A short while ago I visited the Hotel Chelsea to interview Ed Hamilton and Debbie Martin, who write the Living With Legends: Hotel Chelsea blog. It’s one of the few times when I have felt that words simply cannot do a place justice. All I will say is that walking into the hotel is like stepping into a surrealist painting. Nothing is quite what it seems.

If you want to take a look for yourself and you’re not in New York, the next best thing is to watch this 18 minute documentary about Ed and the hotel that ran on Australian television recently. It doesn’t take you along all the floors, or introduce you to even a handful of the eccentric characters who roam the hallways, but it does at least give you a flavor of that eerie lobby and an introduction to the hotel manager, Stanley Bard.

For Brits there is the bonus of an interview with Cindy Gallop, a wealthy expat businesswoman who lives across the street from the Chelsea and who has been on the receiving end of Ed’s ire as a symbol of the neighborhood’s gentrification. All in all, a great intro to the hotel and some great street scenes of the neighborhood.

The picture above is a screen grab from a lobby scene in the documentary. If that doesn’t make you curious, I don’t know what will. Click here for the Real player version and here for Win version.