in, I'd emphatically say NYC's East Village, late 1980's - early 90's. A good part of that area looked like a post-apocaplyptic war zone back then, but countless artists found the neighborhoods and the people inspirational in a way almost impossible to state in words. Though it's in another area of Manhattan entirely, the Chelsea exemplified that je ne sais quoi as well.
@@giggles7179 Culture can't be manufactured, unfortunately. Of course the reason why the East Village was filled with artists was because it was cheap.....
Luxury boutique hotel, just ...I can't anymore. Really, there's a desperate need for more luxury spaces in Chelsea? ? I thought NYC has an urgent need for truly affordable housing? As in lower rent for working class people. Money has already destroyed Chelsea, a cool working class neighborhood that was built on docker workers and factory workers, and also writers and artists. Now, just obscene piles of money. Yuch. 🌆🗽
I wanted to stay there once along time ago but they were not renting as a hotel. I forget why. It was in bad shape. They let me go on the roof to see where they shot pics of Joplin.
O. Henry, Thomas Wolfe, Dave Grohl, William S. Burroughs, Edgar Lee Masters, Anthony Kiedis (until he got mad at Stanley Bard and stormed off) Arthur C. Clark, Arthur Miller, John Sloan, Dylan Thomas, Betsy Johnson, Miloš Forman…give me more time, I’ll come up with more residents. Marilyn Monroe never stayed there. And Jack Kerouac DID NOT write On the Road there. But he did let Gore Vidal do unmentionable things to him there one night. So Jack’s stay at the Chelsea = one night.
I also forgot William Dean Howells, Brendan Behan, Virgil Thomson, and Charles R. Jackson, the guy who wrote the novel Lost Weekend, committed suicide there.
I forgot Joni Mitchell. “I woke up it was a Chelsea morning and the first thing that I heard, was a song outside my window and the traffic wrote the words.”
Tried checking into the Chelsea with help from my dad after a nervous breakdown in my shoebox apt. in the Village; owner was incredibly pretentious, acted like he didn't know what we were talking about, completely gassed up on its and his apparent importance. Some places worth avoiding
For those that think it should always be a dirt cheap bohemian hotel do understand this is Manhattan. Manhattan real estate will not support a run-down dirt cheap skid row hotel but with a good balance of long-term residents, upgraded and maintained luxury rooms and even the more standard rooms .. that is the only way the property owners will be able to keep this historic building afloat. For those wanting dirt cheap bohemian... There are actually one or two hostels in Manhattan.. you will be at the far north end but you will be in Manhattan!
The Hotel long ago became a magnet for posers and pretenders. "If you say you're an artist you ARE an artist." Z Z Z Z And now, in its new life as a boutique hotel, it can attract those who have lots of money but no sense of what it means to be an artist.
Such a tragedy that it's going to become another boutique hotel in the city. I would have wished for a museum and an artists symposium, RE developers are soulless.
Well… Put yourself in their position and run the actual numbers. And then which artists or which people would you bring in… And what would you charge them? I’m all for the romance of the bygone days. And I’m all for supporting Artists but there’s taxes and maintenance costs, and staff and insurance and all of that. it’s not always about the money. Profitability equals viability. In this case, I’m using the term profit as that evil excess value that somehow should be redistributed to all people everywhere, except for rich people who have too much.
very groovy if only those chelsea walls could talk ps just came back from seeing a staged reading of chelsea walls up on 86th st there #PresoiveDaChoich
Boutique hotel Welcome to the Sid & Nancy Room. You'll only be charged if you live. Welcome to the Marilyn Room, the men are lined up and waiting. Welcome to the Mapplethorpe Room, the men are lined up and waiting.
Stayed one creepy night back in the early 70’s for the artistic thrill. The bed was unmade, covered in unclean linens, and the room was infested with cockroaches. I was uninspired.
I lived there from 1965 until 1970. I lived on the second floor until I found out the eighth floor was cheaper. It was hotter in the summer (no air conditioning) and it took longer for the heat and hot water to get to the eighth floor. Virgil Thompson lived across the hall from me. We remained best friends until his death. Long live the Chelsea Hotel!
You're an icon, Sir, thanks for sharing!
Bet you have some interesting stories.
