1 00:00:01,440 --> 00:00:07,720 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 2: Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's 3 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:17,239 Speaker 2: Chuck and Jerry's here too, and this is Stuff you 4 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:25,040 Speaker 2: Should Know. The Super Cool Edition another edition in our 5 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:29,920 Speaker 2: ongoing New York saga to explain every single building or 6 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:34,240 Speaker 2: theme or trend in the entire city of New York. 7 00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 1: I feel like these are always me, so I'm sorry 8 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:37,680 Speaker 1: if I'm foisting these. 9 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:40,240 Speaker 2: Well, you love New York, I do. 10 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:41,599 Speaker 1: Do you know the T shirt told me to. 11 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:46,000 Speaker 2: Oh, I thought it was I Heart New York. Is 12 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:46,840 Speaker 2: that what that means? 13 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: Yeah? I get it now, but it's iHeart New York. 14 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:53,159 Speaker 1: I didn't say you heart New York. I took it 15 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: all wrong. But now I love that city, so I 16 00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:57,640 Speaker 1: want to know more about it. 17 00:00:57,640 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 2: It is a very cool city, and this is a 18 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 2: cool place in the city's history. For a long part 19 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 2: of the city's history, actually the Chelsea Hotel, which little 20 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:13,480 Speaker 2: known fact, is actually supposed to be called the Hotel Chelsea. 21 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:16,640 Speaker 2: And I could not find where who first turned it around, 22 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:18,920 Speaker 2: because surely it was a poet or a singer or 23 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 2: something writer. But at some point it got basically transversed 24 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:27,319 Speaker 2: even though the official name is and always has been 25 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 2: since it was a hotel, that's the Hotel Chelsea. 26 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, it can be a little confusing. Same place, though, 27 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:37,360 Speaker 1: so don't sweat it. So you can say either one. 28 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:41,199 Speaker 2: But wait, wait, wait, you want to talk confusing. Okay, 29 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 2: there's a Marriotte Renaissance Chelsea Hotel in the same neighborhood. 30 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:50,560 Speaker 2: I mean I could see myself accidentally booking that and 31 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 2: being like, this place is a little more put together 32 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 2: than I expected. 33 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:57,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, Chelsea is a neighborhood and every hotel 34 00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 1: in there is a Hotel Chelsea. Yeah, a Chelsea Hotel. Rather. 35 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:03,800 Speaker 2: I love Chelsea. I think that is one of my 36 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:07,040 Speaker 2: favorite neighborhoods in New York, if not my favorite. We 37 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 2: stayed there a bunch of times when we went and 38 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 2: visited New York and Chelsea. 39 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:14,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, I like it as well, and I have stayed 40 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:16,560 Speaker 1: at the Hotel Chelsea a couple of times. 41 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:21,160 Speaker 2: I have too. But yeah, yeah, but that actually answers 42 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 2: a question that I had. I was trying to figure 43 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 2: out where you came up with this as a topic. 44 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:30,520 Speaker 2: I would have guessed the Taylor Swift song The Tortured 45 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:35,040 Speaker 2: Poets department. Okay, because she mentions it in in there, 46 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 2: that's I guess, not where. That's not what inspired you 47 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 2: to do this. 48 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:43,399 Speaker 1: No club, Dylan. If anybody I got no, I mean 49 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:47,760 Speaker 1: from staying there semi recently, and that's the great thing 50 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:49,240 Speaker 1: about our job. I was like, Yeah, I wish I knew 51 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:52,639 Speaker 1: a little bit more about this place, and here we are. 52 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:55,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, what'd you think of it. 53 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:58,120 Speaker 1: At the hotel? Yeah, well, you know, as as you learn. 54 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: If you don't know that Chelsea Hotel was renovated over 55 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 1: the course of many, many many years after being closed 56 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: for those renovations, we'll get into all the ins and 57 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 1: outs of that. But I thought that it was a 58 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:13,600 Speaker 1: top notch renovation that from what I've read, even though 59 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:19,079 Speaker 1: it's a fancy pants place now, everything I've read says 60 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: that they did a very tasteful job. In fact, let 61 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 1: me read in fact, so I'm not just talking out 62 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: of my butt, but one of the people in the 63 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:31,440 Speaker 1: New Yorker or something that wrote about it said it 64 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:35,960 Speaker 1: presents itself subtly and doesn't scream. I've changed due largely 65 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:38,040 Speaker 1: to the fact that the building was landmarked in nineteen 66 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:41,240 Speaker 1: seventy seven, so many elements such as its facade and 67 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:45,119 Speaker 1: famous stairwell cannot be changed in accordance with this landmark status. 68 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:49,400 Speaker 1: Current owners instead have worked with it and around its 69 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: physical history, and the enhancements are fitting one hundred and 70 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:59,360 Speaker 1: fifty eight rooms in fifteen room categories from two hundred 71 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:04,120 Speaker 1: square feet, who's seventeen hundred square feet and there you go. 72 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:06,760 Speaker 2: Well, yeah, and that's great that they did a good 73 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 2: job with it, because people all the way back to 74 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 2: the nineteen forties, with Edgar Lee Masters, the poet author 75 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 2: of Spoon River Anthology, who lived there for a while, 76 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:22,360 Speaker 2: was worried about the gist of the Chelsea Hotel being 77 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:26,200 Speaker 2: stripped away by new owners. And it's changed hands a 78 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 2: few times, but it's also stayed in really capable hands 79 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 2: for decades. And those capable hands, as will see, helped 80 00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 2: give the Chelsea Hotel its own, like it's very famous vibe. 81 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:42,039 Speaker 1: Yeah, and I should also say too that a lot 82 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:46,039 Speaker 1: of people, I'm sure, think it's an abomination, and a 83 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 1: lot of times used the same people that were like, 84 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: you know, Times Square was better or New York was 85 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:54,400 Speaker 1: better when it was a dirt bag city crumbling and 86 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:58,200 Speaker 1: you were as likely to get mugged walking the streets, 87 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:00,360 Speaker 1: or spray painted on if you stood still for too long, 88 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:01,160 Speaker 1: as anything else. 89 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:04,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, So, based on what we'll learn about what went 90 00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:07,760 Speaker 2: on in the Chelsea Hotel, I think it's very telling 91 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:11,359 Speaker 2: how dangerous New York was at the time. That almost 92 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:15,600 Speaker 2: to a person when they interviewed residents years later, they 93 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:18,719 Speaker 2: say they felt safe in the Chelsea Hotel, and the 94 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:22,719 Speaker 2: Chelsea Hotel was as crazy as a place could get. 95 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:25,039 Speaker 2: And yet it just goes to show you how much 96 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 2: more dangerous it was outside of the Chelsea Hotel in 97 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 2: New York at the time. 98 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:32,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, it seemed to have a very familial quality to it. Yea, 99 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:34,800 Speaker 1: and for good reason. So let's jump back to the 100 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:37,560 Speaker 1: beginning when it was built. First of all, it's right 101 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:40,560 Speaker 1: there at West twenty third Street in the Chelsea neighborhood, 102 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 1: and it started in eighteen eighty four as the Chelsea 103 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:47,839 Speaker 1: Association Building, Nuts and Bolts. It is a twelve story building, 104 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: was one of the taller buildings in New York at 105 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 1: the time. It is a Victorian Gothic. It is a beautiful, 106 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:57,720 Speaker 1: gorgeous building. If you look at it from across the street. 107 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:00,799 Speaker 1: It's just one of the one of New York's greatest 108 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:05,279 Speaker 1: landmarks designed by architect Philip Is it Hubert or Hubert? 