After reading about all the horrible things going on around here, such as Stanley’s ouster, tenants being forced out, and the squabbles between shareholders and management, Blog readers often write in to ask if they should still visit the hotel. Their concerns are valid--ranging from not wanting to give their money to a band of scoundrels to a fear that they might get caught up in the political struggle--and no one would blame them if they chose to spend their money elsewhere. At the present time, however, we are still urging friends of the hotel to come and be our guests while the place still retains a hint of its old edgy charm. (Don’t forget to tell them at the desk to BRING BACK THE BARDS!) Anyway, here are a couple of letters from concerned readers:
Hi Ed, I've been reading through your blog everyday for the past few weeks. I originally heard of the hotel while going through a Sid and Nancy obsession but have since flipped that to a Chelsea obsession. I saw the Chelsea in person for the first time in October while attending Rocky Horror but I was too nervous to go inside--probably, like many others, because I was afraid I wouldn't want to leave. I'd like to plan a weekend trip to the Chelsea to experience it first hand and I'm wondering your opinion on a few things. I'm kicking myself because I didn't get to visit while Stanley was in charge. It would be easy for me to stay in the Fall, but should I try to get out there ASAP in case more changes are planned? Also, how difficult/more expensive do you think it would be to get a room on the balcony side? I am, like most, afraid of getting screwed by new management.
Thanks for your help and all the great insider info on the Chelsea,
Renée
Your concerns about getting screwed by the new management are well founded, Renée, though I think when they do screw someone it’s less of a concerted campaign than merely the result of incompetence. We’ve heard plenty of stories about guests being ripped off, but just as many stories about guests getting an unbelievably good deal. So perhaps if you don’t hear what you like the first time you call, you should just wait and talk to somebody else. (This was the way it was under BD anyway; we must confess we don’t yet know what to expect from the new manager.) But I think you can safely wait until fall to visit. Although the minority shareholders would like to renovate the place and throw us all out, they don’t seem to want to spend any money to do it.
Because I plan another visit to NYC I took a look at the Chelsea Hotel website. Oh man, things have changed since I stayed there in 1992 for three weeks. And immediately I discovered the 'loss' of Mister Stanley Bard, whom I met and had such a wonderful time with (he asked me a couple of times per week about my stay), when I read about the hotel's history. I couldn't believe my eyes. He was/is a landmark of his own and so linked to the hotel. It's such a shame, it really is, that the new management did not mention him and his family. This is not just an omission by accident, it's meant to be this way. It makes me feel sad. Somewhere else on this great blog (I subscribed today) I read about people wondering whether they would come or not to the hotel since the new management. Me too, I'm seriously in doubt. So BD management (I'm pretty sure you'll read this blog), come on and act properly! Don't throw history away, don't rewrite history and do not forget his story!
Frank, The Netherlands.
Yeah, Stanley definitely was a large part of the Chelsea experience, and we apologize to everyone that he is no longer here to compare this place to the Plaza or to assure you—in case you were silly enough to doubt it--that the Chelsea Hotel is the most famous building in the world. (It’s not our fault, but the minority shareholders sure aren’t going to apologize. And you’re right: it’s definitely not an accident that there’s no mention of the Bard family on the hotel’s web site.) BD, by the way, is now history, the victim of Richard Born’s greed and ambition running head on into Marlene Krauss’s greed and irrational-vendetta-against-Stanley, and so we have a new manager, a guy named Andrew Tilley, whom few residents have ever actually seen, and whom at least one blog reader seemed to confuse with a dog.
Oh, by the way, when you do come, be sure to put on an old sweatshirt and head downstairs for a beer at the Star Lounge! (Just kidding: Chelsea Hotel guests and residents aren’t welcome there.) -- Ed Hamilton
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