I just read Patti Smith's memoir Just Kids when her and Robert Mapplethorpe lived there in the seventies.
Maybe someday you would like to share your experiences also.
:-)
Wow!!!!!!!!
I find that I just cherish and love the past and can’t find anything today to feel good about. Even a piece like this.
8th floor? Did you ever see the ghost Mary in the hallway crying ?
The only reason for its legendary creative space, was due to it being dirt cheap near the cultural scenes.
Now its gentrified luxury rooms, the creativity there, will only be the ghosts of the past
Yep! This puff piece is as sanitized as the hotel. I guess Sean McPherson thinks removing his corporate tie and un-tucking his shirt will cover up his passel of lies about the gentrified business
NYC traded its character and cheaper rents for the working class for yuppies and trust-funders that romanticize about the city’s past, but at least one can walk down most of its streets today without getting robbed or mugged, so there are some silver linings.
@@aceboogisback9946 so you're saying that the only way to be safe in NYC is for it to be so expensive no one can afford it?
@@LibbyRal Nope, not at all. It could have a working class population and remain a safe city if the government and wealthy invested in the working class, such as cheaper housing, plenty of jobs in the vicinity of their housing, free education at public universities, primary education no longer zip-code based, etc. Unfortunately, none of this will likely happen anytime soon.
@@aceboogisback9946 so you’re saying I should go back to NYU …
Being made into a boutique hotel… *sigh* gone are the days when humble art students could pool their cash to go and stay for a few days as we did in the 80’s…
I checked it is 250-400$ per night now... I would love to stay there with my wife on a vacation but a week there could be costy
AMEN. If that developer truly believed what he said his goals were in this interview, he failed miserably. Places like this can't be made a luxury boutique hotel without destroying much of what was most charming about it.
Yes! I second This as I did w/a HipHop rap group I was helping as their P.R. in the very late 90’s (99” to be exact I believe) It’s such a shame everything becomes so monopolized by the 1% 😢
Exactly….boutique hotel!!
Some people just have to make money off of every inch of everything.
@@chicgal3👍👍👍
I'm so glad they are restoring it. Decades ago, I used to be treated at a small dental office there. The dentist did not charge much and had an enormous collection of plants, it was like a green house. The building was grungy then, but you could still see regal Victorian bones!
Enjoyed working there BEFORE it became a hotel now. I was a Front Desk Agent and it was operating as a ‘Private Residential building’. Many ups and downs BUT it build character for me. Was there during the end of the construction phase. I’m glad it’s up and running. Met some cool staff members while I was working there. Had to leave unfortunately because I’ve got word that ownership was bringing in their own people (Staff Members from other Hotels) to work the concierge/front desk and those that were there previously would be cut OR become demoted to much smaller roles. I had to make a decision on August 2021 and glad that I did. Those that were there when I was there, 97% of them are gone. Miss the residents. Man Lai, Gerald D, Weinsteins, Mr Bill and his family and everyone I forgot to mention.
One of my neighbors used to work maintenance at Hotel Chelsea. Liked the job, hated the management. Your story rings very true. You seem to be happy with your new path. Be well!
Good thing you decided to leave on your own schedule and not theirs. By any chance, do you know if the long term residents got to stay at their old rate or were they forced to accept an increase or shortened lease terms?
@@donneone I have no idea to be honest. As a front desk agent, we weren’t told much about anything that was going on with the residents. We were left in the dark. I was just thankful that I got word about what was going to happen.
@@girlfromthebronxbywayofelb7288 Appreciate it. Thank you. I can honestly say the team we had, we made the best of it despite the bad situation and lack of communication from previous management.
If I may advise, for a moment…If you ever find yourself in a situation like that again don’t leave because that’s what they want people to do-let them be forced to pay you a severance or collect the unemployment compensation that You Deserve! because you were there first and that’s not fair. These companies have more than enough money to pay you if they don’t want to take you on as part of the new team. Hope you’re doing great wherever u are now✌️
If your trying to "let it be what it always was", you wouldn't be turning it into a pricey boutique hotel that the average person would have to sell a kidney to be able to stay at.
Gentrification at it's most obnoxious.
Well said.
Nothing in NYC is affordable; ridiculous criticism. Furthermore, it's spelled "YOU'RE".
