Getting By - This Ain't no Holiday Inn: Down and Out at the Chelsea Hotel 1980-1995 - page 140

When I ran out of room for it, I put it out in the hall. Someone else took it,
and it's still somewhere in the hotel!
The Dutch painter Willem Van Es 80 found a piano in the hall. It's likely it was the one Tim
had left there.
If ample furniture could be found in the basement, occasionally you found something
more colorful.
PETER JOHANSSON
There was this table right in the middle of the boiler room, and that's the table
we would go down to in order to snort blow on its surface.
Butbelieveitornot,peopleactuallyliveddownthere!Ifyouwalkedthrough
a couple of doorways in the dark down there, you found out that this one guy
hadpracticallyputtogetheraloftintheboilerroom!Hehadbookshelves,hehad
electricallightshookedup.Hewasahomelesspersonlivingthere.Nobodyknew
aboutthisguy,notevenStanleyBard!Imean,somebodymusthaveknownabout
it, but it was accepted. But I don't think anyone knew the lengths he had gone to
make himself comfortable down there! I was blown away!
It was a beautiful little place there, and I felt like I was invading somebody's
space. But then I also thought, “Somebody lives here for free.” I told Paul about
it, but I never told anyone else. Why would I rat this dude out? I'd never even
met him. But later on, I again ran into the guy who lived in that improvised loft.
Hewasareal wacko,really weirdandparanoid. Hesaidhewasgoingtoturnme
in for invading his privacy.
I asked, “Well why would you do that?”
“You have no right to be here.”
“Do you have a right to be here?”
“I've been here forever.”
“Okay,” I said, “I can't argue with that.” And then I just left because it was
not a positive scenario.
It was a really weird experience. It was really his place, even though it
wasn't! That's the kind of beautiful thing that I saw at the Chelsea. 81