CHELSEA HOTEL PHOTOS by Larry Baumhor

by Tony Notarberardino

 

CHELSEA HOTEL PHOTOS

by Larry Baumhor

(All photos were shot at the Chelsea Hotel)

  

Inside NYC's Famed Chelsea Hotel

 

Andy Warhol filming Chelsea Girls, 1966. Photo by Santi Visalli

 

 

Edie Sedgwick’s room 105 which was used to shoot scenes for Andy Warhol’s Chelsea Girls   

by Tony Notarberardino

Nancy Spungen by Allan Tannenbaum

 
Nancy Spungen was being escorted out of Room 100 in a gurney while heroin-induced Sid Vicious was carted away in handcuffs.

Patti and Robert by Norman Seeff

Ghosts of the Chelsea Hotel

Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe’s room 204
 by Larry Baumhor

by Larry Baumhor

The History of the Chelsea Hotel

   In 1883 construction began for the Chelsea Hotel. The area in Chelsea was named after the hotel. The hotel was the center of the theater district and at the corner was an opera house. Within ten years the theaters moved to Broadway. Tenants began moving to midtown and uptown. In 1904 the hotel was in bankruptcy. In 1905 it became the Chelsea Hotel and it changed units from apartments to hotel rooms.  In the 1930s after the depression, David Bard (Stanley’s dad) and two other owners bought the hotel. The board of directors was created in the 1930s by people like Stanley Bard’s descendants, who had a connection to the hotel.
   There are about forty permanent tenants, several living at the hotel since the late 1960s. There are about 150 rooms for rent. Studios were units built for artists; however, no studios remain today. Of course, artists still live in the hotel and have makeshift studios. There is a cache of original artwork in the hotel with paintings that are still being hung today.

 
   In 2011 the hotel was sold and renovation began. The Chelsea closed and reopened in February of 2022. Most of the permanent residents stayed through the renovation.

Janis Joplin outside the Chelsea Hotel, 1969. Photo by David Gahr

Playwright Arthur Miller holed up in Hotel Chelsea following his divorce from Marilyn Monroe  (Kobal Shutterstock)

 

by Larry Baumhor

 

Lou Reed - A Walk On The Wild Side

Heart of Glass single release 1979 including Debbie Harry and Chris Stein

by Norman Seeff

Dee Dee Ramone by Tony Notarberardino

 

 

Legs Malone by Tony Notarberardino

   Jack Kerouac typed On the Road at the Chelsea Hotel. The door to his room sold at auction for $30,000.00. Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke worked on 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Milos Forman penned the screenplay for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at the Chelsea Hotel. Jimi Hendrix and Madonna’s doors sold at auction for $13,000.00 each.


In Room 80 (formerly Room 822) Madonna wrote her book Sex

Dennis Hopper and author Terry Southern

by Fred W. McDarrah, MUUS Collection via Getty Images

Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel

Bonnie by Tony Notarberardino

by Larry Baumhor

 

by Larry Baumhor

 

Hiroya performed Kabuki in the hotel. The Japanese artist committed suicide by jumping off a stairwell in the hotel.

by Larry Baumhor

   The 10th floor is the highest, however, there is one hotel room on the 11th floor. The majestic wrought iron on the inside staircases and outside of the hotel are original from the 19th century.

by Larry Baumhor

Dirty Martini, Miss Exotic World, 2004 by Tony Notarberardino

Stanley Bard

   Stanley Bard, part owner of the hotel was a patron, to a who’s who in the art world. Mr. Bard allowed many artists free rooms in exchange for their art.  Stanley was like an impresario. It was not just painters whom Sir Bard accepted; there were musicians, actors, dancers, poets, writers, composers, sculptors, rebels, the avant-garde, and an extraordinary collection of misfits.
 
   Stanley Bard worked in the hotel in 1957 as a plumber’s assistant. When Stanley’s father died in 1964, he began managing the hotel. The hotel’s board of directors ousted Stanley in June of 2007, claiming that Bard allowed tenants to stay even if they had fallen behind in their rent. Duh! The hotel was known for the arts but Stanley took it to another level.
   “I don’t know what someone else will be able to contribute to that wonderful difference that took me a whole lifetime to create. I never wanted The Chelsea to be a conformist community... This community is so beautiful and different, and yes, strange, and kooky. But all these things are highlights and something I consider very important to the total picture of the establishment,” by Stanley Bard.

   Stanley’s in heaven now managing the Arts with Janis, Dylan, Jimi, Jack, Allen, Andy, Edie, Nancy, Robert, and the rest of the gang. And the rent is free!

Stanley Bard interview about the Chelsea Hotel

Bob Dylan’s room 2A formerly room 211. Dylan was writing and rehearsing Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands. His door sold for $100,000.00 at auction

Leonard Cohen’s room

Sam Shepard and Patti Smith, Chelsea Hotel, New York, 1971 by Gerard Malanga

Larry Baumhor selfie

    

George Kleinsinger, Quentin Crisp, Stanley Bard

by Larry Baumhor