Checking In - This Ain't no Holiday Inn: Down and Out at the Chelsea Hotel 1980-1995 - page 17

There was only one problem—an issue that would haunt West for his entire stay at the
Chelsea. He moved in without checking first with Stanley Bard. This was taboo. Meeting
Bard in person was standard protocol: you sat down for your interview with him, and he
gave you a thumbs up or down depending if you were “right” for the Chelsea. “Right”
meant you were either a successful artist or you had potential to become one.
Bard sometimes also factored in your ability to pay rent, the precise calculus of which
is still unknown. But West ignored the protocol, strutting through the hotel's front doors,
flitting right past this little procedural detail, and landing smack in bellman Paul Volmer's
Room 218.
The room was a strip of empty space between two beat-up mattresses pushed against
the walls. It had a sink and a window with a view of an alley. To West's dismay, the room
was a pigsty. Volmer was not famous for his housekeeping.
MARLOWE WEST
WhenIfirststeppedintoPaul'sroom,Ithought“I'mcominginwithtwobuckets
of paint!” I got yards and yards of tulle, and hung it down from the ceiling so
it would screen off the half of the room where my bed was. After my designing
efforts, the room was pretty neat, though.
Volmer confirms that Marlowe added a little Goodwill glamour to the room.
PAUL VOLMER
There was only one overhead light fixture in the middle of the room. We exper-
imented with different colored light bulbs, but most of the time we had either
green or blue. And we painted the room a really light purple, so the room had
this purply-green otherworldly atmosphere. Marlowe put satin sheets on his bed,
beautiful purples and reds. And over his bed, he had a purple mesh canopy he
devised. He also built a little light table with white glass over it and lights under-
neath. He was very whimsical. We would put little toy dinosaurs, knick-knacks
and plastic palm trees on the light table. Something to illuminate the room at
night.
MARLOWE WEST
And then things got fun.
Prior to West's appearance on the scene, Volmer's messy room had already evolved into
something of a salon where budding young artists, musicians and writers could connect, a
place where parties happened, parties that Volmer generously kept supplied with the usual
social lubricants.