109 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 2: I'm going to say Hubert, that's what I would say. 110 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:11,279 Speaker 1: All right, we'll go with that. And Hubert designed it 111 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: on the philosophy of a French philosopher that he was 112 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 1: a fan of named Charles. What is it? I think 113 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: fer Fourier, who was a utopian socialist and kind of 114 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:26,280 Speaker 1: thought this concept of a co op of a community 115 00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:30,400 Speaker 1: should work in co ops called phalanxes, and that's what 116 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:32,839 Speaker 1: the Chelsea started out as, was one of the first 117 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:36,599 Speaker 1: housing co ops in New York City, where if you 118 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:38,039 Speaker 1: live in a co op, then you own a share 119 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: of that building along with all the other owners, and 120 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 1: you also are responsible for the monies that help maintain 121 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 1: and keep up that building. 122 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's all fun and games until you need a 123 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 2: new roof exactly. So Hubert actually followed Fourier's vision and 124 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 2: turned the Chelsea into not just the co op but 125 00:06:55,760 --> 00:07:01,600 Speaker 2: an attempted socialist utopian paradise where it wasn't just for 126 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:04,400 Speaker 2: the wealthy like that it was I think, I don't 127 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:05,440 Speaker 2: know if you said or not. It was one of 128 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:07,159 Speaker 2: the tallest buildings in New York at the time, so 129 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:10,560 Speaker 2: it was a very tony address when the building opened. 130 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 2: And yet he set apartments aside for some of the 131 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 2: people who had built the building, like some of the 132 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:20,640 Speaker 2: electricians if there was such thing at the time, some 133 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:25,320 Speaker 2: of the plumbers, some of the carpenters, like they had shares. 134 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:27,680 Speaker 2: They were able to live in this co op because 135 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:30,720 Speaker 2: there was room made for them, and there was also 136 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:35,880 Speaker 2: room made for artists and musicians and writers. And the 137 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 2: point was for everybody to kind of rely on one another. 138 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:42,120 Speaker 2: So if you needed plumbing help, you could pay your 139 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:45,840 Speaker 2: plumber in you know, a painting or something like that, 140 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:48,560 Speaker 2: if your plumber would accept it. Everybody was meant to 141 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 2: depend on everyone else and be kind of self sufficient 142 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:52,160 Speaker 2: as a unit. 143 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, uh, not so big into abstract, but yeah, sure, 144 00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 1: I guess are you going places. 145 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:02,680 Speaker 2: To die? 146 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 1: Exactly? They're also in that very first iteration, and this 147 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 1: is very key. You mentioned artists, but there were the 148 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 1: top floor had fifteen artist studios up there, and that 149 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:15,560 Speaker 1: really kind of carried on throughout the history of the 150 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:19,960 Speaker 1: Chelsea until most recently. Yeah, that version of the Chelsea 151 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 1: was about around for about twenty one years. It went 152 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:25,880 Speaker 1: bankrupt in nineteen oh five, some of those residents stuck around, 153 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:29,520 Speaker 1: and then the rest became a hotel, and the Chelsea 154 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:35,120 Speaker 1: for decades functioned as a place where you could stay 155 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: there as a hotel, you could stay there for a month, 156 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:39,880 Speaker 1: you could stay there for a week, like weekly and 157 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:42,240 Speaker 1: monthly rates, where you could be a resident and live there. 158 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:43,600 Speaker 1: It's a very unique situation. 159 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:48,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, And so the rooms also apparently were fairly cheap, 160 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 2: especially for a luxury place, a luxury building, so if 161 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 2: you were up and coming or starving artists, you could 162 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:00,320 Speaker 2: still probably afford a place there. And because it was 163 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:04,440 Speaker 2: created to house artists and talent of all different kinds, 164 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:09,000 Speaker 2: it was automatically attractive. It just kind of became a 165 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 2: place where art was created, not just a place where 166 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:16,600 Speaker 2: artists could live. There was a long time Chelsea resident 167 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:19,920 Speaker 2: named Harry Smith who I saw described as the archetypal 168 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 2: Bohemian trickster figure, and he's just Chelsea Hotel through and 169 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:26,679 Speaker 2: through from what I could tell. He said that the 170 00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:32,080 Speaker 2: hotel exuded atmospheric vibrations that attracted artists and also helped 171 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:35,240 Speaker 2: produce great art. So like the building itself and the 172 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:39,320 Speaker 2: vibe that was in it, led to better art than 173 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:42,560 Speaker 2: maybe would have otherwise been produced, at least according to 174 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:45,839 Speaker 2: Harry Smith, who was a trickster apparently, so he might 175 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:46,400 Speaker 2: have been lying. 176 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:50,560 Speaker 1: And also, you know, the human brain works in funny ways, 177 00:09:50,559 --> 00:09:52,360 Speaker 1: and once a place in gets her reputation is at 178 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:56,400 Speaker 1: ego in there, and that in itself, you may think 179 00:09:56,440 --> 00:09:58,600 Speaker 1: you're being inspired just by being there, and that ends 180 00:09:58,640 --> 00:09:59,880 Speaker 1: up inspiring you. You know what I mean? 181 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:03,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, for sure. I think some people, though 182 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:05,760 Speaker 2: I'm not going to name names, but I think over 183 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:09,200 Speaker 2: time some artists who stayed there have wanted to kind 184 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:13,240 Speaker 2: of capture what that hotel does and maybe bit off 185 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:14,600 Speaker 2: a little more than they could chew. 186 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:16,400 Speaker 1: I think, I know you're talking about. 187 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:19,240 Speaker 2: I think you should second to have a second thought 188 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 2: or too. If you're like, I'm going to make an 189 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:23,600 Speaker 2: ode to the Chelsea Hotel where there's a song, a movie, 190 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:24,400 Speaker 2: doesn't matter. 191 00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:27,600 Speaker 1: I know exactly what you're talking about. We're not talking 192 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:29,319 Speaker 1: about Oh, Henry though, who stayed there a lot. For 193 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:33,280 Speaker 1: Mark Twain who stayed there a lot, or Sarah Bernhard 194 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:37,240 Speaker 1: who stayed there when she came to New York to perform. 195 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:40,560 Speaker 1: Those were all like frequent guests in those early years there, 196 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:43,160 Speaker 1: they were artists, you know, very famous artists at the time, 197 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: occupying those artist studios on the top floor. From the 198 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:53,160 Speaker 1: very beginning. They even held some Titanic survivors in nineteen twelve. 199 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:54,920 Speaker 1: That's where they went when they were when they were 200 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:57,000 Speaker 1: brought in shivering in the cold. 201 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:00,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, which is pretty cool that they opened their door 202 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:02,320 Speaker 2: to them. I'm sure other hotels did too, but I 203 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:04,959 Speaker 2: thought that was neat. Yeah, and we should say these 204 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 2: artists that were staying here, Oh, Henry was hiding from creditors. Yeah, 205 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:12,920 Speaker 2: when he stayed there, John French Sloan, he was a 206 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:16,319 Speaker 2: member of the Ashcan School of Art, which made its 207 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:19,640 Speaker 2: name by showing some of the grittier, more dismal side 208 00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:23,160 Speaker 2: of New York life, which is totally contrary to the zeitgeist. 209 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:28,400 Speaker 2: And so the artists were avant garde. Basically throughout the 210 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:34,040 Speaker 2: entire history of the Chelsea Hotel, the artists working there 211 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 2: were like the vanguard of the avant garde. 212 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, and like a bohemian. You'll hear those words throw 213 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:43,480 Speaker 1: out a lot when the Chelsea Hotel is described or 214 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:44,679 Speaker 1: its tendency over the years. 215 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:47,520 Speaker 2: They were Czechoslovakian to a person. 216 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:53,280 Speaker 1: During the Great Depression of the nineteen thirties. Thomas Wolfe 217 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:58,760 Speaker 1: I was a frequentor there. In fact, he died. He 218 00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:00,520 Speaker 1: spent the last years of his life there in Room 219 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:03,640 Speaker 1: eight twenty nine, writing things like you Can't Go Home Again. 220 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:07,400 Speaker 1: And he died very young though, from tuberculosis, at the 221 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:09,640 Speaker 1: age of thirty seven, and was known to kind of, 222 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:12,960 Speaker 1: you know, paste the halls looking for inspiration or that 223 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:14,320 Speaker 1: next paragrapher sentence. 