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

The Author and Chelsea Hotel Resident Speaks About Life and Writing in New York City

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?