Interview: Ed Hamilton, Author of Legends of the Chelsea Hotel

The Chelsea Hotel recently made news as money-hungry corporate types ousted long-time proprietor Stanley Bard and his family. The essentially New York location is in danger of losing the artists and outlaws that made it the cities "rebel Mecca."

Author and Chelsea Hotel resident Ed Hamilton recently released his book Legends of the Chelsea Hotel: Living with the Artists and Outlaws in New York's Rebel Mecca. The book, an extension of the Hotel Chelsea Blog, started as a chronicle of the outrageous events that always seem to happen at the hotel, but with the removal of the Bards, may be a eulogy of sorts.

Hamilton sat down to share what it is like to be a writer in New York City and what it takes to get from book store clerk to sharing the same space as Arthur Miller and the guy from My Name is Earl.

What was your life like before moving to New York?

I was living in Washington, D.C., going to graduate school and teaching philosophy at the University of Maryland. I was sick of philosophy by this point but, like most people in D.C., I was really into politics. My girlfriend and I spent every weekend at demonstrations and protest marches, and cocktail parties where everyone argued about the issue of the day. (If this sounds annoying, rest assured that it was indeed.) I also spent more time writing about politics than I did on my work for graduate school, though I could get very little of it published. I convinced myself that I needed to get a PhD and teach philosophy, even though all I wanted to do was write. Finally, I had enough, and at about this time my girlfriend's job ended. We packed up and moved to New York with the express intent to live in the Chelsea Hotel.

What authors inspired you as a young writer?

I guess the one who always comes to mind immediately is Charles Bukowski, though I think when I was young he was more of an inspiration to me in terms of lifestyle than actual writing style. When I was in my twenties, I was reading writers like Dostoyevsky and Hawthorne and I had a very ornate style, though it was ironic and self-parodying, (the kind of thing that became popular once I had stopped doing it and moved on, frustratingly enough). It wasn't until I was older that I began to adopt a more minimalist approach to writing-for which I obviously owe a debt to Bukowski-even though I don't drink anymore.

What advice would you give potential writers?

Try to think of something else to do with your life. Wouldn't you rather be a doctor or a lawyer, earn a lot of money and respect, rather than beating your head against the wall trying to be published? If you absolutely cannot think of anything else, then your best bet is to go into an MFA program. It probably will not teach you how to write, but at least then you can get a job teaching when you find that you cannot make any money as a writer. If you really have the calling-and if you do then you know it and nothing I can say will dissuade you-and are serious about developing as a writer, then try to move to New York. Something about the energy of this city will drive you to become the best writer you can possibly be-or die trying. That is the point, isn't it? (Though publication sure is nice.)

What advice would you give someone who wants to move to New York?

Unless you have a trust fund or plan to work on Wall Street, it is going to be tough. There is virtually no affordable housing left in Manhattan and precious little in the outer boroughs. You want to be in Manhattan, of course; otherwise, you just spend all your time riding the subway into Manhattan. Sadly, the days of a struggling writer or artist moving to the Lower East Side and supporting his or herself waiting tables are all but history. What many young people do is to get several roommates and share the rent. Even then, you will not be able to afford much, so get used to the idea of living in a very constricted living space. If you are from the Midwest or somewhere like that, there is no way you will believe how little space people live in New York. The amount of space you get for your money is truly laughable. Besides that, the life of the city is fast paced and exhausting. You really have to want it.

If you were not a writer, what else would you be doing?

It would not matter. One thing would be as bad as another. I would be miserable, that's for sure. Working in a bookstore doesn't sound too horrible, since I love books. On the other hand, I would have to be around books all day, which would remind me of all the writing I wasn't doing. I worked in bookstores when I was younger, and that was definitely a problem. I carried a little notebook around with me and tried to write when nobody was looking. I do really like teaching-another unappreciated profession--though I tend to take it seriously and try to do a good job, which, once again, doesn't leave much time for writing.

What does the Chelsea Hotel smell like?

I'll go out in the hall right now and take a whiff. Right outside my door it smells like marble - a cool smell - mixed with furniture polish and hint of cigarette smoke. Out by the elevators it smells as if someone is stewing onions. Which reminds me, a tourist once reviewed the hotel in a travel blog, and, apparently not knowing what the place was, complained of the cooking smells-so very un-sterile and un-hotel-like. There is also one floor of the hotel (I won't say which one) that always smells like marijuana, day or night.

With all your years at the Chelsea, were you ever star struck by someone you met?

That Earl guy from My Name is Earl! Actually, I saw that guy checking into the hotel one day. I waited a week or so until he was safely out of the hotel and then wrote about him on the blog, teasing him a bit about being a skateboard champion, a Scientologist and naming his child "Pilot Inspector". I think he called Stanley Bard and complained, because Stanley caught me going through the lobby and gave me a lecture about violating the privacy of celebrities. I rode in the elevator with both Philip Glass and Arthur Miller, and I was too intimidated to say anything to either of them - they're such giants in their fields - as was Beat luminary Herbert Huncke, who I saw hanging out in the lobby several times in the year leading up to his death.

With the hotel under new management, do you have any intentions to move?

No, I'm not letting them off the hook that easily. The hotel has changed for the worse, probably irreparably, by the new corporate presence, and it's not as stimulating or exciting to live here as it used to be. But the Chelsea, like New York, may yet prove bigger than the forces of greed aligned against it. To me it is almost inconceivable that a place as vibrant as the Chelsea could actually become the sterile theme hotel that BD Management it to become. Media attention and public pressure have already slowed them down considerably. I am optimistic that the Chelsea will yet be reborn in coming years, albeit maybe in some other form, as a haven for the arts.

What goals do you hope your book will accomplish? Along with that question, what goals do you have for any of your writing works?

Most of all, I hope that my book will draw attention to this unique cultural institution, so that interested people who can help will lend a hand and hopefully save us from the greed of the developers who are overrunning New York. There ought to be a place in this city for people who are concerned about something more than simply lining their pockets. New York is the Arts capital of the world, but it will not be for long if artists cannot afford to live here. From a personal standpoint, I hope Legends will bring my work to a wider audience and that it will lead to the publication of other books. Right now, my agent is beginning to shop around a novel, Bullies, about a group of tough kids who take out their frustrations by picking on smaller kids and in general wreaking havoc at their school and around their neighborhood. It is fast-paced, packed with action and unique in telling the story from the point of view of one of the tough kids, who gradually comes to terms with the reasons for his antisocial acts at the same time he and his friends are discovering girls.

Legends of the Chelsea Hotel: Living with the Artists and Outlaws at New York's Rebel Mecca is now available. The Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog continues to chronicle the residents of the famous landmark.