New York’s Most Famous Bohemian Landmark Just Joined the Establishment

Even by New York standards, the Hotel Chelsea—a red brick monolith that’s dominated West 23rd Street for the past 129 years—is a hostel like no other. Behind its wrought-iron balconies, an artistic who’s who accomplished their triumphs and travesties: Dylan Thomas drank, Andy Warhol filmed, William Burroughs wrote, and Sex Pistols guitarist Sid Vicious stabbed his girlfriend Nancy Spungen to death. All that, of course, is history—but it’s also marketing. A building this old with stories this deep is a brand in the making.