Well yeah anyone with common sense knows he said that for the camera and he’s using the history and the attention from other people because of that history for money, who wouldn’t tho.
As Americans living in Argentina my family stayed at the Chelsea on 3-4 occasions for a month at a time while my father worked in New York. It has obviously changed a lot but it was a great place as it was easy to access the subways, walk to Macys. The staircase has not changed and that was memorable. I remember the Deli that was next door as we got many snacks and meals there during our stay. My aunt who lived across the street found the Chelsea for us and it was a great adventure for 6 kids .
Hope Argentina wins the World Cup 🙏
@@1eighty Looks like they are on their way. They played well.
“Americans living in Argentina”…sounds extremely bohemian, even chic🤗🙌🏼
In the '80s the hotel had a faded feel, a touch of a dump. I hope the hotel doesn't stray in the other direction, too far in "boutique" territory, which could well happen. Over the past few decades it seems everything in NYC has been scrubbed up, made glossy and kid-friendly and affordable for only the rich. It's heartening to see that longtime tenants will still be living there, and dolling up their apartments to suit their very eclectic tastes.
Meh...they're trying to open a Disney Boutique on the top floor...so i heard....there goes the neighborhood.
Still a dump.
Too late for that
@@brainscott8198 perhaps that top floor and the income it will generate will pay for the rest of the hotel - - the renovations, and to keep it affordable for others. (I can’t believe I’m trying to be optimistic here, I am a dyed in the wool New Yorker and barely recognized the city anymore with all its “positive” changes.)
@@florinest 😂😂😂😂
Turning it into a “boutique hotel”, translation: rooms were $300.00, now they’ll be $1,000.00.
They are already at that price
They never fix anything beyond the foyer. Believe it
" I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel
You were famous, your heart was a legend
You told me again you preferred handsome men
But for me you would make an exception…" - Leonard Cohen
Disgracefully disrespectful to Janis.
@girl from the bronx by way of el barrio oh come now! Janis fkd everybody. It’s normal for most rock stars.
Janis was a vulnerable person. A true human would have gotten that. Hiding behind rock and roll, how empty headed. You've said all you need to say about your priorities.
Leonard never even stayed there he’s a poser
Now Ive got the song stuck in my head. Thanks for the song Mr Cohen
This makes me so sad. That's not the Chelsea. The Chelsea was starving artists, junkies, prostitutes, and insane drag queens that would make people run in absolute terror. THAT what made the Chelsea so storied and iconic. That was its charm. Few people lived there at the height of their success and more of them didn't even find success until they were gone entirely. You can't scrub this place up, charge $400 a night, and expect it to retain any of its identity. Not even a shred.
The art was on display before the renovation. The rooms were all different and the elevators were sketchy. It was all about the people there, and in many cases they were sketchy too.
That one gentleman's apartment is just incredible!
One day back around 2008 I was walking around NYC and decided to check out the hotel. And it was very interesting inside. I took a lot of pictures that I still have. 😊😊😊 so much history.
Such a great building. My friend and I went in there in 2009 to sneak around while taking pictures. We were trying to find the room where Sid killed Nancy.
Stayed there for a few days 40 years ago...Glad I had the opportunity.
I grew up in the Penn South co-ops on 26th street and passed by the hotel all the time, especially when I started working at MetLife on 23rd and Madison in 1979. You could sometimes see a celebrity walking on 23rd Street near the hotel. I really miss the neighborhood.
Beautiful hotel! I love these old vintage hotels there's still a few around. They just don't build them like this anymore😁✌
A portion of " An American Family" was filmed there. The episode when Lance Loud was residing there and his mother Pat visited him.
Loved that show.
She looked mortified!
Blues legend Johnny Winter stayed at the hotel Chelsea when he first moved to New York in 1969 with his band Tommy Shannon and Uncle John Turner recalls Johnny in his autobiography book raising Cain 0:04
I stayed at the Chelsea with my cousins in 1989. 4 of us in a tiny room. Worlds scariest elevator. My only regret is not exploring more of the hotel itself while we were there. I don’t remember it looking that nice though.
Love it !!! What an amazing place to experience... stayed on the 7th floor!!! We are artists!!!
