If ever there was a hotel with a checkered history, it would have to be New York's infamous Chelsea.
The Chelsea Hotel has been called home by what would by any stretch have to be considered a "who's who" of New York's historical community of rebel artists living on the societal fringe. At one time or another, its residents have ranged from beat poetry icons like Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsburg, and William S. Burroughs to those they have influenced like Bob Dylan and Patti Smith.
More recently, the hotel's residents have included the likes of Ethan Hawke, Rufus Wainwright, and Ryan Adams (which may just help explain that strange concert I saw a year or so back where Adams was completely out of his mind on — well, something).
According to legend, the Chelsea has also seen more than its fair share of cultural history. Madonna is said to have photographed much of her naughty nineties book Sex while staying there. Leonard Cohen supposedly wrote the song "Chelsea Hotel #2," after receiving a blowjob from Janis Joplin at the hotel, and Joni Mitchell likewise wrote "Chelsea Morning" about her time staying there. It is also a matter of record that the Chelsea is where Sid Vicious spent his final tragic moments with Nancy Spungen.
Whether it is because the Chelsea is some sort of weird portal into another dimension, or perhaps because it is haunted by the numerous ghosts — both the famous and the infamous — who have called it home, there is just something about the place that seems to get inside of its residents.
One such resident is novelist Ed Hamilton, who called the Chelsea home for about a dozen years. Hamilton first got the idea for a book about the Chelsea by blogging about it. As the other residents speculated amongst themselves as to just who the mystery Chelsea blogger was, Hamilton soon found himself digging much deeper into the hotel's illustrious history.
Article comments
1 - kasi
I think that the grey man could be a ghost either that or its just a figment of your imagination that makes you go crazy. That boy didn't just see it because he wanted to there had to be something there that took him over.No one be scared to read this book it tells a lot of things that even I couldn't even explain at 11 years old.Amen to Sid Vicious and all the other people who died in the hotel from going crazy.You would have to be crazy to live in this hotel.I actually would live in this hotel for an experience to meet people who have gone crazy and see what this hotel could do to you.
Kasi-11
2 - kasi
I think that the grey man could be a ghost either that or its just a figment of your imagination that makes you go crazy. That boy didn't just see it because he wanted to there had to be something there that took him over.No one be scared to read this book it tells a lot of things that even I couldn't even explain at 11 years old.Amen to Sid Vicious and all the other people who died in the hotel from going crazy.You would have to be crazy to live in this hotel.I actually would live in this hotel for an experience to meet people who have gone crazy and see what this hotel could do to you.Hopefully it wont happen to me!!!!
Kasi-11