Hotel steeped in history

Overheard on the Chelsea Hotel stairway recently:

“Is Rita still here?''

“Rita's dead.'' A pause between footsteps. “Rita was a sweetheart.''

Only in this hotel could such an exchange take place as calmly as if two people were discussing the weather.

Here to stay

But most people don't check out of the Chelsea if they can help it.

They remain until they die, sometimes violently, sometimes quietly, their passings adding to the lore that has made this hotel a cocoon of creativity — home to musicians, poets, painters, dogs and artists of every conceivable ilk.

This is a hotel with no gym, where a fat, pink papier-mâché woman swings from the lobby ceiling.

As the world and the economy change, so does the Chelsea. Its owners are phasing out the more-or-less permanent residents in favour of making the hotel more of, well, a hotel, where people pay by the night and don't have the freedom to paint their rooms fire-engine red.

Long-term leases have been replaced by 25-day agreements.

“If you're looking to make money, it's probably the way to go,'' said Jerry Weinstein as he led one of the occasional tours through the 126-year-old hotel on West 23rd Street in Manhattan's Chelsea neighbourhood this month.

But as a 30-year employee of the Chelsea, Weinstein — like the tenants who let him shepherd camera-toting tourists through their private dens of inspiration — seems saddened by the change.

He remembers 20 years ago when at any major art opening in New York, much of the crowd owed the Chelsea money. The management back then was forgiving towards its loyal and artistic clientele.

“I don't think you could do it today, because everything is so expensive,'' said Weinstein, rattling off the names of famous people who stayed in the Chelsea: songwriter Leonard Cohen “did his best work'' in room 424; actor and playwright Wallace Shawn still checks in for short stays to recharge his creativity.

Arthur C. Clarke completed 2001: A Space Odyssey there. Bob Dylan composed songs there. Arthur Miller, William Burroughs, Mark Twain and Tennessee Williams wrote there.

Unusual past

“This was an unusual hotel and those were unusual times,'' Weinstein, who remembers one of his first nights on duty as a desk clerk, when a man fell (or jumped) nine storeys to his death down the centre of the spectacular cantilevered stairway and landed with a loud thud.

Like the rest of the Chelsea's common spaces, the stairway walls are lined with drawings, paintings and photographs — works from artists who have made the hotel home —creating a collage that reflects the diversity of the residents there.

There's the papier-mâché woman, a bust of former President Harry Truman and paintings by pop artist Larry Rivers, Brett Whiteley of Australian avant-garde fame and Robert Lambert, who still works in the Chelsea in a studio with paint-splattered floors.

In manager David Elder's office, a photograph shows punk musician Dee Dee Ramone sitting in room 631.

Elder is the latest in a series of Chelsea managers after the 2007 ouster of long-timer Stanley Bard, a hero among many tenants for his leniency towards late payments and his nurturing of the hotel's artistic spirit.

Like others since Bard, Elder's relations with some residents have been tense.

Going public

Ed Hamilton, a tenant activist who has blogged about the dispute with the management since Bard's ouster, said the Chelsea's owners are “committed to emptying the hotel of permanent tenants''.

Hamilton said there are 40 outstanding lawsuits against the management, whom he described as “greedy hypocrites''.

“We're trying to restore some of the rooms to the classic style,'' said Elder, who estimated that about half the tenants are long-term residents, down from two thirds a year ago.

Despite the removal of the old-fashioned pigeonhole mailboxes in the lobby and other changes, the Chelsea's permanent guests remain hopeful that they will find a way to stay.

Linda Troeller, a photographer who has been staying there for 15 years, said it is the Chelsea's mix of people, history and unique atmosphere that fuels the creativity.

“That's one of the fun things about the hotel. There are so many different influences you can draw from,'' Troeller said.

Go there . . . New York . . . From the UAE

From Dubai

Emirates flies daily.
Fare from Dh6,345

Qatar Airlines flies daily via Doha.
Fare from Dh3,945

Delta flies daily via Atlanta.
Fare from Dh5,695

From Abu Dhabi

Etihad flies daily.
Fare from Dh5,325

— Information courtesy: The Holiday Lounge by Dnata. Ph: 04 4380454