224 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:17,400 Speaker 2: Yeah, I saw that. Somebody said he ran out into 225 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:20,439 Speaker 2: the street one night at like three am and shouted 226 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:24,200 Speaker 2: that he'd written ten thousand words in one day. That's great, 227 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:27,160 Speaker 2: that's pretty substantial. And Thomas Wolf also not to be 228 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:30,960 Speaker 2: confused with Tom Wolf. No, No, he was an influence 229 00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:34,640 Speaker 2: in his own right. He influenced the Beats, mainly through 230 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:39,360 Speaker 2: Jack Karawak. He influenced the new journalists, so ironically, Thomas 231 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:41,160 Speaker 2: Wolf influenced Tom Wolf. 232 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:42,240 Speaker 1: Yeah. 233 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:45,679 Speaker 2: And in fact, there's a story that Fear and Loathing 234 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:47,719 Speaker 2: from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and at the 235 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:50,560 Speaker 2: Kentucky Derby that Hunter Thompson took that from a Thomas 236 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:51,400 Speaker 2: Wolfe's story. 237 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:55,959 Speaker 1: Oh okay, yeah, that's pretty cool. We saw him. It 238 00:12:56,000 --> 00:12:57,320 Speaker 1: done one on Hunter S. Thompson either. 239 00:12:58,559 --> 00:13:02,040 Speaker 2: Now he might be undue. You know how remember the 240 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:05,600 Speaker 2: time we did that live shows the Worst Idea, where 241 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:10,160 Speaker 2: we did how humor works and we realized part way 242 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:14,439 Speaker 2: through in front of a live audience that explaining humor 243 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:16,679 Speaker 2: is like the least funny thing you can do. 244 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:19,439 Speaker 1: I don't remember that. Was that a like a tour 245 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:21,320 Speaker 1: show or was that like for a it. 246 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:22,760 Speaker 2: Was a podfest? 247 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:23,839 Speaker 1: Was it really? 248 00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:26,080 Speaker 2: Yeah? In La Here's bad. 249 00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:27,520 Speaker 1: I blocked that one out. 250 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:29,160 Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't remember. 251 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:33,160 Speaker 1: So you mentioned a lot of people have you know, 252 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:35,880 Speaker 1: done their odes to the hotel, whether it's movies or 253 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:39,360 Speaker 1: songs or whatever. Perhaps the first one was a guy 254 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:41,960 Speaker 1: named Edgar Lee Masters lived there from thirty one to 255 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:46,240 Speaker 1: forty four and wrote a poem called the Hotel Chelsea, 256 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:47,880 Speaker 1: So he kind of got the ball rolling. 257 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:50,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, and he's the guy I was saying earlier wrote 258 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:53,920 Speaker 2: Spoon River Anthology that was yeah, worried about it being 259 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:56,240 Speaker 2: about it losing its vibe. 260 00:13:56,760 --> 00:14:00,600 Speaker 1: Well, let's read this first couple of lines. Then. Don't 261 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:03,040 Speaker 1: know who that is, but he's writing it to Anita. 262 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:07,480 Speaker 1: Soon this Chelsea Hotel will vanish before the city's merchant, greed, 263 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:10,880 Speaker 1: wreckers will wreck it and in its stead more lofty 264 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:14,720 Speaker 1: walls will swell. Yeah, there you have it. 265 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:18,520 Speaker 2: Yep. So this was the forties. I'm guessing this was 266 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:24,760 Speaker 2: nineteen forty three when it changed hands I think for 267 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:27,760 Speaker 2: the first or second time and was finally turned into 268 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:31,520 Speaker 2: the Hotel Chelsea. But he had very little to worry 269 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 2: about because it got even more avant garde after that. 270 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:36,760 Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's kind of had its ups and 271 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 1: downs as far as how I mean nice it was. 272 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:42,400 Speaker 1: I guess it fell in pretty hard times after World 273 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:45,440 Speaker 1: War Two, but it was always you know, Dave described 274 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:47,520 Speaker 1: it as gruff but lovable. I mean, it never lost 275 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:50,400 Speaker 1: that charm. It seems like yea, even at its divious. 276 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:56,480 Speaker 1: Dylan Thomas, the famous author, was a heavy drinker, as 277 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:59,360 Speaker 1: I think everyone knows. He drank himself to death. They're 278 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:02,520 Speaker 1: at the Chelsea and nineteen fifty three and they have 279 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:04,760 Speaker 1: a plaque. They all applaques for everybody, but there's a 280 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:07,480 Speaker 1: Dylan Thomas plaque. Dylan Thomas lived and wrote at the 281 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:10,920 Speaker 1: Chelsea Hotel, and from here he sailed out to die. 282 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:14,880 Speaker 2: Yeah. I read that on the day that he fell 283 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:18,240 Speaker 2: into a coma that eventually he died from he said, 284 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:21,600 Speaker 2: I've had eighteen straight whiskies. I think that's the record. 285 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:23,400 Speaker 2: It's gotta be. 286 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:24,960 Speaker 1: Yeah. 287 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:28,160 Speaker 2: So yeah, Dylan Thomas was one of the ones whose 288 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:32,360 Speaker 2: death really kind of I don't quite know how to 289 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:35,360 Speaker 2: put it, but there's there's certain aspects of the Chelsea 290 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 2: Hotel and tragic figures dying in it is part of that. 291 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:42,880 Speaker 2: That's an aspect of it in and of itself, and 292 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:45,880 Speaker 2: Dylan Thomas kind of set the tone for that, right. 293 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:47,760 Speaker 1: Yeah, immortalized maybe. 294 00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:51,240 Speaker 2: Sure, so he became he helped make the Chelsea Hotel 295 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:54,600 Speaker 2: famous in that respect by dying as a tragic figure there. 296 00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:58,880 Speaker 2: Other people are just kind of famous, and because they 297 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:00,960 Speaker 2: stayed in the Chelsea Hotel it kind of gives it 298 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:05,400 Speaker 2: a little more props. Like Jackson Pollock, he lived there 299 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:08,360 Speaker 2: for a little while. Little known fact the CIA paid 300 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:12,000 Speaker 2: his rent. No really, virgin No, I'm kidding, Virgil. Have 301 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 2: you ever heard the theory that the CIA was behind 302 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:19,400 Speaker 2: the abstract expressionist movements to make the United States seem 303 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:20,960 Speaker 2: more intellectual to the Soviets? 304 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:23,800 Speaker 1: No, but that makes that joke a very deep cut. 305 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:26,120 Speaker 1: So I don't even feel bad this time. Okay for 306 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:26,800 Speaker 1: falling for it. 307 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:29,400 Speaker 2: So there are other people too that you may not 308 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:31,800 Speaker 2: have heard of that I hadn't heard of, that were 309 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:36,600 Speaker 2: longtime residents that really kind of gave it like legitimacy. 310 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 2: There was a music critic and composer named Virgil Thompson 311 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:45,760 Speaker 2: who was apparently just incredibly prolific. He lived there for 312 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:49,400 Speaker 2: fifty years and died in Room nine twenty. Larry Rivers, 313 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:52,560 Speaker 2: he's considered the godfather of pop art. He lived there 314 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 2: for about a decade. And when you put all this 315 00:16:57,280 --> 00:16:59,480 Speaker 2: together and then also bring in tours, because don't forget, 316 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:01,600 Speaker 2: this is a hotel hell that some people are living 317 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:04,600 Speaker 2: in for decades, but there's also people coming and going. 318 00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:08,760 Speaker 2: And then you also throw in rich people who are 319 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:11,680 Speaker 2: basically just trying to hang out with artists, even though 320 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:14,800 Speaker 2: they have no artistic talent themselves. It's just the crowd 321 00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:17,199 Speaker 2: they want to hang with. You put all these people together, 322 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:20,119 Speaker 2: and you've got like who you would see if you 323 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:21,639 Speaker 2: went into the Chelsea Hotel. 324 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:26,119 Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, all right, we should take a break and 325 00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:29,080 Speaker 1: we'll come back and talk about David and Stanley Bard 326 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:29,760 Speaker 1: right after this. 327 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:56,960 Speaker 2: Okay, So I said earlier that the Chelsea Hotel was 328 00:17:56,960 --> 00:18:00,960 Speaker 2: in capable hands for decades, and those hands were initially 329 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:05,240 Speaker 2: David Bard and then after that his son Stanley Bard, 330 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:08,960 Speaker 2: and between the two of them they took Philip Hubert's 331 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 2: vision of this socialist utopia but really the really artsy 332 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:16,600 Speaker 2: part of it, and just went to town. I saw 333 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:22,280 Speaker 2: it described as Stanley curated who lived in the Chelsea Hotel. 334 00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:24,920 Speaker 2: It wasn't like, Hey, I've got some money, I want 335 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:29,920 Speaker 2: to live here. You basically had to be vouched for 336 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:33,600 Speaker 2: by another avant garde artist that probably already lived there. 