Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Place
PETER JOHANSSON
Afterward, I would drop by the Chelsea every once in a while and bring friends
over to show them the better known spots, where people had lived and where
people had died. I came in there one time and they had completely redone the
lobby. And then I went up on the floors and I saw that they had redone all of the
wallsandeverything.Itwasatotallydifferentplace.Exceptthestaircaseremained
the same, with the same pretty iron handrails.
It was so sad. It wasn't the place that it used to be when, as a flight attendant,
I would visit the Chelsea. It was now horrible. It was lighter, for one. Some of
the floor was hardwood, not black and white linoleum like it had always been.
Everything was cleaner and more antiseptic. It had no soul anymore. After that, I
never went back.
JOHN ZINSSER
When we left the Chelsea, it had not been gentrified. It still had all its funkiness.
However, they had fixed up the lobby and fixed up the hallways to some extent.
That was when David Bard came in as a presence there. I went back maybe once
or twice, once to introduce my baby daughter to Jerry at the front desk. But bey-
ond that, I haven't gone back. I have bittersweet feelings about going back. At the
time we left, it wasn't something that I really wanted to leave behind.
Maybe when my kids get older I can take them over and say “We lived here.”
But what am I gonna do now—just wander around the halls?
MARY ANNE ROSE
Originally, they didn't take much care of this place. But now they're doing all this
work out in front—thank God. They're filling in the bricks with tuck pointing to
prevent leaks. I used to have terrible leaks in the room. But, it's sort of better not
to stir up dust and call much to Stanley's attention.
DIMITRI MUGIANIS
People still get the Bohemian experience, but I think it's getting harder and harder
for young people because everything is so scattered. You know what people say
aboutL.A.,that“there'snotherethere.”Well,“there'snotherethere”inthiscoun-
try anymore, and New York City has really taken that hit.
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