Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog

Tourist Of The Week

I thought perhaps one tourist in February was an anomaly, but now there is even more evidence that tourist season is starting early this year.  Lucky for us travel blogging is all the rage.

Interestingly, Claudia was inspired to visit the Hotel Chelsea by reading Sarah Vowell's book, Take the Cannolli.  Claudia, of course, receives a warm greeting upon arrival.  I arrived late. The few steps I had to take from the subway station to the hotel, along with the long flights and airplane food, must have made me look somewhere in between hoplessly cold and dead beat tired. As I walk to the reception desk, I see two middle aged men there listening to Aerosmith's "Walk this way" which was playing on a radio and following the rythm by ways of a very discreet headbanging.  They finally notice me and say "Hey! You've made it!". Which is nice, considering they had never seen me before :-)  She has tons of interior photos in her Flickr group.

Between the Lines

BETWEEN THE LINES -- OPENS SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 4 - 7PM

TARIQ ALVI, CHARLES HENRI FORD, DANIEL MCDONALD, LORRAINE O'GRADY, KEN OKIISHI, PAULINA OLOWSKA, KIANJA STROBERT

HOTEL CHELSEA ROOM 103
DANIEL REICH TEMP.

Linda Troeller: Living and Working in the Chelsea Hotel

The February issue of Double Exposure highlights the work and life of Chelsea Hotel resident and photographer Linda Troeller.  Spectacular photographs of glamorous residents past and present are featured. (Photo: www.lindatroller.com)

In 1998 I spent some months photographing some of the terrific apartments in the hotel. When I heard that the hotel was approached by a major chain to be sold, I decided to prepare a book dummy which is now in consideration with a publisher. I have also photographed some of the artists who have lived and are currently living here. I loved the stories Jean Claude, Christo, and Ralph Gibson told me, as well as artists like Sir David Remfy and Robert Lambert, who live here now. The book project includes these interviews as well, and I am evolving a digital installation with this work. The Chelsea Hotel is a landmark, and one of the few urban places still in operation that encourages creativity in a loosely knit artist community.  The mood seems to come from the walls and travels up the gothic staircase.  People who arrive with a fresh dream catch the drift and stay.

Voyeurism as a marketing tool

According to travel blog Newyorkology, peek-a-boo-bathrooms are the new rage at local boutique hotels.  We’ve had these at the Chelsea for some time now.  Each public bathroom features a hatch that opens onto a rubbish strewn interior air-shaft.  Enterprising voyeurs can clamber up the shaft and stop to see what’s happening on various floors. 

Investors Needed

Our neighbor blogger Twenty Third & Seventh is asking for contributions to raise enough money to buy Michael Alig's prison bracelet.  If you have some coins to spare throw some his way.

BlairWear Makes Good

Ever wonder what happened to that girl with pink hair who used to live in Harry Smith’s old room?   She’s alive and well, thank god.  And, if you’re in the market for somebody to airbrush your underwear, give her a call.
What do you do?
Sometimes I play cowbell sometimes I don’t. Most of the time I do airbrushed graffiti clothing for kids. Right now I sell my kids line at Barneys NY.  I also do kids events where I go and airbrush on –site, like birthday parties or special events. Kind of like performance art. I also just wrote a kids book. Basically, I’m just a tall kid! I also maintain my website www.blairwear.com, and do anything fun that’s thrown my way.
(Photo: Rita Barros' book)

When did you live in the Chelsea?
I lived at the Chelsea from 1997-2001
Why did you decide to move into the Chelsea? There were 3 things I knew the second I was born.. 1- I would have pink hair, 2- I would wear fake eyelashes, and 3 my name was BlairWear. So the first moment I moved to New York City when I was 17 I knew I HAD to live there. It was like secret ingredient to my cake. There was something almost like a mysterious voice calling me there.  Kind of like that Wendy’s commercial.

How did you score your apartment?
At first I moved in with a roommate, then eventually moving into my own studio.  Stanley was like my surrogate dad, he always helped me out.

Do you think there is a creative energy in the Chelsea?
UMM, do politicians lie? TOTALLY!  The energy at the hotel is indescribable. If you could bottle it and sell it, you would either be a millionaire or find yourself in a class action civil suit.

Did living in the Chelsea affect your creative development?
Obviously the environment was a catalyst for creating no doubt. The art on the walls, the characters that would come in and out of the hotel, the crazy things people would say . I think in my case I had such a small studio that I was forced to look at everything I painted or did. I had no space to store anything so everything I painted whilst at the hotel became my décor. In return it was like my eyes became binoculars so I had to stare at anything I created until I scrutinized it to death.

What other people at the Chelsea or elsewhere have influenced your development?
David Remfry is a good friend who lives at the hotel and he always inspires me. He is one of those true true talented artists. On top of that my mom and my grandmother to boot.

Who is the most famous person you've ever ridden with in the elevator?
Hmmm, Maybe Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke.

What's the best/worst thing that ever happened to you at the Chelsea?
There were so many, let me think. Got it!
It was very early in the morning and the fire alarm went off. At that time I was on the front of the building and they were doing renovations at the hotel so there was scaffolding all along the front.
I looked out the terrace and there were like 5 (well they had to be) tourists in pajamas with their suitcases standing on the scaffolding probably thinking, “dam we sure got our moneys worth but now I want to go home”. I didn’t take the fire alarms too seriously but then they came through evacuating everyone at the same time I smelled smoke, I got my ass in gear.
Part 2- So at 7am in the morning,,,, everyone was standing in the lobby of the hotel in their pajamas, teddies, negligee, and what not. It was one of those candid New York moments where you say,, WHERE’S MY CAMERA!

Has anyone famous lived in your room?

No one but me.  {Harry Smith was a noted underground filmmaker and obsessive collector of cultural ephemera.  He also compiled the Anthology of American Folk Music.}

Wales Week in NY Celebrates Dylan Thomas

Wales Week in New York provides the perfect excuse to go get drunk at the White Horse Tavern.  Make your experience even more authentic, afterwards, come back to the Hotel Chelsea and drop dead.  Thursday, March 2, at 3:00 p.m.   The Dylan Thomas Prize in partnership with Penderyn Welsh Whisky will be hosting an evening of readings by US and Welsh writers. Karen Shoemaker - US-based, short fiction; Jo Mazelis – Welsh writer, short fiction.  More about Dylan Thomas.

The E-Mail Bag

At least once a week the blog receives an e-mail from a reader who writes, "How can I move into the legendary Hotel Chelsea?"  Well, we snuck in via a sublet.  If that fails, there is an apartment available in the East Village that a blog reader or two might be interested in renting.  It's a two bedroom apartment in the building that graced the album cover of the '75 Led Zeppelin album, Physical Graffiti. (via curbed)  I know it's not as cool at the Hotel Chelsea, but it's a starter home. (More advice here.)