337 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:35,040 Speaker 2: That was a good way to get in. 338 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:38,159 Speaker 1: Yeah, and this I found this funny little fact that 339 00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:41,840 Speaker 1: you know, how little things can change history. David in 340 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:45,600 Speaker 1: nineteen forty three, the elder Bard, he got together with 341 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:50,560 Speaker 1: some other investors to buy the hotel out of foreclosure. 342 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:54,040 Speaker 1: And the reason he did that is because he was 343 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:58,000 Speaker 1: a furrier who was allergic to fur and couldn't take 344 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:02,600 Speaker 1: it anymore. So the reason the Chelsea Hotel, one of 345 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:04,600 Speaker 1: the reasons that it kind of stayed that thing, is 346 00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:07,680 Speaker 1: because when David Bard took the reins in nineteen forty three, 347 00:19:08,359 --> 00:19:11,080 Speaker 1: he kept that spirit alive with the artist and like 348 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:13,560 Speaker 1: taking a painting in lieu of rent. Had it gone 349 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:17,840 Speaker 1: to just some money hungry, greedy people, it made have 350 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:20,440 Speaker 1: completely changed in nineteen forty three, and we wouldn't even 351 00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:23,120 Speaker 1: be talking about it today. So had he not been 352 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:26,040 Speaker 1: a fur or allergic to fur, it may have been 353 00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:28,440 Speaker 1: a completely different scene there. But he ran the hotel 354 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:31,640 Speaker 1: until he died in sixty four, and like you said, Stanley, 355 00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:37,080 Speaker 1: his son took over. And Stanley Bard was great. He 356 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:41,320 Speaker 1: was I've got a pretty fun like Apparently there was 357 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:44,840 Speaker 1: never any like problem he couldn't handle. He was known 358 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:47,880 Speaker 1: for being able to handle like whatever weirdness was going 359 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:50,239 Speaker 1: on there at the time. And Arthur Miller, when he 360 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:52,600 Speaker 1: was divorced from Marilyn Monroe, lived there for a period 361 00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:55,600 Speaker 1: of years and wrote a lot about the Chelsea Hotel. 362 00:19:55,640 --> 00:20:00,640 Speaker 1: And here's one good example about Stanley Bard called down 363 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:05,280 Speaker 1: after being so frustrated with how disgusting his carpet was. Said, 364 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:07,600 Speaker 1: for Christ's sake, Stanley, don't you have a vacuum cleaner 365 00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:10,120 Speaker 1: in the house? He said, of course, we have lots 366 00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:12,000 Speaker 1: of them. He said, well, why aren't they ever used? 367 00:20:12,119 --> 00:20:14,919 Speaker 1: He said, they're not used. Stanley, You know g d 368 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:17,760 Speaker 1: Welly that you don't use them. I have never heard 369 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:19,560 Speaker 1: such a thing. Why don't they use them? Or you're 370 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:21,680 Speaker 1: asking me why they don't use them, Well, you're the 371 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:24,240 Speaker 1: one who brought it up. Look, Stanley, just get a 372 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:27,760 Speaker 1: vacuum cleaner up here, and let's just forget this conversation. Please, fine, 373 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:30,600 Speaker 1: how are you otherwise? Truthfully, there is no otherwise. All 374 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:33,280 Speaker 1: I am is a man waiting desperately for a vacuum cleaner. 375 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:35,800 Speaker 1: And then Arthur Miller said, and then he would laugh, 376 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:40,000 Speaker 1: grateful for another happy tenant. And that was like nothing 377 00:20:40,119 --> 00:20:44,040 Speaker 1: was like ever wrong. Right at the Chelsea people were 378 00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:46,760 Speaker 1: dying and being wheeled out of there in overdoses, and 379 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:48,639 Speaker 1: he would make jokes at like, no, the cops were 380 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:52,440 Speaker 1: here because they lived there, and the body bags and 381 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:54,160 Speaker 1: the gurneys are just props. 382 00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:59,800 Speaker 2: Yeah. So apparently Milosh Foreman a true bohemian. He lived 383 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:03,760 Speaker 2: at Chelsea from I think for the early seventies, about 384 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:06,240 Speaker 2: the first half of the seventies, and he asked Stanley 385 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:10,560 Speaker 2: once if anyone had ever died, I believe, to basically 386 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,600 Speaker 2: get him to admit yeah, yeah, because there were a 387 00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:19,000 Speaker 2: lot of deaths, whether it was by suicide, murder, mattress 388 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:24,760 Speaker 2: fires overdoses. Yeah, and it was just well known that 389 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:26,320 Speaker 2: there were a lot of deaths that happened in the 390 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:30,760 Speaker 2: Chelsea Hotel. So Milos Foreman asked Stanley once if he 391 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:33,359 Speaker 2: could think of anybody who ever died there, and he 392 00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:36,480 Speaker 2: could only come up with one person, and he was 393 00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:38,879 Speaker 2: a painter named al Fais Cole. 394 00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:40,080 Speaker 1: That's funny. 395 00:21:40,080 --> 00:21:42,840 Speaker 2: He died in nineteen eighty eight, the oldest man in 396 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:46,000 Speaker 2: the world at one hundred and twelve. He died at 397 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:48,680 Speaker 2: the Chelsea Hotel. And that's the one person that Stanley 398 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:50,920 Speaker 2: could think of. And the entire time that he was 399 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:52,800 Speaker 2: running the Chelsea Hotel. 400 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:55,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, and Stanley ran it for forty years after his 401 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:57,600 Speaker 1: dad died. But like I said, his dad had the 402 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:00,720 Speaker 1: same attitude. They asked David the elder Bard why he 403 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:03,919 Speaker 1: didn't ever evict a tenant who apparently was playing the 404 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 1: drums and everyone was complaining and it was even driving 405 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:09,120 Speaker 1: him nuts, And his answer was, I like people. 406 00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:12,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it was cool, like you could get away 407 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,520 Speaker 2: with from what I saw, You could get away basically 408 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:20,199 Speaker 2: anything up to murder essentially, And Stanley would put up 409 00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:23,680 Speaker 2: with it because that was the rhythm that his father 410 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:26,040 Speaker 2: had kind of laid out, and if you want to 411 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:29,399 Speaker 2: cultivate an avant garde artist colony in the middle of 412 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:32,040 Speaker 2: New York, you're going to have to do that, or 413 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:34,960 Speaker 2: else just give up because it's not going to work otherwise. 414 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:38,240 Speaker 1: Yeah. I got to read this other Arthur Miller quote. 415 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:40,439 Speaker 1: It's pretty good too. He said the Chelsea, and this is, 416 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:47,120 Speaker 1: by the way, from the Chelsea Affect affect about the Bards. 417 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:50,040 Speaker 1: He said, the Chelsea, whatever else it was, was a 418 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:54,440 Speaker 1: house of infinite toleration. Yeah. This was the Bard's genius. 419 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:57,960 Speaker 1: I thought to have achieved an operating chaos which at 420 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:00,600 Speaker 1: the same time could be home to people who were 421 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:01,240 Speaker 1: not crazy. 422 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:04,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, which I don't know who those people were. 423 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:05,640 Speaker 1: Yeah. 424 00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:09,119 Speaker 2: I saw Matt as a Hatter used more times in 425 00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:13,000 Speaker 2: the oral history of the Chelsea Hotel than I ever 426 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:14,160 Speaker 2: have anywhere else. 427 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:16,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, just about everybody there. 428 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:16,760 Speaker 2: Yeah. 429 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:17,919 Speaker 1: Yeah. 430 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:20,760 Speaker 2: So my favorite Arthur Miller quote, by the way, is 431 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:25,040 Speaker 2: these pretzels are making me thirsty. Y. It's a great one. 432 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:28,640 Speaker 1: Yeah. So let's jump into the sixties and seventies, because 433 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:30,560 Speaker 1: that's when the Chelsea seemed like it had some of 434 00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:34,280 Speaker 1: its most notable events and residents, even if they were 435 00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:39,800 Speaker 1: part time my favorite guy. Bob Dylan stayed at the Chelsea, 436 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:42,720 Speaker 1: stayed in room two eleven for about three years, you know, 437 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:44,440 Speaker 1: off and on because he was going up to Woodstock 438 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:47,280 Speaker 1: as well. But sixty one to sixty four is when 439 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:49,720 Speaker 1: he was hanging out with Ginsburg and doing his thing. 440 00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:54,119 Speaker 1: He wrote most of, if not all, of Blonde on Blonde, 441 00:23:54,119 --> 00:23:57,480 Speaker 1: which is his seventh album, and very specifically in the 442 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:00,640 Speaker 1: song Sarah, which was about his wife, his wife Sarah 443 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:03,840 Speaker 1: that he married in sixty five. There's a great line 444 00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:08,240 Speaker 1: in that song storms are bruin in your eyes, No 445 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:11,760 Speaker 1: different Sarah. Okay, this one is very skating, tough song. 446 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:14,320 Speaker 1: Bob Dylan was the champion of the anti love song. 447 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:16,880 Speaker 1: This is kind of one of them. But he said, 448 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:19,080 Speaker 1: he writes about staying up for days in the Chelsea 449 00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:22,679 Speaker 1: Hotel writing a sad eyed Lady of the Lowlands for you. 450 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:29,800 Speaker 2: So he references another song on the same Sarah. 