Hotel Chelsea history “Inside the Dream Palace” provides good background, but excludes real estate dirt: Book review

Hotel Chelsea
Hotel Chelsea

From the January issue: The Victorian hulk of The Chelsea Hotel Looms Over West 23rd Street, as imposing a façade as it is a symbol of New York City’s cultural legacy. In its 129-year history, the illustrious structure has housed Jackson Pollock, Allen Ginsberg, Janis Joplin, Dennis Hopper, Bob Dylan and dozens of other notables.

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But if the structure at 222 West 23rd Street, between Seventh and Eighth avenues, is a cultural landmark, it is also a touchstone in the history of New York real estate — an early experiment in communal living in a money-obsessed town. [more]