HISTORY

Enough has been written about—and, perhaps, more written within—the Chelsea to satisfy history hounds the world over. Indeed, it is the hotel’s uniquely rich past which has made it iconic. Yet, those who know it do not define it by its historical significance, but, instead, by its ever-evolving, unmistakable otherness. Solid and sumptuous, eccentric yet beautiful, the Chelsea is a world unto itself: a decadent palace of peculiarity.

Further Reading

A vintage postcard of the hotel's iconic northern-facing facade
Andy Warhol filming Chelsea Girls, 1966. Photo by Santi Visalli.
“I loved this place, its shabby elegance, and the history it held so possessively… So many had written, conversed, and convulsed in these Victorian dollhouse rooms. So many skirts had swished these worn marble stairs. So many transient souls had espoused, made a mark, and succumbed here.”
PATTI SMITH
A candid image of Janis Joplin outside the Hotel Chelsea, 1969. Photo by David Gahr.

Notable Denizens

Dylan. Cohen. Joplin. Mapplethorpe. Sedgwick. Miller. Thomas. Hendrix. Burroughs. Mitchell. Wesselmann. Andoe. Rivers. Whiteley. Smith. pop. Vicious. Baker. Hawke. Twain. Waits. Wainwright. Kerouac. beck. Thurman. Behan. Clarke. Corso. Thomson. Wolfe.

“The Chelsea is a very special kind of place—its clientele, its history, its heritage, its belief system, its integrity.”
STANLEY BARD
A portrait of filmmaker Michel Auder, musician Lee Crabtree, actress and Warhol 'superstar' Viva, and singer-songwriter Eric Anderson,1971. Photo by David Gahr.