Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 7
Chelsea Portraits
“[Bohemia] should… be the preserve of—in no special order—insomniacs and
restaurants and bars that never close; bibliophiles and the little stores and stalls
that cater to them; alcoholics and addicts and deviants and the proprietors who
understand them; aspirant painters and musicians and the modest studios that
can accommodate them; ladies of easy virtue and the men who require them;
misfits and poets from foreign shores and exiles from remote and cruel dictator-
ships”
—CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS,
Vanity Fair
During these years, a person wandering the halls of the Chelsea could encounter
every Bohemian personality-type cited above in spades. Some were world famous,
like Tom Waits, Virgil Thompson, Dee Dee Ramone, and Jaco Pastorius. Others
were famous in smaller circles, such as Johnny Thunders in punk rock, Kinky
Friedmaninmysterynovels,andHarrySmithinmusichistoryandthedarkartsofblackma-
gic.
Some were known only to a small coterie of specialists. Suzanne Bartsch, for example,
the imperious Austrian queen bee of event planning, with her thick Transylvanian accent,
who threw parties with the notorious “Club Kids” including Michael Alig, now in prison.
Thatsordidscene,whichendedinaparticularly vilemurder,wasmemorialized inJamesSt.
James's book,
Disco Bloodbath.
And other Chelsea Bohemians were famous to no one. But the more obscure Chelsea
Bohemianscouldactuallybemorecolorfulthanthesuperstars,freedfromcaringabouttheir
public images. They didn't have to be suitable for prime-time. What follows is a catalogue
ofpeoplewhowerecreative,thosewhowerecrazyandcreative,andthosewhoweremerely
crazy.
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