Scrapping to save the Hotel Chelsea

By Justin Rocket Silverman, amNewYork Staff Writer | jsilverman@am-ny.com

August 6, 2007

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When filmmaker Sam Bassett moved into the Hotel Chelsea last month, he became not only the newest resident in a building almost 100 years older than himself, but also a part of the legendary artistic community distressed by a management takeover they fear could steal the Chelsea's soul.

"I'm touched to be a part of this place, and feel a responsibility to continue the spirit," said Bassett, 29, from his rooftop garden.

"The hotel is the last place on this island that has maintained a joyous, individualistic lifestyle, and everyone is concerned now that the sacred energy might be lost."

Bassett is working with producer Leila Antakly, 31, on a documentary feature about the hotel, tentatively entitled "Changing of the Guard."

The film will explore the recent ouster of longtime hotel manager and co-owner Stanley Bard, 73, who for five decades cultivated a creative bohemia at the Chelsea. He handpicked the approximately 220 long-term tenants who would best cultivate an artistic community (the other 90 rooms are rented nightly to guests).

"I think Stanley is one of the greatest artists in the country," said Artie Nash, 35, a two-year resident of the Chelsea.

"That's something the new management just can't appreciate. For them to say 'I know better' is just audacity."

The fate of the Chelsea has become a cause celebre, with many fearing the New York institution that was once home to notables such as Dylan Thomas and Sid Vicious will become another victim of the real-estate boom.

The co-owners who have taken control of the hotel, David Elder and Dr. Marlene Krauss, say the hotel will be fine, and that Bard was mismanaging it by letting some tenants fall far behind on their rent and by taking an exorbitant personal salary.

A corporate arbitrator gave them control in June for the next 10 years, and ordered Bard to pay back almost one million dollars in salary. Bard could not be reached for comment.

Dr. Krauss said she and Elder have no intention of challenging the leases made under Bard, of converting rooms to condos or otherwise altering the hotel's ambiance.

"I think the tenants don't understand what's happening, that this is actually all for their benefit," Dr. Krauss said. "A lot of publicity has been one sided and not correct. We are going to tell our story by what we do and the improvements we make."

The atmosphere in the hotel's storied lobby remains tense. Nash and other tenants say the new management team has not introduced itself or made any contact with residents, other than posting a sign to say Bard is no longer in charge.

(They have also prohibited tenants from ducking behind the counter to fetch their own mail, a longstanding tradition.)

Bard and his son David still work at the hotel and are there almost daily, albeit unofficially and without a salary. A "Bring Back the Bards" banner hangs off a balcony overlooking 23rd Street. Someone recently left a severed goldfish head in a box on the doorstep of Elder's apartment at the hotel, a Godfather-like warning perhaps.

All of which creates great material for Bassett's film project. Now in its third month of production, his biggest challenge may be containing the Hotel Chelsea's seemingly endless stories, legends and nuances, not to mention the current management drama, in a single movie. Still, he is not one for pessimism.

"By the time we're done, I expect more than 100 characters to be involved," he said.

"And that's fine with me. The more people who take part, and the more spirits involved, the bigger the energy of the film is going to be and the more similar to the experience of the actual Hotel Chelsea."

A sampling of Hotel Chelsea history:

-The Welsh poet Dylan Thomas collapsed at the hotel in 1953 after "drinking 18 straight whiskies," and soon died.

-Bob Dylan's first child Jesse was born while the singer lived at the hotel, from 1961-64.

-Leonard Cohen wrote the song Chelsea Hotel #2 about the love affair he had there with Janis Joplin.

-Sid Vicious was arrested there in 1978 on suspicion of murdering his girlfriend Nancy Spungen.