First it was CBGB’S now the Hotel Chelsea, an underground landmark in Manhattan where Dylan Thomas, William S. Burroughs, Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol ,Eugene O’Neill and Sid Vicious once lived has been put on the market for an undisclosed sum. It has been owned and operated by the same family for 65 years. “It is time to let a new owner, with perhaps some new innovative ideas and resources, to re-energize and revitalize the Chelsea,” Paul Brounstein, a shareholder and board member, stated in an interview. The property is 12-stories high and has 125 hotel rooms. Of note is a two- bedroom, two-bathroom suite where movie star Marilyn Monroe lived with playwright Arthur Miller. There are also 101 residential units in all. Many of the past Chelsea lodgers lived in the building for decades and some have paid their rent with original artwork. Some of the valuable paintings have been removed over the years, including The Dutch Masters by Larry Rivers. Other paintings by Christo, Arman, Francesco Clemente, Robert Mapplethorpe, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Robert Crumb, Jasper Johns, and Willem De Kooning remain. The Hotel Chelsea is often associated with the Andy Warhol Superstars. He directed Chelsea Girls (1966), a film about his Factory regulars and their lives at the hotel. Chelsea residents from the Warhol scene included Edie Sedgwick, Viva, Ultra Violet, and Holly Woodlawn.The hotel is also infamous for the murder of Nancy Spungen, girlfriend of former Sex Pistol,Sid Vicious which took place in their hotel room. Built in 1883, the twelve-story redbrick building that now houses the Hotel Chelsea opened in 1884 as one of the city’s first private apartment cooperatives. At the time of its construction, the Chelsea Hotel stood as the tallest building in New York, and its surrounding neighbourhood constituted the centre of New York’s Theatre District. However, within a few years the combination of economic worries and the relocation of the theatres bankrupted the Chelsea cooperative, in 1905. It is this type of a landmark that should be preserved for generations to come. The hotel was the first building to be listed by New York City as a cultural preservation site and historic building of note. Lets pray that the wrong sort of condo developers don’t get their mitts into the soul of this hotel turning the beautiful “Shabby Chic Palace” into a five star tourist trap or worst a Trump Dump!