It’s a hotel like no other, filled with drama and creative energy like no other. This place, which Andy Warhol himself described as a ” glamorous vortex of artists, celebrities and eccentrics “, is the Chelsea Hotel, the institution of the Chelsea district – and of New York.
The documentary “Ghosts of the Chelsea Hotel (and Other Rock & Roll Stories)” offers a look into the stories, both big and small, of this extraordinary place, both a place of residence and a place of passage. Directed by Danny Garcia and already screened last year in Brooklyn, the 70-minute film will this time be screened at Joe’s Pub, on Tuesday, September 3 at 7pm.
Through archival footage and interviews with its residents, including former French model Man-Laï Liang who still lives there and participated in its production, the documentary recounts the past of this 19th-century place which has seen titans of culture and art pass through, such as Mark Twain, Tennessee Williams, Jack Kerouac, Bob Marley and even photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and singer Patti Smith.
In addition to highlighting the hotel’s role in 20th-century art movements, it also touches on the tragedies associated with it, such as the mysterious murder of Nancy Spungen, the girlfriend of the Sex Pistols’ Sid Vicious who was stabbed to death at the Chelsea Hotel in 1978 at the age of 20. Nearly 140 years after it opened, the New York gem still holds secrets.
