The shabby aura of the hotel is part of its bohemian allure. This 12-story Queen Anne-style neighborhood landmark (1884) became a hotel in 1905, although it has always catered to long-term tenants with a tradition of broad-mindedness and creativity. Its literary roll call of live-ins is legendary: Mark Twain, Eugene O'Neill, O. Henry, Thomas Wolfe, Tennessee Williams, Vladimir Nabokov, Mary McCarthy, Brendan Behan, Arthur Miller, Dylan Thomas, and William S. Burroughs. In 1966 Andy Warhol filmed a group of fellow artists in eight rooms; the footage was included in The Chelsea Girls (1967). The hotel was also seen on-screen in I Shot Andy Warhol (1996) and in Sid and Nancy (1986), a dramatization of the real-life murder of Nancy Spungen, stabbed to death here by punk rocker boyfriend Sid Vicious. Read the commemorative plaques outside, then check out the eclectic collection of art in the lobby, some donated in lieu of rent.
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