A building with a story worth telling

Living With the Artists
and Outlaws of
New York's Rebel Mecca

By Ed Hamilton

Thunder's Mouth Press.

352 pp. $15.99

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Reviewed by Jen A. Miller

In 1995, Ed Hamilton moved into the Chelsea Hotel. It was cheap, it was dirty, and the bathrooms were popular spots for junkies to shoot up, but the building had more history than he could write about - or so he thought.

Stuck in a tough stretch of writer's block - at least regarding something he could sell - Hamilton started blogging about his life at the Chelsea at Living With Legends, a blog at www.hotelchelseablog.com. He started out writing about life around him, then stretched to include information about current and former residents, including Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Janis Joplin, Madonna, Arthur Miller, Edie Sedgwick, Dee Dee Ramone, Ryan Adams, Dylan Thomas, Ethan Hawke, and Rufus Wainwright among the famous, and scores of drug addicts, drunks and unsuccessful and unknown artists among the not-so-famous. Sid Vicious stabbed girlfriend Nancy Spungen at the Chelsea, and Hamilton himself thinks he saw the ghost of Thomas Wolfe, who wrote You Can't Go Home Again, in room 831.

The best of his experiences from 1995 to 2006, both from the blog and not, are compiled in the fascinating Legends of the Chelsea Hotel: Living With the Artists and Outlaws of New York's Rebel Mecca. It's an entertaining look at the building's history through the eyes of a resident - although the Chelsea as most know it may not be around much longer.

Hamilton seamlessly mixes history, reporting and humor to make a patchwork account that conveys the essence of the building, easily switching between annoyance at tourists or junkies (or both), humor at some of the stranger antics of the Chelsea's denizens, and deep sorrow after the suicide of a fellow resident and friend.

The Chelsea was built in 1883 and was, for a short time, the tallest building in New York City. At first, it was a high-end co-op, but became a hotel in 1905. It attracted artists from the beginning - Sarah Bernhardt, Lillian Russell, Mark Twain and O. Henry were guests. But the building took a downturn in the '40s and '50s until it garnered a reputation more as a flophouse than a hotel for the arts.

Still, it never failed in attracting high-wattage, if self-destructive, artists. In 1957, Dylan Thomas collapsed in the Chelsea after a long night of drinking and died at a hospital a few days later. The beats left their stamp on the building, too - William Burroughs wrote Naked Lunch at the Chelsea, and Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg lived there. Andy Warhol was the prevailing name at the Chelsea in the 1960s, even if he didn't film all of Chelsea Girls there. Punk took over in the '70s (hence, Sid and Nancy), and Madonna did a stint at the Chelsea in the '80s, photographing her notorious Sex book there.

In the 1990s, gentrification started to catch up to the Chelsea, and this summer looked to be the first true shot at the Chelsea's bohemian vibe. Stanley Bard, who operated the hotel for more 50 years, was ousted in June. Now BD Hotels runs the Chelsea, and has changed a lot about who is allowed to check in, and who is allowed to stay. As recently as August, rumor was that Andre Balazs, who owns about a dozen New York hotels, was going to bid on the Chelsea.

Until they kick him out, though, Hamilton will blog about the changes and rampant rumors surrounding a sale. Fortunately for Legends of the Chelsea Hotel, his blogging style easily translates to book form (my one quibble is that the repetitions you might need in a blog - for example, identifying who someone is in every post - aren't necessary in a book). His efforts might not be enough to save his home, but will ensure it is remembered in all its bohemian glory.