At some point in the near future the documentary will be online. In addition, you can hear Ed in a follow-up interview on Friday at 10:30 a.m. He will be a guest on "The Naked City," a program on Australian public radio FBi 94.5. The station also streams online.
Hi Ed,
Just a note from here in Sydney, keep up the good fight. The profile on the Chelsea we saw last night on 
the tv was fascinating and had us hooked, we will keep up with what's happening via your blog. If a city loses it's character, it loses it heart. Money doesn't make it pump harder, it makes the heart day and stone take it's place.
Long Live the Chelsea!
jo & brent and baby Cai
Hi Ed,
I too watched Foreign Corrospondent last night and was amazed at the history of the Chelsea and its commitment to maintain its spirit. Especially that of the wonderful manager. Keep up the fight and let it live on. I hope to visit soon. Lita, Perth, Western Australia
WOW as a mum from Bundaberg Queensland Australia i saw a piece of footage last nite that i truely felt for ..That such place of beauty, history and most importantly peoples homes could be sold like that. I pray that everyone living there now life there and thier after life there can keep their homes and little piece of New York that i have dreamed of visiting since i was small child..i still can...from our little aussie family to your huge chelsea one hugs loves kisses and prayers
Bronnie
Saw the foreign correspondent interview on Australian TV. Keep up the good fight for the Chelsea . It has always been a big dream of mine as a young Arts student many moons ago to live at the Chelsea Hotel . I hope that one day it will still eventuate. When the kids leave home.. regards
Lisa, Tasmania
Yep this aired last night in Australia - your message certainly came across. I felt the gentrification wave when I was in NY in November last year and thought what a shame it was.
I live in Sydney - our inner city has been completely gentrified, the hipsters are out in force (notcompletely priced out yet) and the yuppies in full flight. As a Victorian colony our lot are snobbier than New
Yorkers (I hate to say) and face exactly the same consumer goods-driven economy fuelled by booming capital markets and a recent property boom - most people are too caught up with themselves to realsie what they are participating in. And hey as in economics, it is just a hostage position - no player can change their actions and expect anyone else to follow suit.
But no matter how gentried NY gets at least there is some remnant of soul in your city because by and large there is still heritage. Most of our great buildings are gone for mod towers like new Hearst building
(I'm typing this from one).
Good little doco. Good luck with the blog. Keep up the fight for grit.
Matthew
G'day guys,
Bit slow reacting, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching a segment about the Chelsea (and your good bloggin'selves) on abc last night. (Melbourne, Australia). This inner city gentrification syndrome appears to be a world-wide problem. I cannot fathom the unbridled and pointless greed of so many individuals on this planet. Enough's enough you bastards! Leave the hotel alone! Would LOVE to visit NYC one day and drop in for a cup of tea. All the best,
Denise
Gin & Tonics at the ready, we sat down to watch the ABC’s report on Hotel Chelsea. The excitement was palpable, in only minutes our own temporal Mecca would buzz across the television screen.
Within the first few shots of the Hotel sign and the neighbourhood I had drifted off into gooey nostalgia land and my companion had his hand on my shoulder for moral support.
“I want to go home”, I peeped from under my excitement. “I miss my Chelsea”.
The reactions came thick and fast as familiar faces and names darted across the screen. Life always looks different on TV and it was interesting to see the lobby as a camera does, with the weirdness and decrepitude harshly abstracted.
Stanley Bard gave a wonderful performance as Stanley Bard and was much more forthcoming in interview than I imagined he might be. He was particularly honest about the Board of Directors constantly pressuring him to make the place more profitable. Presented to us was Stanley Bard, protector of the last outpost of bohemia.
We met several of the buildings inhabitants including Gerald Busby and the hosts of this illustrious blog, Debbie Martin and Ed Hamilton. When they were introduced, Deb was hassling Ed about how they could have a sofa if only it weren’t for the foosball table Ed insists on keeping. Come on Debbie, everyone knows foosball is essential to the production of the great American novel!
We toured the building and neighbourhood with Ed and the reporter, Michael Maher. In discussing the issue of gentrification, the report introduced us to a resident of the old YMCA, now million dollar condos, the seductively Imeldaesque Cindy Gallop. We saw her sterile, cavernous home with it’s ostentatious displays of consumption, most particularly the shoe gallery. [I might have forgiven the shoe gallery had I seen Westwood heels but that’s a different contribution]
Ms Gallop even apologised for her presence in the area and agreed that the old time residents should dislike her. Her credibility was somewhat dimmed when she spoke of 23rd Street as a zone akin to the worst of the Bronx for street danger and she couldn’t resist a certain swagger in her description of living on 23rd St as being a bit edgy… Yeah, if you think giant cupcakes are edgy.
For this viewer, the big excitement was simply to see the hotel on TV being treated with the dignity that she deserves. The scenes of Ed Hamilton reading from his work, on the fire escapes, glued the whole thing together. Ed’s writings flow so beautifully with his NY via Kentucky accent seducing this Australian ear.
My companion, who works in travel, was sent on his way with instructions to get prices for a ticket back to Manhattan.
XXXXR
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