Day 3 – Hotel Chelsea

222 West 23rd.

This place has seen it all. Sid Vicious killed his girlfriend here. Dylan Thomas drank himself to death here. Arthur C. Clarke wrote 2001 here. Arthur Miller, Iggy Pop, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin all lived here. And on and on and on.

But it’s closed for renovations and all the long-term residents have been turfed out. I knew that before I headed there but just to be near The Chelsea was going to rub off in some way. There’s just too much genius that has been through those doors not to.
So, I found myself the only open shop within the building – which served doughnuts and decent coffee fortunately – and parked myself there. And sure enough the muse came quickly (descended from somewhere upstairs I like to think).

There are plenty of tourists coming to gawk at this place. There are more plaques to literary and musical greats than any other hotel in New York and there’s always something romantically attractive about faded glory. Mind you, The Chelsea was always a bit grunge. Hard to say what the place will be like post-reno, but somehow, I think I’ll be back at The Chelsea one day.

Today’s word count: 3827

Total word count: 11,168

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Chelsea

  • The Chelsea before renovation

  • The front covered in plaques to literary greats (and others)

  • Fortunately, the donut shop is first rate and were happy for me to ensconce there

  • WIP with coffee (in paper cup)

  • One of many plaques

  • The home of 2001

  • Note the subtle reference to Sid Vicious bottom right

  • Tribute to a longtime resident

Book 2Leave a comment

About the author