The Hotel Chelsea Lives Up to Its Lore
Notes from a New York first-timer: part two.
I hadn’t planned to stay at the Hotel Chelsea until a very stylish editor recommended it to me on Instagram. I’d heard of it of course – since its reopening, it’s received plenty of press in the magazines I read – but for whatever reason it just hadn’t crossed my mind. Anyway, it was this co-sign that led me down a reading rabbit hole and eventually to the conclusion that it was the only New York hotel in which I could imagine myself ringing in my thirties. (Full disclosure: I will be writing about it in further depth for a culture magazine soon. One night was comped through PR and I paid for the other two.)
‘The Chelsea is a hotel with a thousand stories to tell, but it doesn’t coast by on its history’
The appeal of the Chelsea was partly its folklore. Jack Kerouac, Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, Edie Sedgwick: I could fill this entire newsletter with the names of people who have either lived or stayed there. Perhaps only the Chateau Marmont has a guestbook that betters it. However, it’s the post-reno décor, executed by Studio Sio under the direction of hotelier Sean MacPherson, that really clinched it for me. There have been hotel interiors I’ve been wooed by over the years but it’s rare to find a space that you feel exactly mirrors your own taste and concept of what luxury is. The Hotel Chelsea’s aesthetic seemed eclectic and layered and old-world but also sleek and intentional in a way that I subconsciously strive for in my own flat on a much skinnier budget.
For a variety of reasons, our accommodation was sorted about 48 hours before we landed in New York and let me tell you: all the faff was worth it. From the outside, the Chelsea has a haunted quality: it’s a red-brick gothic structure with wrought-iron railings and an iconic neon sign that invokes a seedy motel. Inside, however, it oozes worldliness. Mid-century furniture upholstered in faded florals. Reclaimed wood floors and stained-glass windows. An idiosyncratic collection of art – some of which I later learned had been offered up by residents as rent over the years. It’s a hotel with a thousands of stories to tell, but it doesn’t coast by on its history. There are plaques commemorating the likes of Leonard Cohen at the entrance, but they’re so inconspicuous that I only noticed them on checking out. Essentially, the Chelsea doesn’t try too hard to impress you because it really doesn’t need to.
‘Weekend out-of-towners in backpacks and a family trying to locate their Chick-Fil-A order in the lobby still didn’t dampen its allure’
To me, the greatness of a city hotel is in direct correlation to the number of locals it draws in, and the Chelsea appeared to be a go-to destination for well-dressed people to stop by for post-work drinks and date nights. When we headed out for dinner on Wednesday evening, the Lobby Bar was packed. By the time we got back at 10pm-ish, the buzz had barely died down. Admittedly, by the weekend, the stylish folk had mostly been replaced by out-of-towners in backpacks and baseball caps; at one point I came across a family trying to locate their Chick-Fil-A order in the lobby. Somehow that still didn’t dampen its allure.
What really stuck with me was it that despite its blatant cool factor, the Hotel Chelsea has genuine soul. It’s managed to find that balance between cosiness and sexiness – and not to name names, but I often find hotels that strive for the latter just feel a bit sleazy or pretentious. There are grander, more outwardly glamorous stays in Manhattan, but even if I could afford to shell out on The Carlyle or The Mark or any of the other five-star institutions, I’m not sure I would. It took just three nights at the Chelsea for me to decide that it’s my New York home-from-home.
P.S. The hotel smelt incredible, which I believe was down to the SIDIA candle collab with the spa. It doesn’t ship to the UK, but that won’t stop me finding a way to get my hands on it.
Further Reading
My 17 Years Painting The Demimonde of New York’s Chelsea Hotel in The Guardian
West Side Stories in The World of Interiors