HarpMagazine.com – by Ed Hamilton
Legends of the Chelsea Hotel by Ed Hamilton
Anyone with even passing knowledge of bohemian America has surely heard of the Chelsea Hotel, home at various times to Allen Ginsberg, Dylan Thomas, Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen, Sid Vicious and Patti Smith, to name but a few. But the most interesting stories in Ed Hamilton’s book aren’t about the “names” that have passed through, but the more eccentric characters he’s encountered as a resident of the hotel for over a decade.
Hamilton has a friendly, anecdotal writing style that instantly draws you in; a regular kind of guy who seemingly gets along with just about everyone—a useful kind of tolerance to have, when your shared bathroom is used by junkies who tend to leave their syringes and bloodstains behind (a legacy Hamilton determines is a result of said bathroom also being used by Herbert Huncke, smack muse for the likes of Ginsberg, Burroughs, and Kerouac).