Chelsea Mourning
ByI have a travel story about turmoil at the famed Chelsea Hotel on guardian.co.uk.
I couldn’t have put the story together without the help of Ed Hamilton, who I first met a few years back when I wrote about the Hotel Chelsea blog. This is Ed in the 250 sq ft room he has occupied at the Chelsea for the past 13 years.
I had quite a time researching the story, popping in and out of apartments and meeting an array of characters. The resident who left the most impression, but who never made it into the story because of space, is a former singer-songwriter called Jann Paxton. Jann is very ill, suffering from cancer, he looked quite gaunt and would not allow me to take a photograph of him, hence the above picture of his dog Ginger.
Jann is among the Chelsea tenants currently threatened with eviction. As he told me, “I have nowhere to go…I wouldn’t even survive a night by myself on the streets.â€Â
Related:
Chelsea Blues (Guardian.co.uk)
Living With Legends (Hotel Chelsea Blog)
5 Comments
June 4th, 2008 at 11:04 am
That guy must really love his foozball.
June 4th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Yeah, Ed really does love foosball. If it were left up to me would have a couch instead!
June 4th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Ed is a great guy, fighting the good fight to get the bards back in charge of the Chelsea hotel, and put the universe aright again.
June 10th, 2008 at 1:22 am
Please tell Jann that Joseph’s Taffeta Butterfly Lover sends all her love and encouragement.
And you might mention that I left a longer, albeit more obnoxious, comment after reading the New York Observer article. Just found this blog as a result.
Here’s looking at you, kid… (But looking at Ginger’s OK too.)
t.
June 25th, 2008 at 1:13 am
This is a message for Jann Paxton from his siser and family in San Diego. You always have a home here. Love, Pam