✌️❤️🙏🏼
They are “sanitizing” the space by making it into a luxury boutique hotel (aka an expensive, inauthentic experience for the rich). I’m so tired of this. We’re losing sacred spaces by the day, especially in NYC. Once you scrub out the “soul” of a place, no amount of money gets it back. These developers could use their money, power, and privilege to make the world better; but they’d rather squeeze out every last dollar instead. The only thing keeping spaces “pure” is dedicated citizens who fight the good fight💪🏾
I knew there was a sad, dark chapter to this. Because nothing today can remain beautiful anymore. Of course, some corporate conglomerate guy comes along and decides to make it a boutique hotel. What an absolute shame and tragedy! He is not pulling the wool over any of our eyes with using language draped in oh we want to keep it the way it was etc. What a tragedy the Chelsea was something so special and there’s so little of that anymore anywhere you go.😢
Happy to be old when things were amazing.
Omigosh the hairdresser's loft apartment has improved since the last time I saw it just wow!!! ❤
Do you think now that it's an expensive boutique hotel it will attract young artists from around the world like in the past? Of course not. That chapter of the famed Chelsea Hotel is gone
And with Fran Leibowitz holding the door for you! Wow!
Lol yeah, I thought so too…until the decidedly male voice
I thought the same thing! (lol)
@@FluxyMiniscus But Leibowitz has a decidedly male voice...
I first went there to visit a friend in 1968
Who was going to Fashion Institute
Then we went to see Big Bros and the Holding Company with Janis.
@@davidanthonystone5165 lucky you
@@davidanthonystone5165 I heard Janis stayed there
@@davidanthonystone5165 Janis was great but so was the band BBHC. The drummer, Dave Getz and bass player Peter Albin still play w a band the Dinosaurs in San Francisco. Guitarists James Gurley and Sam Andrews died a few years ago both in their 70s
"I can still hear the sounds of those Methodist bells
I'd taken the cure and had just gotten through
Stayin' up for days in the Chelsea Hotel
Writing "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" for you."
-Bob Dylan "Sara" (1976) from the Desire album
Yep, now it is a Boutique Hotel which means, it will be very expensive to rent a room there.
RIP Stanley Bard ❤️
When The Chelsea gets turned into a chi chi boutique hotel, what will happen to those who are currently renting rooms as their apartment? Will they be priced out or grandfathered in? Sometimes progress, even if it's under the guise of preservation, can have catastrophic affects on lives.
Grandfathered in, as I believe. Must be, because if their apartment rate went to the current room rate, they’d never be able to afford it. Let’s hope they all have 30 year leases.
@@christinacascadilla4473Or better. We could only hope.
Hope has little impact on the weasels that control NYC real estate. We should know that by now, one of these grifters accidentally fell backwards into the presidency. Hope the surviving residents had intensely talented attorneys.
I feel sad for NYC, truly cheap living space was THE reason that Hotel Chelsea played a role in culture and history. I can't wait until we elect a truly courageous mayor who refuses to accept one dollar of real estate money in her campaign, and then moves forward to break the strangle hold real estate has on NYC politics. Then people will be able to afford both rent and food for a change. We need a new Mayor LaGuardia to step up and just scream at these creeps until they stop.
It already has been turned into that hotel. I found rates via Windsurfer® CRS, a Central Reservation
System for Hotels starting at $450 a night up to $1350
@@LibbyRal As expected.
I like how the renovations destroyed the original look of the rooms. Clearly a corporate look. What a shame, they must have been something.
It wasn't super cheap. I had a friend who lived there in the early '80s who paid close to $1000/month for a studio apartment. My tenament apartment, by contrast, was $400. But she had a fireplace, an elevator and Stanley.
I remember back in 1981my mom only paid $235.00 a month for a 2 bd room apt. But the neighborhood was kind of stretchy back then (it's even worse now) so paying $1000.00 a month for rent in 1981 was like unimaginable.
@@flameripper5502 I can tell you are not a New York City resident. The neighborhood is not "worse" today. Not even close. Street crime is nothing like it was in 1981. The suggestion that crime is "even worse" today - is laughable.
In 1995, it was about 1500.00 a month. Just about any place with a room and a door was starting at that price in Manhattan at the time. I had friends living at the Chelsea, it was showing its age then. Glad it got cleaned up and even if it was run down the prices would still go up.
