Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
I Only Work Here: The Staff
Any successful economy depends on its labor. In focusing on the Chelsea's residents, it's
easy to forget that many of the people walking the hotel's halls did it for a living—and I
don't mean the hookers. The room maids, the bellmen, the switchboard operators and the
front-desk clerks had their own milieu at the Chelsea.
PAUL VOLMER
They had a maintenance guy they called the Engineer. If you needed a light fixed,
or you had a faucet go out, the Engineer in the basement had tools and would fix
things.
There was also a whole staff of bellmen, two on during the day, and one on
during second and third shifts. The bellmen would wear green uniforms, sort of
like suits, with gold braid. A lot of the bellmen were black and had been there for
years. One of the advantages of living in the hotel was, let's say you were hav-
ing a party or hanging out and drinking beer, and you wanted some more beer or
snacks, they had bellman service. You could ask a bellman to run to the deli and
get you more beer or sandwiches. For a Bohemian like me, it was a special treat.
Then the bellman would come back and you'd party with the bellman. You'd give
him a couple of bucks, and then offer him beer or pot and they'd hang out with
you. You were friends with him. Some people treated the bellmen like servants,
but the more Bohemian people had them as friends. They were good guys.
One bellman, a short black older guy, he had this really young girlfriend.
Everybody wondered why he had such a young girlfriend, and then one day he
showedmeapictureinhiswallet.Itwashimnaked.Hehadafoot-longdick.Now
I knew the source of his popularity!
ROBERT CAMPBELL
Later, that bellman died of AIDS. Tim Sullivan told me that he was Long Dong
Silver, the porn star.
82
PAUL VOLMER
You also had the maids who were always cleaning the rooms. If you wanted maid
service you could get fresh linen. They were all friendly, mostly women of color.
Therewasabitofstyleinlivingthere,tobeabletogetfreshtowelsandlinen.The
permanent residents had to pay extra for it. I only did it when I first lived there,
when I was feeling a little extravagant. Once I had settled in there, I didn't use
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