451 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:33,119 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a song to his ex wife, And he said, basically, 452 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:35,480 Speaker 1: I remember staying up for days writing sad eyed Lady 453 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:36,399 Speaker 1: of the Lowlands for you. 454 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:39,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, and no time is a good time for goodbye. 455 00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:42,080 Speaker 1: Have you seen the Dylan movie? Do you care about 456 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:42,520 Speaker 1: that at all. 457 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:48,640 Speaker 2: Nope, yeah, gotcha. So, but yeah, that was pretty seminar. 458 00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:50,919 Speaker 2: I mean, that's one of his biggest albums, right, And 459 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:55,439 Speaker 2: I saw that at the time too, that Bob Dylan 460 00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:59,800 Speaker 2: and Andy Warhol went basically head to head over Edie Sedgwick, 461 00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:03,919 Speaker 2: who also stayed at the Chelsea Hotel. And apparently that 462 00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:08,840 Speaker 2: was the end of Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick's Red 463 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:14,000 Speaker 2: hot I don't know what you'd call it, not a romance, 464 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:19,719 Speaker 2: just interaction of relationship. Sure, we'll just go with that, 465 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:23,000 Speaker 2: but it was something other than that, and it lasted 466 00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:25,560 Speaker 2: less than a year. But apparently Andy Warhol was so 467 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 2: jealous that Edie Sedgwick had become totally obsessed with Bob Dylan, 468 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:33,199 Speaker 2: who may or may not have returned her advances. It 469 00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:37,480 Speaker 2: just depends on who you ask. Bob Dylan says no that, 470 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:41,360 Speaker 2: but Andy Warhol lost because Bob Dylan was at the time, 471 00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:47,320 Speaker 2: like basically the biggest person in like alternative culture, the 472 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:51,000 Speaker 2: counterculture at the time, like even more than Andy Warhol was. 473 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:55,440 Speaker 2: Like he was just huge, and it's kind of it's 474 00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:58,720 Speaker 2: kind of difficult to overstate what a big deal this 475 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:02,840 Speaker 2: very big person living and working in the Chelsea Hotel. 476 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:05,920 Speaker 2: Like what it did for the Chelsea Hotel's reputation. 477 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:08,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. And it's also mind blowing to know 478 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:10,800 Speaker 1: while Bob Dylan's up there in room two eleven literally 479 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,160 Speaker 1: typing out one of the seminal albums of all time, 480 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:19,040 Speaker 1: at the same time, Arthur C. Clark is adapting the 481 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:21,600 Speaker 1: screenplay for two thousand and one A Space Odyssey on 482 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:24,600 Speaker 1: a different floor, in a different room, So like these 483 00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:28,119 Speaker 1: kind of creative you know, and Andy Warhol is in 484 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:33,200 Speaker 1: there shooting parts of Chelsea Girls. Like stuff was really 485 00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:35,800 Speaker 1: really happening. It didn't earn its reputation just it wasn't 486 00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:37,359 Speaker 1: overblown at all, you know. 487 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:40,919 Speaker 2: Right now, Another really famous thing that happened around that 488 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:44,560 Speaker 2: time was from Edie Sedgwick. She set her mattress on fire. 489 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:46,199 Speaker 1: Yeah, and on purpose. 490 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:48,439 Speaker 2: I think was it on purpose because this was not 491 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:49,920 Speaker 2: her first department fire. 492 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:53,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it was on purpose. 493 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:56,720 Speaker 2: Okay, So it's possible this is a very turbulent time 494 00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:59,440 Speaker 2: for her. Yea, she could have been heartbroken over Bob Dylan. 495 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:02,080 Speaker 2: She could have been upset Andy Warhol had turned his 496 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:06,520 Speaker 2: back on her. I know the previous apartment fire in 497 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:09,359 Speaker 2: a different building was because she had shot up a 498 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:12,119 Speaker 2: speedball and the cigarette fell out of her mouth and 499 00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:15,879 Speaker 2: onto her mattress and set her her house on fire. 500 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:17,960 Speaker 1: That's kind of on purpose too, I guess. 501 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:21,960 Speaker 2: So, yeah, but that kind of leads me to something. 502 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 2: There's something that just doesn't show up in the histories. 503 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:26,240 Speaker 2: I mean here or there. It kind of comes up, 504 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:29,879 Speaker 2: but I think it's really understated the effect that had 505 00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:34,120 Speaker 2: on the community that developed in the Chelsea Hotel from 506 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:37,639 Speaker 2: the entire time that the building was open. And that 507 00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:42,400 Speaker 2: has drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs. Like so everybody 508 00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:47,560 Speaker 2: from Sarah Bernhardt, the French actress, to Bob Dylan and beyond. 509 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:50,440 Speaker 2: I wouldn't put it beyond Ethan. 510 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:52,920 Speaker 1: Hawk, he lived there for a while. 511 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:57,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, So I mean the club kids, like with the 512 00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:00,200 Speaker 2: Capital C and the Capitol K in the eighties and nineties, 513 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:03,920 Speaker 2: like some of them lived there and they were definitely 514 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:07,240 Speaker 2: doing drugs. They're like it was just a really big 515 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:12,760 Speaker 2: part of the experience of living at the Chelsea Hotel. 516 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:14,800 Speaker 2: It was like essentially one of the muses that was 517 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:17,400 Speaker 2: walking around the halls of that building all the time. 518 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:21,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. I mean Gabby Hoffman, the actor. She 519 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:25,720 Speaker 1: was raised there from birth till she was eleven years old. 520 00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:29,600 Speaker 1: Her mom was Viva, who was another one of Warhol's superstars, 521 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:33,280 Speaker 1: and little Gaby Hoffman from Sleepless in Seattle. You know, 522 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:35,720 Speaker 1: she's a grown lady, you know, middle aged woman now 523 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:38,840 Speaker 1: and has talked a lot about it. She loved living there, 524 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:41,360 Speaker 1: but you know, she was stepping over people, you know, 525 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:43,720 Speaker 1: passed out with hair and needles in their arms, and 526 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:48,640 Speaker 1: you know, on her roller skates and just you know, 527 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:50,160 Speaker 1: kind of a crazy life. But to her, it was 528 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:51,560 Speaker 1: just like, yeah, I just lived in this sort of 529 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,640 Speaker 1: legendary divy apartment building. Like there was a gazillion non 530 00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:58,400 Speaker 1: famous ones in New York, this one just happened to 531 00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:01,680 Speaker 1: be famous. Did see where her mom Viva? Eventually, I 532 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:03,480 Speaker 1: don't think it was ever published, but she wrote a 533 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:07,360 Speaker 1: book because writers always like very chicully say that like 534 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:11,200 Speaker 1: Gabby Hoffman was sort of the Chelsea Hotels answer to 535 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:14,760 Speaker 1: Eloise the children's book. And apparently her mom wrote a 536 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:16,800 Speaker 1: book called Gabby at the Chelsea. But I don't think 537 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:18,720 Speaker 1: I would try to find out think it was ever released. 538 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:22,959 Speaker 2: That's cute. I would love to see that. Yeah, how 539 00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:25,479 Speaker 2: about some more famous stuff that happened there. 540 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:29,400 Speaker 1: Huh Yeah, like Liaison's Janis Joplin and Leonard Cohen. That's 541 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:29,960 Speaker 1: a big one. 542 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:34,200 Speaker 2: Yeah. He wrote about that in Chelsea Hotel number two, 543 00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:38,280 Speaker 2: one of his songs, very famous song. So they were 544 00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:43,040 Speaker 2: together from sixty eight to seventy when Janis died. I 545 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:46,000 Speaker 2: don't know if they were like an item or if 546 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:48,160 Speaker 2: they just, you know, liked hanging out. 547 00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:50,720 Speaker 1: If you know, sure, I think I know Jimi. 548 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:56,080 Speaker 2: But regardless, they were just a famous couple from there. Yeah, 549 00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:58,320 Speaker 2: that's not the right word. I'm having trouble pulling words 550 00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:01,080 Speaker 2: out of the air. Another couple that you could probably 551 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:05,120 Speaker 2: call more of a couple was Patty Smith and Robert Maplethorpe. 