Chelsea Wildness - This Ain't no Holiday Inn: Down and Out at the Chelsea Hotel 1980-1995 - page 42

Check In to Check Out
Wecan'tignorethetopicofChelseasuicides.Hotelshavelongservedasattractive spotsfor
those who want to kill themselves. Anonymity is a factor—sometimes you wanna go where
nobody knows your name. It's a big enough problem that experts are writing articles about
hotel staffmembers being sotraumatized after discovering suicides that theyneed treatment
for PTSD. 36
The Chelsea has its own hundred-year history of suicide stories. But Stanley Bard rarely
talked about these dark punctuation marks in the story.
The existentialist writer Albert Camus wrote, “There is but one truly serious philosoph-
ical problem and that is suicide.” Meaning, with the opportunity to kill yourself available at
alltimes,onehadtothinkhardtodecide.Thissortofpessimistic,deliberativesuicideisone
way to go.
Although many Chelsea residents were philosophical in nature—choosing a Bohemian
life can be seen as a philosophical act—Chelsea suicides were rarely statements planned in
advance. Most killed themselves in moments of acute panic, despair, or some kind of booze
ordrugfrenzy.AndattheChelsea,whereacornucopiaofmethodswasalwaysavailable—a
handfulofpills,asmallarsenalofweapons,andtwoverypicturesquedrops(oneviaanout-
sidewindow,theotherviathehotel'sspectacularcentralstaircase)theChelseamadesuicide
convenient.
Long-time Chelsea resident and surf guitarist Tim Sullivan was around for a few.
TIM SULLIVAN
There was one experience when a woman jumped out of her window on the ninth
floor.ItwasMaytwenty-six,whichissignificant.Iwasinmyroomplayingmusic
on my keyboard. The weather outside was nice so I had my window open. From
there, you can get a good view of what's going on outside, and I saw something
coming down—swoosh—like a bird. Then I heard a bang, or more like a clang.
There used to be a manhole right in front of the hotel's awning. She landed right
on the manhole cover, and that's what made the clanging! She had already slit her
wrists, and then ran and jumped out her 9th floor window past the Hotel Chelsea
sign, and she landed right in front of the awning.
Then, exactly one month later, on June twenty-sixth, a guy on the ninth
floor—the same floor the woman had jumped from—jumped down the gap inside
the spiral staircase. The very same day, exactly one month later. And from the
same 9th floor.