On the 1st of August, the Hotel Chelsea on West 23 rd Street, NY was closed to paying guests. The hotel immortalised in Leonard Cohen's song of the same name has been bought by Joseph Chetrit for $85 million and is to be redeveloped using ar architect whose resume is mostly Holiday Inns.
News of its demise can be found here and here
The Hotel Chelsea is an icon for the bohemian and avant garde New York lifestyle of NYC for over a century, with many famous artists, musicians and writers having lived, and in some cases died there. Amongst its famous residents are Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Iggy Pop and Leonard Cohen, and it was the honeymoon location for Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller.
Amongst those who dies there were Nancy Sprungen, partner of Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, and Dylan Thomas drank his last 18 whiskies in one of its rooms.
The Chelsea Hotel has its own blog Chelseahotelblog.com where you can see the evolution of events over the last couple of years, and has some great pics of the interior.
attribution Flippage on Flickr
As someone who had his adolescent years in the late 60's early 70's, the Chelsea Hotel was a symbol way before I went to the US for the first time. So around the turn of the century when I visited with NYC with Ms SB, both of us Leonard Cohen fans, we jumped at the chance to stay there.
Not cheap, and really a little dowdy, its shortcomings were made up by atmosphere, attitude, of the staff and other guests and the fabulous decor, a lot of which had been done by residents/guests over decades. I remember the argument I had with Ms SB, whose first language is not English who insisted the line in Cohen's song was
"Giving you head on the ugly bed"
and getting the receptionist to adjudicate.
So with a little sadness at the passing of this temple of boho, I will leave you with some music.