552 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:07,800 Speaker 2: They moved into the Chelsea They were totally broke at 553 00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 2: the time. Patty Smith became like the poet of the 554 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:19,360 Speaker 2: punk scene. Robert Maplethorpe famously became the devil incarnate with his. 555 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:23,880 Speaker 1: Photos, provocative pictures, that's. 556 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:27,080 Speaker 2: One way to put it. Sure of BDSM culture and 557 00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:30,640 Speaker 2: gay culture in the eighties, and like almost got the 558 00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:34,880 Speaker 2: National Endowments for the Arts canceled, Although I think it's 559 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:37,160 Speaker 2: unfair to say it was him. Jesse Helms almost got 560 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:41,520 Speaker 2: the NEA canceled, and it was Robert Maplethorpe was just 561 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,360 Speaker 2: making art and Jesse Helms just did not think a 562 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:46,480 Speaker 2: bullwhip coming out of a man's rectum was art. 563 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:50,240 Speaker 1: That's right. I had that book. I haven't read yet. 564 00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:51,959 Speaker 1: It's on the shelf with a bunch of other rock 565 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:53,280 Speaker 1: and roll books that I have yet to get to. 566 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:57,600 Speaker 1: But the Jesse Helms story no exactly what a rock 567 00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:02,959 Speaker 1: and roll Patty Smith's book that she wrote about her 568 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:06,320 Speaker 1: time with maple Thorpe, I think it's called Just Kids 569 00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:11,400 Speaker 1: that I'm looking forward to getting into. But boy, can 570 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:14,719 Speaker 1: I tell a quick Patti Smith Bob Dylan story. Is 571 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:16,480 Speaker 1: there nothing to do with the Chelsea Hotel? 572 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:17,520 Speaker 2: Yeah? 573 00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:19,000 Speaker 1: Well, you know what I'm gonna say, it does I'll 574 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:21,760 Speaker 1: say she told him here. If you're a Dylan fanuel 575 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:23,320 Speaker 1: like this, you can just check out for a second. 576 00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:26,880 Speaker 1: But on Bob Dylan's very famous Rolling Thunder tour that 577 00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:30,560 Speaker 1: he took up in seventy five seventy six, some people 578 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:33,160 Speaker 1: look at that as like some peak Dylan live performance, 579 00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:38,440 Speaker 1: unbelievable stuff. But he has a performance of his song 580 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:40,520 Speaker 1: isis one of his great songs after the record is 581 00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:43,800 Speaker 1: off the record Desire where it's just one of the 582 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:47,000 Speaker 1: great live performances of anyone ever is his performance on 583 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:50,560 Speaker 1: Rolling Thunder of Isis and he doesn't play the guitar 584 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:53,440 Speaker 1: and he's just standing there and he didn't do that 585 00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:55,239 Speaker 1: a lot. And he Patty Smith is the one who 586 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:57,680 Speaker 1: encouraged him. He said, Bob, you should, you should do 587 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:01,320 Speaker 1: Isis without the guitar. And he said, Patty, I don't 588 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:03,520 Speaker 1: know what to do with my hands, and she said, 589 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:04,720 Speaker 1: make them into fists. 590 00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:09,120 Speaker 2: So did he yell, heck, yeah, you did, okay? 591 00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:14,760 Speaker 1: And Patti Smith that wrote also about the Chelsea a 592 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:18,680 Speaker 1: lot in the restaurant there. It's not officially part of it, 593 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:20,680 Speaker 1: but it's connected. You can get to it through the hotel. 594 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:26,240 Speaker 1: Al Quixote underwent a lot of renovations to reopen. It 595 00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:29,840 Speaker 1: was a pretty big dive of a place back then, 596 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:32,560 Speaker 1: but it was cheap food and it was Spanish food, 597 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:35,440 Speaker 1: and so people ate there, even though apparently the food 598 00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:38,320 Speaker 1: wasn't good. I saw it described was it. The piea 599 00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:41,400 Speaker 1: could have been consistency of yesterday's oatmeal. The taste of 600 00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:46,720 Speaker 1: the sangria might be best described as purple but before 601 00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:49,760 Speaker 1: the Woodstock Music Festival, Patty Smith went to the Chelsea 602 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:52,120 Speaker 1: or was living there, I guess, And she said, I 603 00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:55,200 Speaker 1: walked into Alcahoti's Bar one afternoon in nineteen sixty nine 604 00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:59,160 Speaker 1: to find musicians everywhere, sitting before tables laid with mounds 605 00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:01,920 Speaker 1: of shrimp and green so payea, pictures of sin gree 606 00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:04,680 Speaker 1: and bottles of tequila. Jefferson airplane was there, so was 607 00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:08,680 Speaker 1: Janis Joplin and her band Jimmy Hendrix sat by the door. Like, 608 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:11,680 Speaker 1: can you like just walking into a restaurant and seeing 609 00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:14,680 Speaker 1: something like that happening? Incredible? 610 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:16,000 Speaker 2: Yeah? 611 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:18,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, you'd be like, I don't really care about any 612 00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:19,360 Speaker 1: these people, No I do. 613 00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:22,320 Speaker 2: I love Jimmy Hendrix, and clearly I love at least 614 00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:23,480 Speaker 2: Jefferson Starship. 615 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:28,320 Speaker 1: Right, you were like, one day you don't know it yet, 616 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:30,120 Speaker 1: you're gonna write a song called Sarah, that's right. 617 00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:34,000 Speaker 2: And I spent at least one summer just listening to 618 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:36,920 Speaker 2: Dennis Joplin's greatest hits over and over again, so I 619 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:38,240 Speaker 2: could be down with that scene. 620 00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:42,120 Speaker 1: Man, Should we take a break, Yeah, all right, we'll 621 00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:45,040 Speaker 1: be right back and we'll finish up on the Chelsea Hotel, right, 622 00:33:45,120 --> 00:34:10,080 Speaker 1: for this. All Right, we talked about people dying at 623 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:13,400 Speaker 1: the Chelsea, so we should probably talk more specifically about 624 00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:17,000 Speaker 1: this because it seemed to happen a lot. 625 00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:21,160 Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, there were people who jumped out of windows. 626 00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:24,400 Speaker 2: Remember it was a twelve story building and this was 627 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:28,200 Speaker 2: nothing new. People. There was a there's a rumor of 628 00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:31,400 Speaker 2: a ghost of a woman who supposedly lived. There was 629 00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:33,480 Speaker 2: an artist who was upset with herself and cut off 630 00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:36,680 Speaker 2: her hand and then threw herself out the window. And 631 00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:39,279 Speaker 2: this would have been in the first couple decades of 632 00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:42,160 Speaker 2: the twentieth century. But it didn't stop with her. It 633 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:44,840 Speaker 2: just kept going and going and going. And then even 634 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:48,560 Speaker 2: if someone didn't die by suicide or it wasn't murdered 635 00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:52,080 Speaker 2: or their place wasn't set on fire, just the day 636 00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:55,880 Speaker 2: to day grimy grittiness of it of heroin addicts like 637 00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:59,959 Speaker 2: shooting up in the bathrooms or sex workers like washing 638 00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:02,919 Speaker 2: their underwear in the bathrooms. That was another quote from 639 00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:07,040 Speaker 2: the Oral History of All Places that Vanity Fairhead on 640 00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:12,319 Speaker 2: the Chelsea Hotel, Like there was just a definite dark 641 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:15,279 Speaker 2: side to it, which was just kind of underscores what 642 00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:16,840 Speaker 2: I was saying before. The people were like and I 643 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:19,640 Speaker 2: felt so safe there, and it was like, what was 644 00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:21,719 Speaker 2: it like outside of this building? If this was what 645 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:23,200 Speaker 2: it was like inside, you know. 646 00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:29,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good point. There was a very notorious 647 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:33,640 Speaker 1: death there, depending on who you ask. Said Vicious murdered 648 00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:38,319 Speaker 1: his girlfriend Nancy Spongeen there in room one hundred in 649 00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:42,719 Speaker 1: October of nineteen seventy eight. We can't say for sure 650 00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:46,160 Speaker 1: because he denied it to his last days, which was 651 00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:47,840 Speaker 1: before he went to court. He died of a heroin 652 00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:49,880 Speaker 1: overdose before he was able to go to trial for that. 653 00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:53,840 Speaker 1: But what we do know it's it. Nancy Spongeen was 654 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:54,839 Speaker 1: stabbed to death there. 