Legends of the Chelsea Hotel Living with Artists and Outlaws in New York's Rebel Mecca

by Hamilton, Ed

• ISBN13: 9781568583792
• ISBN10: 1568583796
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-11-02
• Publisher: Da Capo Press

Summary

There's a current that courses through the old Chelsea Hotel, a weird, psychic electricity that drives people relentlessly to create. It's an energy that longtime resident and creator of "Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog" Ed Hamilton wil tell you often drives inhabitants to madness. In a series of linked cyanide capsules, The Last Bohemia tells the odd, funny, and often tragic truth of the writers, artists, and musicians - the famous and the obscure alike - who have fallen prey to teh Chelsea and slipped into eccentricity and even full-blown insanity. Hamilton captures the daily life of the mad Chelsea Hotel and opens up the history of this last outpost of bohemia in America. Readers enter one of Dee Dee Ramone's flashbacks; meet the ghost of author Thomas Wolfe; learn of movie star Ethan Hawke's mystical powers over women; see the ungodly acts allegedly being perpetrated in the basement club Serena's; and feel the dark aura of Room 100, where punk rocker Sid Vicious killed his girlfriend Nancy. Other residents past and present who will be included: Ryan Adams, club kid/murderer Michael Alig, Sarah Bernhardt, the Warhol Factory's Richard Bernstein, Victor Bockris, Charles Bukowski, Leonard Choen, Lesbian activist Storme DeLarverie, Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Herbert Huncke, Janis Joplin, Jack Kerouac, Madaonna, Edgar Lee MAsters, Arthur Miller, Edie Sedgwick, Sam Shepard, Patti Smith, Dylan Thomas, and Rufus Wainwright.

Author Biography

Ed Hamilton’s fiction has appeared in Modern Drunkard, The River Walk Journal, SoMa Literary Review, The Journal of Kentucky Studies, Exquisite Corpse, Southern Ocean Review, Limestone: A Journal of Art and Literature, Lumpen Times, and Best College Stories. Ed contributes the weekly “Slice of Life” column to “Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog” (www.hotelchelseablog.com). He has lived at the Chelsea Hotel for nearly 10 years.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Culture Shock
Movado	p. 3
Harry and the Zombie	p. 6
The Swordsman	p. 13
Bohemian Flophouse
The Truth about Those Fancy Hotels	p. 17
lndie Rockers Cash In: Ryan Adams at the Chelsea	p. 26
Herman Melville at the Chelsea (or Close,Anyway)	p. 30
The Willie Nelson Christmas Album: Harry Smith at the Chelsea	p. 31
How to Score a Pad at the Chelsea	p. 39
Bathroom Hijinks
The Manatee: Hiroya, Part I	p. 45
Nanny by Trade	p. 51
The First Punch: Storme Delarverie at the Chelsea	p. 53
The Revelatory Work	p. 58
The Eighth-Floor Bathroom: Herbert Huneke at the Chelsea	p. 61
Vicky and Keanu	p. 72
Crime and Punishment
Twilight of the Club Kids: Michael Alig at the Chelsea	p. 79
Junky Joe and the Europe of the Mind	p. 84
Dietary Tips of the Homeless	p. 87
Chelsea Death Cult: Sid Vicious at the Chelsea	p. 88
Cowboy Doc	p. 100
Declining Fortunes
Run: Virgil Thomson at the Chelsea	p. 105
The Gray Man of the Chelsea	p. 110
The Paintah	p. 117
How to Get Yourself Sent Away	p. 118
Donuts Sandwiches: Jack Kerouac at the Chelsea	p. 121
Eccentrics Famous and Obscure
Dee Dee's Challenge: Dee Dee Ramone at the Chelsea	p. 131
The Easter Nest	p. 135
Charles James's Drafting Table: Charles James at the Chelsea	p. 138
The Transient Room	p. 142
The Long Black Hairs	p. 145
Hollywood Knocks
Chelsea Soundstage: Sean Penn at the Chelsea	p. 149
Chelsea Barbershop	p. 156
Two Thefts: Ethan Hawke at the Chelsea	p. 157
New York Breakdown	p. 168
Alchemy and the Depths of Human Experience: A Movie Star at the Chelsea	p. 170
A Different Kind of Currency
The Downtown Hipster: Hiroya,Part II	p. 175
Three Chelsea Elevator Stories	p. 179
A Second Chance	p. 182
A Time to Every Purpose	p. 184
The Whopper	p. 186
No Change at the El Quijote	p. 188
Chelsea Style: Arthur Miller at the Chelsea	p. 190
Shirley and the Angel of 23rd Street	p. 198
Ghosts and Other Abominations
The Ultra-Famous Incredibly Chic Chelsea Hotel Bar	p. 203
Another Satisfied Customer	p. 205
Offenses against God and Man in Serena's	p. 207
Chelsea Seance: Thomas Wolfe at the Chelsea	p. 208
The Bad Coffee	p. 221
The Vortex of Psychosis	p. 225
Tricksters and Inadvertent Performers
The Stage	p. 229
Disparate (Albeit Strangely Complementary) Reactions to the Hotel	p. 234
All Hopped Up and Ready to Go	p. 235
Eastern (European) Philosopher	p. 237
Glass Houses	p. 239
World of Dream: Hiroya, Part III	p. 240
Con Games
The Transformative Power of Dirt	p. 249
How to Paint Yourself into the Chelsea	p. 252
Juanita's Baby	p. 256
The Unfairness of It All: Movado Part II	p. 263
Dormitory of the Deranged	p. 266
Expert Advice on Combating Terrorism	p. 273
The Christmas Con: Ben Lucien Burman at the Chelsea	p. 275
Two Tales of Urban Moxie	p. 284
The Last of the Superstars: Edie Sedgwick and Rene Ricard at the Chelsea	p. 286
Chelsea Revenants
Something Like an Eternal Debate	p. 295
The Lost Art of Angling	p. 298
Thanksgiving Greetings from Montana	p. 302
Stanley Bard's Long-Lost Son	p. 304
Ghosts and Legends: Hiroya's "De De" Paintings	p. 306
Afterword	p. 309
References	p. 311
Acknowledgments	p. 319
About the Author	p. 321
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