Famous hotel where Sid Vicious 'killed' Nancy closes after a century

Rex

One of the most legendary hotels in the history of rock stars, writers and artists, has closed after a century.

The Chelsea Hotel in New York has been bought for £48m and sold to an architect famous for Holiday Inn hotels.

It is thought to be one of the most scandalous hotels in history, a place where Sid Vicious allegedly stabbed his girlfriend Nancy Spungen to death in room 100, and where Welsh poet Dylan Thomas drank himself to death after spending the last few months of his life there.

Described as a 'rest stop for rare individuals', writers such as Mark Twain and Tennessee Williams, were replaced by hippies and rock stars of the 60s and punks of the 70s.

Arthur Miller lived in the hotel for seven years from 1960, while Edie Sedgwick enjoyed an affair with fellow guest Bob Dylan (who wrote Like a Rolling Stone about her). Edie once glued false eyelashes on by candlelight one night, setting fire to her room and only just escaping with her life.

Bob Dylan was joined by the likes of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown and Patti Smith, and the hotel's notoriety continued into the 80s when Madonna shot pics for her racy book, Sex, in room 822.

Most recently, Ethan Hawke moved in after splitting with Uma Thurman, and made Chelsea Walls, a film about Bohemians living there.

But now it looks like this hotel of excess and scandal is set to be another run-of-the-mill boutique accommodation.

Read more at the Daily Mail.

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