Hotel Chelsea
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The Hotel Chelsea is a well-known residence for artists, musicians, and writers in the neighborhood of Chelsea in New York City. The building is located on 23rd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues.
The hotel welcomes guests, but is primarily known for its long-term residents, past and present. The Hotel has always been a centre of artistic and bohemian activity and it houses artwork created by many of the artists who have visited. The hotel was the first building to be listed by New York City as a cultural preservation site and historic building of note.
The building that now houses the Hotel Chelsea was built in 1883 as a private apartment cooperative that opened in 1884. It was the tallest building in New York until 1902. At the time Chelsea, and particularly the street on which the hotel was located, was the center of New York's Theater District. However, within a few years the combination of economic worries and the relocation of the theaters bankrupted the Chelsea cooperative. In 1905, the building was purchased and opened as a hotel.
It is perhaps most well known as the hotel where Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols allegedly stabbed his girlfriend Nancy Spungen to death.
In April 2003 Pete Doherty and Carl Barat of The Libertines recorded the original "Babyshambles" sessions at Hotel Chelsea.
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People who live/have lived at the Hotel Chelsea
Writers and thinkers
During its lifetime Hotel Chelsea has provided a home to many great writers and thinkers including Mark Twain, O. Henry, Dylan Thomas, Arthur C. Clarke, William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Leonard Cohen, Arthur Miller, Quentin Crisp, Gore Vidal, Tennessee Williams, Allen Ginsberg, Brendan Behan, Robert Oppenheimer, Jean-Paul Sartre, and the famous feminist Simone de Beauvoir.
Actors and film directors
The hotel has been a home to actors and film directors such as Stanley Kubrick, Milos Forman, Lily Langtry,Ethan Hawke, Dennis Hopper, Uma Thurman and Jane Fonda.
Musicians
Much of Hotel Chelsea's history has been colored by the musicians who have resided there. Some of the most prominent names include Patti Smith, Dee Dee Ramone of The Ramones, Henri Chopin, John Cale, Edith Piaf, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jobriath.
Visual artists
The hotel has featured and collected the work of the many visual artists who have passed through. Brett Whiteley, Christo, Richard Bernstein, Robert Mapplethorpe, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Robert Crumb, Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg, and Henri Cartier-Bresson have all spent time at Hotel Chelsea.
Warhol superstars
Hotel Chelsea is often associated with the Warhol superstars. Chelsea residents from the Warhol scene included Viva, Ultra Violet, Holly Woodlawn, Edie Sedgwick, Andrea Feldman, Nico of the Velvet Underground, Paul America, and Brigid Berlin.
Hotel Chelsea in films
The hotel was used for location shooting on
- Chelsea Girls (1966) by Andy Warhol, in which the Superstars have roles
- Sid & Nancy (1986) by Alex Cox
- Midnight In Chelsea (1997) directed by Mark Pellington, a video to a track from the 1997 Jon Bon Jovi solo album Destination Anywhere
- Chelsea Walls (2001) by Ethan Hawke
- Pie in the Sky the Brigid Berlin Story (2002) features a reunion between former resident Brigid Berlin and the artist Richard Bernstein at the Hotel.
- The Interpreter (2005)
Most notably, the hotel provided the thematic link for the Andy Warhol film opus Chelsea Girls (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061465/).
Much of an episode of the 1973 PBS reality-television series An American Family was filmed at the Hotel Chelsea, as family member Lance Loud was staying there at the time.
Hotel Chelsea in songs
The hotel is also featured in numerous songs, including:
- "Hotel Chelsea Nights" by Ryan Adams from Love Is Hell pt. 1 and Love Is Hell
- "Chelsea Hotel #2" by Leonard Cohen from New Skin for the Old Ceremony
- "Sex with Sun-RA" by Coil
- "Ghosts" by Lisa Bastoni (http://www.lisabastoni.com)
- "Chelsea Hotel" by Dan Bern
- "Dear Abbey" by Kinky Friedman
- "Chelsea Burns" by Keren Ann
- "Song to Alice" By Keren Ann
- "Chelsea Girl" by The Velvet Underground and Nico
- "Midnight in Chelsea" by Jon Bon Jovi
Hotel Chelsea in books
- "Chelsea Horror Hotel" by Dee Dee Ramone
External link
- Hotel Chelsea Official Homepage (http://www.hotelchelsea.com/)sv:Hotel Chelsea