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Is The Hotel Chelsea's Legend "Evaporating"?
By
Jen Carlson
Published Dec 8, 2010
Modified Dec 9, 2010
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Dec 8, 2010
Modified Dec 9, 2010
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In October word got out that the Hotel Chelsea is on the market, and yesterday the NY Times took the pulse of the legendary beast of a building on West 23rd Street. Turns out while some thought the sale of the hotel—which has been in the same family for 65 years—would be the death of it, it may just be dead already! Michael Musto told the paper, “Its legend has been slowly evaporating." Now tenant Ed Hamilton seems to be questioning ... everything. He asks (and asks and asks):
Chelsea Does Cara Buckley's article get it right on the money? Are we really going to go "quietly into the night?" Is this the end of the line for the Chelsea Hotel's famous spirit of non-conformity and resistance? When did we lose our famous ability to "inspire terror in the streets'? Are New Yorkers "shrugging" at our plight out of unconcern or bewilderment? How will history remember the present tenants?
We, on the other hand, only have one question: how has the Hotel Chelsea seemingly escaped bedbugs? Maybe that place is magic and we should just leave it alone.
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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