"I Remember You Well At the Chelsea Hotel" ~ is a song about how Leonard Cohen met Janice Joplin in the elevator of the hotel. He wrote this song upon hearing of her death. Here is our tribute to him performing this song....

A visit to the Chelsea Hotel is like no other. Why? Is it the grandness yet approachable scale or the attention to detail the architect was able to breathe into the space?

Here is a tour of the hotel and the art of Mr. Childs. I hope it conveys the utter beauty and rightness of the place and artwork I felt in it's presence with Mrs. Childs as my guide.

Growing up a native New Yorker in this mean and lean City of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, I had friends with drug and drinking 'habits' who inhabited the place. Stories would abound. Their lifestyles often became tabloid favorites. Because I grew up in a dysfunctional New York family I often say I don't need to go to a Woody Allen movie, all I have to do is go back home to be in one. Up until my recent behind-the-scenes visit to the Chelsea Hotel, I had no idea what I was in for, only having once recently did I venture as far as the lobby when a friend was staying there overnight.

STAIRWELL

There was nothing to prepare me for the beauty of the place when I entered its inner sanctions, the DNA of the building. Upon exiting from a nondescript slow moving, tight little elevator placed claustrophobically next to a small reception desk, on the second floor I was immediately greeted by an enormous and elegant staircase with open ironwork filigree and wood banisters with stone landings.

Looking up I noticed the light pouring down from the skylight that spanned the breath and width of the stairwell 10 flights above. It was a perfect moment. One of the striking features of the stairwell is the intricate grillwork of the baluster supporting a wide, wooden banister. Looking down, my eyes met with the equally wide marble stairs. 

Thru the hallway construction maze of exposed wires and walls I was escorted by my hostess through a plastic tarp she raised to reveal her actual door. Another surprise greeted me when I entered her apartment which faced south. At the far end, the light streamed in from floor to ceiling windows barely revealing the garden below.

This feeling of welcome was augmented by the height of the ceilings, giving the light a chance to shine through a stained glass vestibule where the entryway gives way to the living room.

Although the fireplace was gone, the inset grillwork and drawers under the long window revealed its thoughtful construction. 

Because I was so enamored of the hotel and her apartment, Judith graciously showed me an additional space she and her husband (now deceased) had inhabited. It was the place  Bernard would go to to make art.

But first we had to get there. Although all the artwork in the hallways was striped from the walls for the ongoing renovation, I found a piece that could not be lifted. A little gem lying on the floor in a common hallway.

Tenants kept their hallway, untouched by the renovation.

Bernard Child’s studio on the 5th floor faces north. The favored light for an artist to work  because of its consistency of light throughout the day (Illumination I). The floor to ceiling windows and stained glass were intact. Including the original French shutters if one wanted to completely keep out the streetlight or daylight.

Upon opening these shutters and doors you have the pleasure of stepping out onto an elegant balcony that echoes the grillwork of the stairwell, This balcony faces north up 23 Street.