@@mikejewpants4099 I'm not from NY.
@@flameripper5502 I know.
I wish they would have gotten into the history of the man who ran it for decades !!
Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful hotel.
Glad to see that this hotel is being loved and cared for like the grand old lady that it is💖
But it's not. Hanging a few old artworks and uncovering a ceiling doesn't make up for all the gentrification and raising of rates accompanying this boutique hotel
@@LibbyRal It is disappointing that it's being reinvented as a luxury hotel. Guess they want to keep out the riff raff, lol 😊
I live near this. It's a thing of the past. No great artists lived there beyond the 80s or so.
Artists aren’t even a thing anymore, thanks TikTok
That Joni Mitchell was not mentioned once, I consider a major omission to this otherwise fun story! Who else wrote and sang a song about this fabled place?
I associate her with Laurel Canyon.
She wrote a damn song about the place. Chelsea Morning. It's where Chelsea Clinton gets her name, like many, many Chelsea's from 1969 on. Perhaps CBS was worries about paying for 3 seconds of song.
@@sandbridgekid4121 perhaps, more likely not! The Chelseas that you were discussing are decades later from when Joni wrote her song! That and there are rules that allow you to play a few seconds of somebody’s song without royalties! Ad-libbing exposes ignorance unless you really know what you’re talking about.
@@sandbridgekid4121 duh
I've been researching this and surprisingly, she never actually lived at the Chelsea, she lived on 16th Street in the Chelsea neighbourhood and wrote the song while living there. She did frequent the hotel as a visitor though.
Jane Pauley,nattily attired:)Nico,Tim Buckley,Jackson Browne all lived there...
Like much of New York, these days the cultural gems are polished and repackaged for the rich.
The Chelsea Hotel is Truly a NYC institution and believe the new owner is on the right track to ensure the it’s historical preservation.
This hotel’s a lot older than the famed Plaza Hotel.
I am profoundly happy that the permanent residents will stay.
I stayed there about 15 years ago (by choice!) because of all the history. it was a complete dump! At least back then and not even a cheap dump. The sad part was you could tell at one time it was grand, the high ceilings, the detailing and old sinks, tubs etc. but it just wasn't maintained properly. Paint over paint, cracks in bathroom fixtures repaired with cheap fillers and glues. Broken windows. I guess I got to say I stayed there.
Making it expensive will defeat its original intent, n’est-ce pas?
Totally agree!
In case you missed it. Once those 45 residents die, the essential creative spirit of the Chelsea Hotel dies with them and capitalism takes over. Sad end of an era.
It looks totally sanitized but gotta save it some how. They did leave the funky guitar shop in the bottom though.
Now beautifully restored as a boutique hotel for the rich....
I had not heard of the Chelsea Hotel before, (thanks CBSSM for the segment!) but upon further reflection, I indeed HAVE heard of it, but just wasn't aware of the context -- "woke up it was a Chelsea morning," et al. I'm now going to pleasantly ponder what other references may be out in the mileiu...
Nothing is sacred. Gentrification is ruining the world. Even in the "artsy neighborhoods" in Indianapolis, artist can't afford to live in them anymore.
Sad to see this happen to such an icon.
No mention of Joni Mitchell and her song Chelsea Morning?
The 20th Century American composer/critic/writer Virgil Thomson live here for many years.
Here before Swifties
Sean MacPherson trying not to do... is EXACTLY what has been done, turning it into a corporate "luxury boutique hotel" for all those rich cultural tourists. A few art studios would have been a gracious gesture to retain its cool.
They did allow a few of the longtime residents to stay for "authentic bohemian vibe" 😂
Well done.so much history
I had drinks there on Friday night!
"Try not to mess it up, try not to corporatize it".... they're turning it into a luxury boutique hotel. The damage is already done.
A magical place.....
Keep driving that class divide. "Everyone is accepted at the Chelsea"... except anyone that's not incredibly wealthy anymore. I want to see a homeless writer, who's avoiding creditors, even try to go to the bar, or get a room... he wouldn't make it past the doorman. The class divide is destroying our country.
I would like to see the art work in the Chelsea hotel.
Beautiful stoic artist
Looks like they did a good job on the reno. Bravo!
I spent an incredible afternoon there.
