Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog

A Toast To Storme DeLarverie

For those concerned about Storme Delarverie there is cause to celebrate.  First, she has moved from Oxford Nursing Home and is now living at CABS Nursing Home, a much nicer facility, where her needs can be better met and one of her good friends, Gladys Sille, is also living.  The location of the CABS Nursing Home is 270 Nostrand Ave.,Brooklyn New York.  It's at the corner of Nostrand and DeKalb.  If you take the G train it's between Dekalb and Bedford Ave.  

Secondly, the Henrietta Hudson bar will host a gala in honor of Storme on Nov. 21 from 4:00 - 8:00 p.m.  100% of the proceeds will go to Storme, to take care of her day-to-day living expenses and incidental needs.  $5.00 or more donations will be accepted at the door.  There will be surprise musical guests and performances.  The Henrietta Hudson bar is located in the West Village at 438 Hudson.  Come to the party and toast Storme's continued well-being and long life.
 

Chelsea Hotel Used to Sell Levi's in UK

Looks like the Chelsea Hotel's new management has licensed the hotel's image for commercial purposes. As appalling as this is,  as well as injurious to the Chelsea Hotel's reputation, we suppose they have the legal right to do this.  On the other hand, one question that springs to mind is whether the artists whose work is featured in this ad campaign have been fairly compensated, if at all. (Watch the video and you'll recognize the work of familiar Chelsea Hotel artists hanging on the walls.)  Additionally, we don't understand exactly what the accompanying song, "White Power", by a band called Ezra Bang & Hot Machine, is about, or what it has to do with the Chelsea (or with Levis, for that matter.)  Sadly, the Chelsea Hotel, one of the most vital and enduring icons of underground culture, is now being co-opted by mainstream, commercial culture. We wear Levis jeans too, but they're the product of a multi-billion-dollar international corporation that in the end cares about only one thing, the bottom line.  (They've been accused of numerous human rights violations and their jeans aren't even made in the U.S. anymore.) On the other hand, the Chelsea Hotel has always been a family-owned, family-run, locally based business. The Bards didn't have anything against making money, but the hotel was never for sale to the highest bidder.

 (click on the image to enlarge)

 

Chelsea Hotel Basement Goes Starless

If you were wondering what all that jackhammering in the basement was about, we now have the answer.  Our beloved Star Lounge is reopening on Saturday as “The Chelsea Room” (Wall Street Journal, 10/5/10).  This will not be an ordinary club, but will feature exposed original brick from (of course) 1883, and 150-year-old wood from an upstate New York barn.  (So that’s the source of that manure smell wafting up through the air shafts!)  No mention yet on whether the dozen or so 20-foot steel beams they erected to shore up the walls they demolished will also be exposed.

      The club is being run by two guys named Artin Bey Archer and Marcus Bifaro, and we’re sure they can be trusted to run a orderly establishment that respects the rights of Chelsea Hotel residents.  On the other hand, Charles Ferri must be lurking behind the scenes somewhere, since he was unable to transfer his liquor license.

       Other notable features of the club include vintage chandeliers—which must be hanging at eye-level, since the ceiling is only about 7 feet tall—and art work “found” in the Chelsea Hotel.

      Finally, according to Bifaro, drinks will start at what he apparently regards as the rock-bottom price of $13, since, “We don’t want to ruin people’s lives so they can’t pay their bills.”  Funny, we always thought alcohol was supposed to ruin your life!

Earlier coverage of Charles Ferri & Star Lounge: Crackless Black Hole of Club Land, Hazardous Waste Company Clears Out Star Lounge, Chelsea Free for All, Chelsea Layabout's Cafe, Violence at Star Lounge, Chelsea Hotel Multi-Bar Scheme, Why do you Need a Liquor License?  Pick your Posion

Dee Dee Ramone Contacts Fan From Rock-n-Roll Heaven

We found this paint ing and the accompanying note in the stairwell near Hiroya's "DE DE" painting.  Looks like the faithful punk rockers are still flocking to the Chelsea.  It also seems that Tara's dark pilgrimage was rewarded with a message from beyond. This is the first Dee Dee spirit story that has come our way, but we're sure there will be many more to follow.