655 00:35:55,280 --> 00:36:00,640 Speaker 2: Yeah. There's a a biographer author named Phil stre Man 656 00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:03,640 Speaker 2: or Strongman. I would call myself Phil Strongman if that 657 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:09,200 Speaker 2: were my name. But he wrote a punk nonfiction book, 658 00:36:09,239 --> 00:36:13,360 Speaker 2: I guess called Pretty Vacant, and he points to rockets 659 00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:17,000 Speaker 2: Red Glare, who was a bodyguard for the Sex Pistols 660 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:20,279 Speaker 2: at the time, who was the last person known to 661 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:24,400 Speaker 2: have seen Nancy Spongent alive. And there was also supposedly 662 00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:27,720 Speaker 2: a bunch of money cash in the apartment that couldn't 663 00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:31,200 Speaker 2: be accounted for after her body was discovered. So he 664 00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:33,879 Speaker 2: makes a pretty good case. Apparently also Rockets Red Lair 665 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:38,680 Speaker 2: was admitted to it later on to some people, So 666 00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:41,920 Speaker 2: who knows, But I don't think it was sid vicious. 667 00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:44,719 Speaker 1: Yeah, I know Rockets Red glare from a lot of 668 00:36:44,719 --> 00:36:51,840 Speaker 1: those early Jim Jarmish movies. Interesting dude, Rufus Wainwright lived 669 00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:55,640 Speaker 1: there in two thousand to work on a record, and 670 00:36:55,760 --> 00:36:59,200 Speaker 1: there's a pretty funny story there where he was. He 671 00:36:59,239 --> 00:37:01,000 Speaker 1: called down to the front and asked that they could 672 00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:03,600 Speaker 1: send up a quart of milk, and apparently the bellman 673 00:37:03,719 --> 00:37:06,520 Speaker 1: arrived with a tray full of just tons and tons 674 00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:11,239 Speaker 1: of drugs because milk, beknownst to Rufus, was the code 675 00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:13,600 Speaker 1: word at the Chelsea four drugs. 676 00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:16,400 Speaker 2: Yeah, because he was the only person in the history 677 00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:19,000 Speaker 2: of the hotel who actually wanted milk at one point. 678 00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:23,560 Speaker 1: And you mentioned Ethan Hawk or that's about say old friend. 679 00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:25,359 Speaker 1: We don't have nothing to do with him, you know. 680 00:37:25,640 --> 00:37:28,880 Speaker 1: I love Ethan Hawk. I think he's a great passionate, 681 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:32,160 Speaker 1: artistic dude. But he lived there for three years when 682 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:34,719 Speaker 1: he was sort of I don't know think he was 683 00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:37,120 Speaker 1: fully divorced, but was when he was with Uma Thurman. 684 00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:39,120 Speaker 1: They were kind of on the rocks. Yeah, and he 685 00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:41,960 Speaker 1: made the movie Chelsea Walls in two thousand and one, 686 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:44,680 Speaker 1: which is a series of short films about a day 687 00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:46,240 Speaker 1: in the life of people at the Chelsea Hotel. 688 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:49,080 Speaker 2: So you know something about him. I've become more and 689 00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:50,919 Speaker 2: more of a fan over the years. I think he's 690 00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:54,400 Speaker 2: really kind of grown into his talent. 691 00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:58,359 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think it's I like the guy a lot, 692 00:37:58,400 --> 00:38:00,560 Speaker 1: and I like his daughter, and I like I think 693 00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:02,960 Speaker 1: I am a big fan of that family. Yeah. Who's 694 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:07,720 Speaker 1: his daughter, Maya Hawk? She's an actor. 695 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:09,719 Speaker 2: No, I don't know, I'm not familiar. 696 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:11,960 Speaker 1: Up and coming. She's on Stranger Things is probably what 697 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:13,200 Speaker 1: most people know are from these days. 698 00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:16,840 Speaker 2: Oh okay, so what else, Chuck? 699 00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:21,440 Speaker 1: And she looks just like Uma. Oh really Yeah, it's 700 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:23,640 Speaker 1: really funny. I mean a little bit of Ethan in there, 701 00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:27,000 Speaker 1: but she's got Imma's mannerisms and voice. It's pretty cool. Nice. 702 00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:32,280 Speaker 2: So you mentioned that the Chelsea Hotel underwent renovations for 703 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:36,200 Speaker 2: a long time, over a decade. From what I saw, 704 00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:39,680 Speaker 2: the whole thing started when Stanley Bard was forced out 705 00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:42,279 Speaker 2: back in two thousand and seven or eight. I saw 706 00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:48,319 Speaker 2: both Remember that his father, David Bard, had purchased the 707 00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:51,879 Speaker 2: Chelsea with two other families, two other men. Well, their 708 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:56,160 Speaker 2: errors were basically like, you are not making money here, 709 00:38:56,239 --> 00:38:58,960 Speaker 2: like he was very Stanley was very famous for accepting 710 00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:01,880 Speaker 2: art in lieu of rain if you were hard, you know, 711 00:39:01,920 --> 00:39:04,600 Speaker 2: down on your luck, but you were an artist, like 712 00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:06,440 Speaker 2: he would just you know, look the other way for 713 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:08,840 Speaker 2: a few months. Like he was not running it like 714 00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:11,759 Speaker 2: a business, and he was very open about that. So 715 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:15,160 Speaker 2: apparently the airs of the other two owners were like, 716 00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:17,640 Speaker 2: you need to get out. We have two thirds of 717 00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:22,080 Speaker 2: a vote and you're out. And that was when things 718 00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:24,920 Speaker 2: just kind of, yeah, big bummer. Things just started to 719 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:27,839 Speaker 2: change because a few years after that they sold it 720 00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:31,440 Speaker 2: to some investors. I think that was in twenty eleven. 721 00:39:31,480 --> 00:39:34,279 Speaker 2: They sold it for eighty million dollars. The investors came in, 722 00:39:34,680 --> 00:39:37,319 Speaker 2: fired all of the staff because they were union, and 723 00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:42,680 Speaker 2: brought in non union workers. They did away with basically 724 00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:47,880 Speaker 2: everything that was cool and intangible about the place, and 725 00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:49,600 Speaker 2: they also took down all the art, Like one of 726 00:39:49,640 --> 00:39:51,840 Speaker 2: the things Stanley did was hang art by the artists 727 00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:54,480 Speaker 2: who'd lived there all throughout the place, it was just 728 00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:57,520 Speaker 2: laden with art. They took all of it off the walls, 729 00:39:57,560 --> 00:40:00,880 Speaker 2: put it in storage. Apparently some that was, and Stanley's 730 00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:04,640 Speaker 2: that wasn't. The hotels too. The Larry Rivers Foundation is 731 00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:06,640 Speaker 2: suing to get one of his paintings back that they 732 00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:09,920 Speaker 2: say was just on loan, and from that point on 733 00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:13,719 Speaker 2: it just became kind of ham fisted and not very 734 00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:16,840 Speaker 2: pleasant for the people who lived there in the Chelsea. 735 00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:22,759 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's very controversial renovation because, like you said, there's 736 00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:26,720 Speaker 1: still people living there. Some of those residents held out 737 00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:29,439 Speaker 1: and fought it and for as long as they could. 738 00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:32,319 Speaker 1: Some other residents were mad at those residents because they 739 00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:35,040 Speaker 1: were like, we're just living into under construction because it's 740 00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:39,360 Speaker 1: taking forever. Because you're fighting this like it's going to happen. 741 00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:41,520 Speaker 1: Just give up so we can at least get this 742 00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:45,920 Speaker 1: finished and live in normal life again. So it really, 743 00:40:45,960 --> 00:40:48,919 Speaker 1: you know, it depends on your perspective. There's a really, 744 00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:51,840 Speaker 1: really good documentary that I highly recommend called Dreaming Walls 745 00:40:52,480 --> 00:40:54,480 Speaker 1: from twenty twenty two where they go inside a lot 746 00:40:54,480 --> 00:40:57,920 Speaker 1: of these original residence apartments see what they're like. There 747 00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:00,960 Speaker 1: are also some good books about this. From what I 748 00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:04,040 Speaker 1: found as of now, I think there's about forty of 749 00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:08,680 Speaker 1: them still there. Original residence in those apartments and when 750 00:41:08,719 --> 00:41:11,360 Speaker 1: you stay there. You're walking down the hall to your 751 00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:13,000 Speaker 1: room and all the doors look the same, and then 752 00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:15,520 Speaker 1: you'll come across the door that's not the same, and 753 00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:16,840 Speaker 1: that's an original resident. 754 00:41:17,239 --> 00:41:20,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, which is pretty cool that they're still there. They're 755 00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:24,560 Speaker 2: also rent controlled, I believe, which is how they're sure. 756 00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:27,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, and it is one of those things where I 757 00:41:27,239 --> 00:41:30,920 Speaker 1: really like staying there, but I feel like, man, I 758 00:41:30,960 --> 00:41:33,440 Speaker 1: bet these people hate people like me that like staying 759 00:41:33,440 --> 00:41:38,040 Speaker 1: here is walking around I know, and like, you know, 760 00:41:38,080 --> 00:41:42,520 Speaker 1: with my nine year old daughter, who's not Gabby Hoffman. 761 00:41:42,880 --> 00:41:45,680 Speaker 2: Right, she's not on roller skates, she's not an uncle Buck. 762 00:41:46,320 --> 00:41:48,359 Speaker 1: I know. So have very mixed feelings about the whole 763 00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:51,520 Speaker 1: thing about like if staying there support that kind of 764 00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:52,919 Speaker 1: action in general or. 765 00:41:53,080 --> 00:41:55,560 Speaker 2: Well, you know, you bring that up. I thought that too, 766 00:41:56,239 --> 00:41:57,960 Speaker 2: you mean, and I say there a couple of times 767 00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:00,799 Speaker 2: over the years we did the most avant garde thing 768 00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:03,239 Speaker 2: you can do. We stayed at the Chelsea Hotel when 769 00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:06,160 Speaker 2: we went to see comedian Tom Rhodes at the Gotham 770 00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:07,520 Speaker 2: Comedy Club next door. 771 00:42:08,520 --> 00:42:09,480 Speaker 1: Oh that's very close. 