Dreaming Walls
As well as the ghosts of the greats that still haunt its fabled walls, the hotel is still home to dozens of longterm residents, who have lived amidst the scaffolding and contant construction for close to a decade.
Dreaming Walls
Whenever a beloved building or object is under renovation, disturbing the inertia of the Real, so to say, we fear of what will become of it. The Chelsea Hotel was precisely at this crossroads when the filmmakers stumbled upon it and decided to chronicle its current inhabitants who get a chance to speak their mind and show their creativity and the havoc caused by gentrification and a corporate mentality that endangers them. The ghosts of famous and illustrious occupants past linger in the background as though they were memories captured inside the walls, staircases, and stained glass windows.
The hotel was sold to real estate developer Joseph Chetrit for $80 million in 2011[14] and stopped taking reservations for new guests, to begin renovations.[15][16] Long-time residents were allowed to remain in the building, some of them protected by state rent regulations.[17] The renovations prompted complaints to the city by the remaining tenants of health hazards caused by the construction.[18] The city's Building Department investigated these complaints and found no major violations.[19] In November 2011, the management ordered all of the hotel's many artworks taken off the walls, supposedly for their protection and cataloging, a move which some tenants interpreted as a step towards forcing them out as well.[17] In 2013, Ed Scheetz became the Chelsea Hotel's new owner after buying back five properties from Chetrit and David Bistricer.[20][21] In 2016, Ira Drukier, Richard Born and Sean MacPherson bought the Chelsea Hotel.[22] 041b061a72