Chelsea Hotel: A Bizarre Tableaux of Souls – New York, USA

The Los Angeles Times describes the Chelsea Hotel as “A collection of bizarre tableaux–aging actresses, bathroom high jinks, ghosts and tricksters. It is full of affection for a passing era. Surrounded by creeping gentrification, the Chelsea may not long remain affordable to the kinds of characters that once frequented its walls”

Constructed in 1883 as an apartment cooperative, the Chelsea commenced operations in 1905 as a residential hotel for theater notables and in the decades since has functioned as both a hospitable longtime residence and way station for writers, musicians, actors and artists. Onetime proprietor Stanley Bard, an eccentric supporter of the arts since the 1970′s was the personality behind this nostalgic hub of creativity and intellectual space.

Countless works of art adorn it’s walls and have been produced within it’s rooms such as: William Burroughs’s Naked Lunch, Sir Arthur C. Clarkes 2001: A Space Odyssey and Kerouac’s on the road to name a few. Tenants that have resided there include: Dylan Thomas, William Burroughs’s, Ethan Hawke, Jimi Hendrix, Stanley Kubrick, Jean-Paul Sartre, Kerouac, Madonna, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen, Arthur C. Clarke, Sid Vicious, and the list goes on and on…

While residing at the Chelsea, poets Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, and Martin Matz adopted it as a base for ideological and reflective conversation. It is also well-known as the place where writer Dylan Thomas was staying when he passed away of alcohol intoxication on November 9, 1953, and where Nancy Spungen, (girlfriend of Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols) was discovered stabbed to death on October 12, 1978.

With bohemian mystique, dripping with tales of an enthralled fantasia of high times, the Chelsea’s notoriety all but consumes itself with the portrayals of unique individuals. If you’re looking for a nexus of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll, then the infamous Manhattan landmark and artist hangout Hotel Chelsea on West 23rd Street, would be right up your alley.

You will certainly learn about some of the darkly humorous and often tragic stories that happened there. The Hotel Chelsea is a testament to the creative spirit and treasured both as a birth place of creative modern art and by tragedy.

For a closer look visit their website at http://www.hotelchelsea.com

By Cedric Jean

Relax After a ‘Draining’ Day: Das Park Pipe Hotel–Linz Austria

When I was a boy I always had this fascination of going into one of those huge drainage pipes, you know the ones found on construction sites, under freeways, or jutting onto beach’s. The attraction had always been drenched with scenes of bogey men and strange monsters lurking in the shadows, and so I never really had the guts to venture into those depths–the fear of the unknown.

Now a little (a lot) older, and a trifle wiser, those childhood memories have long been forgotten and less laden with fiction–until now. You can imagine my pubescent excitement resurfacing, when I discovered the Das Park Hotel and it’s elegant pipe rooms.

Constructed in 2004 by Andreas Strauss, the first rooms were offered in Linz, Austria, and are now available in nearby Ottensheim. This unique hotel has been designed to use regular concrete drainage pipe sections each weighing 9,5 tonnes–so they are unlikely to roll away. The wonderful thing about these pipes is that their concrete functional shell requires little modification to make them liveable. Because of their cave-like environment, Das Park Hotel is pretty cool in summer, and stay’s warm in winter. The hotel is only open from May to October.

Facilities are elegantly spartan – a double bed, blanket, cotton sleeping bag, single power point, light, and wall paintings by Austrian artist Thomas Latzel Ochoa. Rooms are extremely safe and can only be accessed by a digital keypad, supplied by the auto-service website when you book. The toilet and showers are a a few minutes walk from the area.

COST: There’s no determined pricing because each room is payable by donation, so make sure you check-out the hotel website for current availability.

LOCATION: Strauss @ Hohenrausch, 29.05 – 31.10.09 OK Offenes Kulturhaus, Linz – Oberosterreich, Austria.

So next time those child hood memories creep up on you, and you happen to be in Linz, Austria, make sure you visit Das Park Pipe hotel. You never know what you could find lurking in the shadows…

By Cedric Jean

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea: Jules Undersea Lodge – Key Largo, Florida.

If you’re afraid to get wet behind the ears then this underwater hotel is probably not for you; however, if a Jules Verne type Poseidon adventure is your thing you’ll love this little gem under the sea.

When guests visit the Jules Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, Florida, some are goggle-eyed that a scuba dive of approximately 21 feet below the surface of the ocean–is required. Nevertheless, most aspiring Jaques Cousteu want-to-be’s take the plunge and dive into the warm cat valium lagoon, where Nemo inspired schools of rainbow coloured parrotfish and the occassional boot (sic) drift lazily by. As you swim past majestic  table coral and bizzare brain coral, it feels as if you’ve visited an alien planet. Once you get to the hatchway in the underside of the hotel, it is as if you’ve discovered a secret underwater James bond lair.

The hotel is run by Aquanaut, explorer, author and marine consultant Ian Koblick, and has been featured on “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous”, in “Sports Illustrated Swim Suit Issue”, in countless magazines and newspapers, and on every major television network in the world*. Originally an aquatic research lab in the 1970s, called La Chalupa, it was formerly the world’s most advanced research habitat.

When you finally peel off your wet-skin and reach the safety of the central wet room, you are surrounded by a common room and two fully equipped hotel rooms. The principal feature of each room is the prominent, 106 cm (42 inch) circular window that looks out into the Florida sea. Gazing out into the crystalline blue, it’s not hard to imagine what a submariner might feel as reef fish dart before your very eyes. The mangrove lagoon in which Jules is situated is a biological marvel teeming with reef fish. Butterfly fish, Caribbean reef squid, manta rays, parrotfish, barracuda, snappers and grunts peep in the windows and doo of your room, while starfish, molluscs, anemones, sponges, oysters and sea urchins blanket every inch of this underwater cosmos.

And to wet your appetite, your stay includes a seafood gourmet dinner prepared by a “mer-chef” and breakfast in the morning. Your stay also includes all dive gear (with the option of earning yourself a PADI or NAUI certification), and guests may spend multiple days underwater without surfacing. There is really nothing that comes close to the feeling of being totally submerged by the majestic ocean alive with life and splashes of colour–Jules’ Undersea Lodge certainly manages to reach a perfect balance of relaxation and adventure…

For more information visit the Jules Undersea Lodge website.
*Taken from the www.jul.com about page.

By Cedric Jean