772 00:42:09,880 --> 00:42:14,239 Speaker 2: Yeah, he's super undergone. But I mean, I totally get 773 00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:16,680 Speaker 2: that feeling that you're talking about where it's just like 774 00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:19,520 Speaker 2: this was something and now is this the like the 775 00:42:19,600 --> 00:42:23,720 Speaker 2: dulled up version, like kind of the fake disneyfied version 776 00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:26,880 Speaker 2: of what it used to be? And that leads me 777 00:42:26,920 --> 00:42:29,439 Speaker 2: to a question that I had throughout researching this, Chuck, 778 00:42:30,239 --> 00:42:35,560 Speaker 2: where is whatever the Chelsea Hotel was? Now? Where is it? 779 00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:37,759 Speaker 2: I don't think it's in New York anymore. I don't 780 00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:39,719 Speaker 2: think it's something like that can survive in New York 781 00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:42,600 Speaker 2: because it's just gotten so wealthy and wealthy and wealthy 782 00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:47,520 Speaker 2: and wealthiness is not really it doesn't really jibe with 783 00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:52,480 Speaker 2: what the Chelsea Hotel was. And it's heyday, So like 784 00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:54,600 Speaker 2: where is it? Is it somewhere else in the world? 785 00:42:55,080 --> 00:42:57,920 Speaker 2: Is it in Kansas? Like where did this go? I 786 00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:01,760 Speaker 2: really want to know who's doing really interesting cool work 787 00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:05,000 Speaker 2: these days? Where can you find it? Or is it 788 00:43:05,080 --> 00:43:05,880 Speaker 2: just not around? 789 00:43:06,520 --> 00:43:09,560 Speaker 1: I know, I'm with you. And also the notion of 790 00:43:09,600 --> 00:43:13,120 Speaker 1: like it's a pretty easy target, but like you know, 791 00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:17,560 Speaker 1: I bet the Holiday and Express and Times Square kicked 792 00:43:17,560 --> 00:43:20,279 Speaker 1: out some residents for whatever building they took over. You know, like, 793 00:43:20,400 --> 00:43:23,320 Speaker 1: is there any hotel group on the earth that isn't 794 00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:25,760 Speaker 1: gross and did things like that in these dense cities? 795 00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:28,319 Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, look what happened to San Francisco, Like 796 00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:32,120 Speaker 2: it lost a lot of it's Oh yeah, I don't 797 00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:35,680 Speaker 2: want to say luster, because it wasn't luster that made 798 00:43:35,719 --> 00:43:39,319 Speaker 2: it so charming, but it lost some of its jam. 799 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:43,160 Speaker 1: Yeah for sure. But you know, El Quixotie is awesome now. 800 00:43:43,239 --> 00:43:46,719 Speaker 1: They've got some really good chefs that work there. You know, 801 00:43:46,719 --> 00:43:49,600 Speaker 1: A big shout out to John Paccini, he's the general 802 00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:52,000 Speaker 1: manager there. He's the stuff you should know, listener. He's 803 00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:55,040 Speaker 1: always been very kind to me, so big shout out 804 00:43:55,080 --> 00:43:56,880 Speaker 1: to him, and he's just he's done a great job. 805 00:43:57,480 --> 00:43:59,840 Speaker 1: And the pie is good now. And I've had some 806 00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:02,560 Speaker 1: really great experiences in that restaurant and in that hotel. 807 00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:06,200 Speaker 1: The lobby bar there is amazing, Like it's a truly 808 00:44:06,520 --> 00:44:08,480 Speaker 1: great place to go have a drink. And if you 809 00:44:08,640 --> 00:44:11,160 Speaker 1: if you stay there, you can get in. But if 810 00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:12,560 Speaker 1: you don't stay there, you can still go get a 811 00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:15,520 Speaker 1: drink there. I would recommend it. So I don't know, 812 00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:19,720 Speaker 1: it's It's definitely makes me question things. But like I said, 813 00:44:19,760 --> 00:44:22,720 Speaker 1: is there a place in New York where original residents 814 00:44:22,719 --> 00:44:24,640 Speaker 1: weren't screwed over in some way or another to make 815 00:44:24,680 --> 00:44:26,759 Speaker 1: way for some new expensive thing. 816 00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:29,719 Speaker 2: Oh. I mean also not just like people living there, 817 00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:32,160 Speaker 2: I mean like the art, the tho oh yeah, the 818 00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:36,319 Speaker 2: artistic vibe that was there where total because it's not 819 00:44:36,360 --> 00:44:37,239 Speaker 2: like no, I you. 820 00:44:37,719 --> 00:44:40,359 Speaker 1: Know, I know, I know, And a lot of those 821 00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:44,759 Speaker 1: forty residents or some of them are still artists making 822 00:44:44,880 --> 00:44:45,160 Speaker 1: art there. 823 00:44:45,239 --> 00:44:47,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, they just got to. 824 00:44:48,200 --> 00:44:50,719 Speaker 1: I don't know if that documentary was accurate, but I 825 00:44:50,760 --> 00:44:54,360 Speaker 1: think that the residents either aren't allowed to use the 826 00:44:54,360 --> 00:44:56,160 Speaker 1: main entrance or maybe they just prefer not to. 827 00:44:56,280 --> 00:44:59,760 Speaker 2: I could see either one. Actually I really could too. Actually, 828 00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:02,839 Speaker 2: well that's it for the Chelsea Hotel. We could keep 829 00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:05,480 Speaker 2: going on and on and on, but I feel like 830 00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:07,279 Speaker 2: this is a good place to stop, don't you. 831 00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:11,160 Speaker 1: Uh yeah. I mean, let's quickly mention that there were 832 00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:14,960 Speaker 1: some very famous things auctioned off. Some of the famous doors. 833 00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:18,080 Speaker 1: Bob Dylan storer was auctioned off. I think either Leonard 834 00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:24,400 Speaker 1: Cohen or Janis Joplin store was auctioned and that iconic sign, 835 00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:27,840 Speaker 1: as best I can figure, was renovated. But part of 836 00:45:27,840 --> 00:45:32,600 Speaker 1: that renovation included replacing the letters, and those original letters 837 00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:33,759 Speaker 1: were sold off. 838 00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:36,239 Speaker 2: Cool. Thank you for figuring that out, because I could 839 00:45:36,280 --> 00:45:38,719 Speaker 2: not make heads or tails of how the sign was restored, 840 00:45:38,840 --> 00:45:40,440 Speaker 2: but then they auctioned off the sign. 841 00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:44,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think just pieces of the original. You know, 842 00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:46,200 Speaker 1: you got to see on both sides and H and 843 00:45:46,239 --> 00:45:50,080 Speaker 1: E on both sides, and you know, I think you 844 00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:52,000 Speaker 1: found even that they had them wired so you could 845 00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:53,759 Speaker 1: put it in your your loft and light it up. 846 00:45:53,800 --> 00:45:59,359 Speaker 2: Pretty awesome, pretty cool. Uh Okay, Well that's it. That's 847 00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:02,040 Speaker 2: it for Chelsea Hotel. If you want to know more 848 00:46:02,040 --> 00:46:04,560 Speaker 2: about the Chelsea Hotel, go check out the Chelsea Hotel. 849 00:46:04,719 --> 00:46:07,920 Speaker 2: And since I said Chelsea Hotel three times, as was 850 00:46:07,960 --> 00:46:11,440 Speaker 2: foretold in two thousand and eight, I've unlocked listener mail. 851 00:46:13,320 --> 00:46:16,200 Speaker 1: That's right, and to prevent another listener mail. Yes, we 852 00:46:16,239 --> 00:46:17,719 Speaker 1: know naked Lunch was written. 853 00:46:17,400 --> 00:46:21,000 Speaker 2: There, thank you, Thank you, sir, And a lot of. 854 00:46:20,960 --> 00:46:24,120 Speaker 1: Other stuff was written there. You can't cover it all, no, Hey, guys, 855 00:46:24,280 --> 00:46:27,080 Speaker 1: this is about inner monologues too, because I mentioned, aside 856 00:46:27,120 --> 00:46:29,840 Speaker 1: from me thinking weird things when I'm falling asleep, I 857 00:46:29,880 --> 00:46:34,120 Speaker 1: mentioned Emily's thumb spelling, and it turns out a ton 858 00:46:34,160 --> 00:46:36,239 Speaker 1: of people do stuff like that, and I told her 859 00:46:36,239 --> 00:46:37,840 Speaker 1: and she was just delighted to find out that she 860 00:46:37,920 --> 00:46:41,240 Speaker 1: is in a club. Hey, guys over after a decade, 861 00:46:41,280 --> 00:46:45,000 Speaker 1: I finally have the inspiration to write. On the latest episode, 862 00:46:45,080 --> 00:46:47,280 Speaker 1: Chuck mentioned Emily spells outwords with their thumb while stressed. 863 00:46:47,320 --> 00:46:50,440 Speaker 1: I do something extremely similar, but instead of tracing the letters, 864 00:46:50,480 --> 00:46:52,560 Speaker 1: I spell them out in the sign language alphabet. 865 00:46:52,680 --> 00:46:53,000 Speaker 2: Wow. 866 00:46:54,040 --> 00:46:56,960 Speaker 1: And there were all kinds of variations. Some people air type, 867 00:46:57,880 --> 00:47:00,880 Speaker 1: sometimes it's cursive, sometimes it's sign language. It's really interesting. 868 00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:03,960 Speaker 1: I spelled them out and sign language alphabet, have been 869 00:47:03,960 --> 00:47:05,880 Speaker 1: doing it since I was at least eleven, and have 870 00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:07,960 Speaker 1: never heard of anyone else spelling out words well stressed. 871 00:47:07,960 --> 00:47:09,799 Speaker 1: I would love to know the reason, but I'm also 872 00:47:09,960 --> 00:47:13,160 Speaker 1: just content to know that someone else has a similar eccentricity. 873 00:47:13,760 --> 00:47:15,719 Speaker 1: Thanks for sharing such a lovely anecdote of what it 874 00:47:15,719 --> 00:47:18,400 Speaker 1: means to love someone with all their little oddities. And 875 00:47:18,440 --> 00:47:21,840 Speaker 1: peccadillos one of my favorite words. Yeah, it's the acceptance 876 00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:23,799 Speaker 1: and enjoy in the mundane and extraordinary in life that 877 00:47:23,880 --> 00:47:26,160 Speaker 1: keeps me coming back every week for a new episode. 878 00:47:26,440 --> 00:47:28,640 Speaker 1: I'm a sandwich listener. I'm sure you're going to get 879 00:47:28,680 --> 00:47:30,919 Speaker 1: dozens of these emails claiming to be Emily's long lost 880 00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:33,799 Speaker 1: finger spelling twin, But I had to write in because 881 00:47:33,800 --> 00:47:38,800 Speaker 1: I've always wanted to stay weird. And Lauren Nider or Niter, 882 00:47:38,840 --> 00:47:40,680 Speaker 1: I'm not sure how you pronounce it. You are in 883 00:47:40,719 --> 00:47:42,960 Speaker 1: a larger club because we got heard from a lot 884 00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:43,160 Speaker 1: of you. 885 00:47:43,360 --> 00:47:47,839 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's really cool. I'm glad. Emily's delighted. Yeah, I'm 886 00:47:47,840 --> 00:47:50,719 Speaker 2: delighted too, me too. Well, if you want to be 887 00:47:50,800 --> 00:47:53,600 Speaker 2: like Lauren and write in and let us know that 888 00:47:53,719 --> 00:47:56,160 Speaker 2: you're a part of a club too, well, we love 889 00:47:56,200 --> 00:47:58,080 Speaker 2: to hear that kind of stuff. You can send it 890 00:47:58,120 --> 00:47:59,960 Speaker 2: off to Stuff podcast at iHeartRadio. 891 00:48:04,520 --> 00:48:07,360 Speaker 1: Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For 892 00:48:07,480 --> 00:48:11,640 Speaker 1: more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 893 00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:13,560 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. 894 00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:16,520 Speaker 2: H