Phil Spector is alive and working as a doorman at the Chelsea!
woke up it was a Chelsea morning & the first thing that I saw- Joni Mitchell
I suppose society is not what it once was. One must be an established artist where money is no object. This seems a hotel for those w cash who want to reminisce about the musicians and music they loved. Ironically, they likely say, “music is not as meaningful as it was back then.”
The architecture and design details are beautiful. It WAS an enormous factory of creative thought, but will be no longer after turning it into a boutique hotel Also, saying American Culture wouldn't be what it is without the Chelsea is a bit of a stretch. "American Culture" is deep and wide. There are millions of people in this country who've never even heard of the Chelsea. However, people make decisions and have to live in what is currently the truth. Nostalgia is a dream that is almost impossible to travel back to. I live not too far from NYC and appreciate the efforts to preserve architecture. However, these statements are fairly typical of "the world revolves around NYC" arrogance and provincialism of many of it's residents.
Well said!......I especially like your take on Nostalgia!
Thank you! Could not have put it any better. I worked in that area and was lucky enough to stay at the hotel, and spent many very happy hours at El Quijote (the bar there). Agreed on the nostalgia factor as well, i.e. no going back. Those 'halcyon times' especially the 60's - 80's - the social upheaval, the political landscape of NYC, AIDS - not anything I'd like to go back to. Ah, the music, art, fashion, etc. that was the Stuff. Thanks again, you really stated it Way better than I could!
Maybe I got my hotels mixed up but didn't a guitarist from a famous rock and roll band once rode his motorcycle through the Halls of the Chelsea hotel?
It was drummer John Bonham from Led Zeppelin and it was at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles.
@@RudieObias Ok thank you my friend 👍
It was either Bonham from Zeppelin or Moon from the Who.
Thank you
Stayed there in the 90's during an experimental film festival, and my friend who also had film in the fest booked us 2 nights. But on entertaining our room, I was appalled how seedy it was. There were bare patches in the rug and the heater banged through the night. A true dump.
Did you do ANY research into it before staying there? It's hardly been a secret that the place was precisely as you described it (well done, by the way). It housed starving artists, junkies, prostitutes, and insane drag queens that would make people run in terror for years. But that is precisely what made the Chelsea so storied and iconic. That was its charm and the reason there's a book on it. Few people lived there at the height of their success. Some of them didn't even find success until they were gone entirely.
@@giggles7179 Yup. I looked at staying in the Chelsea in the 2000's and was heavily advised to just see it from the outside (and even, then, be careful walking around the outside.) I was, in no uncertain terms, told not to actually spend the night there. Broke my heart a little, but come to mention it, a refurbished and upscaled Chelsea Hotel kind of breaks my heart too.
@@DoomGoober It's bizarre; if you asked me if there were a place and a time I would have loved to have lived in, I'd emphatically say NYC's East Village, late 1980's - early 90's. A good part of that area looked like a post-apocaplyptic war zone back then, but countless artists found the neighborhoods and the people inspirational in a way almost impossible to state in words. Though it's in another area of Manhattan entirely, the Chelsea exemplified that je ne sais quoi as well.
@@giggles7179 Culture can't be manufactured, unfortunately. Of course the reason why the East Village was filled with artists was because it was cheap.....
Phil Spector as doorman was impressive.
back in 76-77 I lived there next door to sid vicious
Can you account for your whereabouts on the night of 10/12/1978? ;)
I bet you have some stories. Would you like to share?
I was across the hall a door down.
@@nathueil1 OK, maybe you would like to share?
I was in the elevator with Johnny Rotten in the WTC. Seriously, I worked at Windows Restaurant at the top.
Your story is more interesting. :-)
There won't be any more starving artists staying at the Chelsea but they'll milk their history for all its worth.
Sad developers are ruining this much loved landmark. NYC doesn’t need another luxury hotel.
Small loft apartment? For New York, that’s a palace!
"This aint the Chelsea hotel were modern idiots"
TTPD
"When we stayed at the Chelsea hotel"
Chelsea
Wow wow good Tnx
Luxury boutique hotel, just ...I can't anymore. Really, there's a desperate need for more luxury spaces in Chelsea? ? I thought NYC has an urgent need for truly affordable housing? As in lower rent for working class people. Money has already destroyed Chelsea, a cool working class neighborhood that was built on docker workers and factory workers, and also writers and artists. Now, just obscene piles of money. Yuch. 🌆🗽
I've always wanted to live in this hotel. I don't think they accept long term residents anymore though.
