"We've all stayed at the Chelsea Hotel, though most of us have done so only in our minds, through such cultural artifacts as Leonard Cohen's "Chelsea Hotel No. 2," Bob Dylan's "Sara," Nico's "Chelsea Girls," Andy Warhol's eponymous film that includes the Nico song, or Patti Smith's , which tells of the time she spent there with Robert Mapplethorpe."
"Its reputation as a refuge for artists dates to the management of Stanley Bard, who inherited the business from his father in 1964. Already, a degree of dilapidation in the building itself, as well as the surrounding neighborhood, kept rents low enough to attract impecunious creative types. Bard displayed enough generosity to artists that, before long, Andy Warhol's factory had more or less moved in."
The Chelsea Hotel on West 23rd Street opened in 1884 and originally towered over surrounding Manhattan buildings. The hotel inspired numerous cultural works, including Leonard Cohen's "Chelsea Hotel No. 2," Bob Dylan's "Sara," Nico's "Chelsea Girls," Andy Warhol's film, and Patti Smith's account of time with Robert Mapplethorpe. Its cultural profile now exceeds its physical prominence. The hotel's reputation as an artists' refuge grew under Stanley Bard's management after 1964, aided by building dilapidation and a neighborhood that kept rents low enough to attract impecunious creatives. The mid-2000s brought takeovers and renovations opposed by long-term residents.
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