Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog

Memorial Service for Willem Van Es

Join Willem's family and friends as they celebrate his life on Monday, March 1 from 5-7 PM at the National Arts Club, at 15 Gramercy Park South New York, New York.

Hey Neil Ashman, Why Do You Need a Liquor License?

Noel  Ashman today swore up and down to a reporter from dnainfo.com that he wasn't planning on opening anything in the Chelsea Hotel.  That's funny, since why else would his name be on the liquor license for Star Lounge which is in the Chelsea Hotel.  Furthermore, we were at a community board meeting just last Monday where Charles Ferri, the owner of Star Lounge, stated that Neil Ashman would be involved in Star Lounge and that this would clean things up and it would be a more respectable venue than it has of late.  Is somebody trying to pull a fast one here? And if so, is it  Neil Ashcan, Charles Ferri, or David Elder.  Click on the download link to download a copy of the liquor license and see for yourself. Download Nool Ashman

 

"The New Tenant" at the Chelsea Hotel

Remember when in December 2008 we told you that this woman was a new permanent tenant....
Now we have proof!

Arthur Miller’s Room in Landmark Chelsea Hotel on Chopping Block

The present, illegitimate, management this week began demolition/“renovation” in room 614 of the National and City Landmark Chelsea Hotel.  This is the room where the great Arthur Miller lived in the 1960s, and where he penned his play “After the Fall.”  The room is virtually unchanged from the time when Miller lived there, and contains many original features.  It has most recently been the home and work space of Dr. Peter Ferro, a dentist who was evicted from the hotel last year.  
    We feel that Miller’s room is a valuable resource for present and future generations of writers and playwrights, and that it should be preserved.  Unfortunately, due to the present management’s utter contempt for history, tradition, and the arts, we have every reason to fear that this room will end up much like Bob Dylan’s room—that is, unceremoniously gutted.

    As was the case with the demolition of Dylan’s room, we feel that the hotel has fraudulently obtained the permits for work on room 614.   In their applications for flooring, kitchen, and bathroom renovations, they falsely state that the Chelsea is not an SRO building, when in fact it is.  They further falsely state that the hotel does not contain rent stabilized units, when in  fact it does.  This allows the hotel to avoid the requirement that they obtain a Certificate of No Harassment—which, due to ongoing harassment, they’ll never get in a million years.

We thought we had cleared up this matter of permit falsification with the DOB in connection with the work on Dylan's room -- for which they issued a Stop Work Order which is still in effect -- but apparently they can't be bothered to read their own paperwork.

Earlier posts about Arthur Miller's room
Arthur Miller’s Suite Vacated, Likely Endangered by Some Asinine Scheme

Photo: (Bill Bolcom, Arnold Weinstein, and Arthur Miller at work in the Chelsea Hotel on the opera based on Miller's play, A View From the Bridge.) Source. Opera News.