Hopefully, they won't put a Starbucks in the lobby.
Glad it’s been kept up .
Seriously? No mention of Joni Mitchell?
I wanted to stay there once along time ago but they were not renting as a hotel. I forget why. It was in bad shape. They let me go on the roof to see where they shot pics of Joplin.
I’ve always experienced negative energy when I’m there or waking by 🤷♂️
You probably also think clowns and old dolls are creepy.
O. Henry, Thomas Wolfe, Dave Grohl, William S. Burroughs, Edgar Lee Masters, Anthony Kiedis (until he got mad at Stanley Bard and stormed off) Arthur C. Clark, Arthur Miller, John Sloan, Dylan Thomas, Betsy Johnson, Miloš Forman…give me more time, I’ll come up with more residents. Marilyn Monroe never stayed there. And Jack Kerouac DID NOT write On the Road there. But he did let Gore Vidal do unmentionable things to him there one night. So Jack’s stay at the Chelsea = one night.
I think Bob Dylan wrote some of "Blond on Blond" at the Chelsea.
You forgot Sam Shepard.
I also forgot William Dean Howells, Brendan Behan, Virgil Thomson, and Charles R. Jackson, the guy who wrote the novel Lost Weekend, committed suicide there.
So...Gore was gored or the gorer? Salacious, inquiring minds want to know...
I forgot Joni Mitchell. “I woke up it was a Chelsea morning and the first thing that I heard, was a song outside my window and the traffic wrote the words.”
Tried checking into the Chelsea with help from my dad after a nervous breakdown in my shoebox apt. in the Village; owner was incredibly pretentious, acted like he didn't know what we were talking about, completely gassed up on its and his apparent importance. Some places worth avoiding
Ooh. Sorry.
Now he's gonna charge what grand a night
Wow, a developer making the Chelsae into a 'Luxury Boutique' hotel and thinking he can keep the original vibe. I laughed so hard I almost peed myself.
For those that think it should always be a dirt cheap bohemian hotel do understand this is Manhattan. Manhattan real estate will not support a run-down dirt cheap skid row hotel but with a good balance of long-term residents, upgraded and maintained luxury rooms and even the more standard rooms .. that is the only way the property owners will be able to keep this historic building afloat. For those wanting dirt cheap bohemian... There are actually one or two hostels in Manhattan.. you will be at the far north end but you will be in Manhattan!
I stayed at this hotel in the 90s and it was a dump. My my how its changed
The Hotel long ago became a magnet for posers and pretenders. "If you say you're an artist you ARE an artist." Z Z Z Z
And now, in its new life as a boutique hotel, it can attract those who have lots of money but no sense of what it means to be an artist.
Dainty Adore and Christina as well
Such a tragedy that it's going to become another boutique hotel in the city. I would have wished for a museum and an artists symposium, RE developers are soulless.
Well… Put yourself in their position and run the actual numbers. And then which artists or which people would you bring in… And what would you charge them? I’m all for the romance of the bygone days. And I’m all for supporting Artists but there’s taxes and maintenance costs, and staff and insurance and all of that. it’s not always about the money. Profitability equals viability. In this case, I’m using the term profit as that evil excess value that somehow should be redistributed to all people everywhere, except for rich people who have too much.
I live in NYC. My question is. Is it a residential property now? Or can one stay a night or two?
Wow
So it's becoming Disney land or Vegas after the good times?
very groovy
if only those chelsea walls could talk
ps
just came back from seeing a staged reading of chelsea walls up on 86th st there
#PresoiveDaChoich
Boutique hotel
Welcome to the Sid & Nancy Room. You'll only be charged if you live.
Welcome to the Marilyn Room, the men are lined up and waiting.
Welcome to the Mapplethorpe Room, the men are lined up and waiting.
Mantap👌👍✊
No fire sprinklers =no fire protection =life lost.
Stayed one creepy night back in the early 70’s for the artistic thrill. The bed was unmade, covered in unclean linens, and the room was infested with cockroaches. I was uninspired.
Eewwwwww huk.