Elder Strikes Back at the Chelsea Hotel
Cops come, stun guns drawn, after stink bomb and masked man in a bathrobe
This reporter was witness to some tense moments at the Chelsea Hotel over the weekend, including a verbal confrontation (pictured above) at the front desk between hotel vice president David Elder and hotel tenant Arthur Nash.
No punches were thrown, but the incident clearly spooked Mr. Elder. In recent days, a new security detail has been patrolling the hotel’s lobby and hallways. The hulking guys in suits have been particularly attentive to Mr. Nash.
The initial standoff happened during the second night of a photography exhibit entitled “Chelsea Hotel Through the Eyes of The Photographers,” scheduled to coincide with the historic hotel's 125th anniversary. But it also came at a time of lingering tensions inside the iconic lodge.
Mr. Elder is at the center of the controversy. It was his 2005 lawsuit that ultimately resulted in the highly-publicized ouster of longtime manger and majority owner Stanley Bard. Thus, he has taken the brunt of some residents’ anger. “Greed” has been scrawled on his door; excrement left on his doormat—someone even sent him a dead fish in the mail. And, the hotel blog, Living With Legends, has fervently chronicled Mr. Elder’s long-standing California court battle with his elderly step-father, the writer Piri Thomas, over more than $1 million in dividends reaped from hotel profits.
“I’m not doing an interview,” Mr. Elder said on Saturday, mingling with guests just one night after he was chased from the exhibit hall by a masked doppelgänger dressed in a hotel bathrobe. (A stink bomb had earlier disrupted the show.)
Mr. Nash, meanwhile, is perhaps the hotel's most fervent activist opposing the new regime. Banners reading "Bring Back The Bards," among other messages, hang from his balcony over 23rd Street. If he was feeling particularly cocksure on that evening, perhaps that’s because he had just beaten the landlord in housing court only a week earlier.
Mr. Nash, a curator by trade whose own exhibit of artifacts from the nation’s execution chambers goes on display in Washington, D.C., this month, later explained his intentions to the The Observer: “I never got physical with him at all or threatened to get physical. I only wanted to know where he'd put Piri's money and make the point publicly that the residents don't feel he belongs here.”
Mr. Elder soon fled out the front door to Star Lounge, downstairs from the hotel, as Mr. Nash followed. A bouncer stepped between them, allowing Mr. Elder to escape into the bar while Mr. Nash exchanged harsh words with the bouncer.
“David’s a good guy,” Star Lounge owner Charles Ferri said, as Mr. Elder commiserated over a Shirley Temple. “I think people just misunderstand him. Once you get to know him, he’s a good-hearted person who wants to do the right thing for the hotel, cleaning it up and making it nice but still keeping that old-school mentality.”
But Mr. Elder’s bizarre night was not quite over. After stepping outside briefly, he returned with a security guard. Someone had dumped some sort of liquid from a balcony above, the bouncer said, as Mr. Elder wiped off his head.
The security staff immediately suspected Mr. Nash, of course, although his apartment is located on the opposite side of the hotel. They called the cops.
When police arrived, stun-guns drawn, firefighters were already there. Someone had called to complain about overcrowding inside the exhibit hall.
Police were unable to immediately locate Mr. Nash, after roughly interrogating his girlfriend in the hallway. Unable to locate a key to his apartment, they quit knocking.
Still, Mr. Elder didn’t feel safe staying in his own hotel that night. He crashed with Star Lounge owner Mr. Ferri.
The next day, some big security guards appeared in the lobby and, days later, still haven't stopped hounding Mr. Nash.
“I feel like I've been through a meat press,” the rebellious tenant said in his room after a particularly bruising encounter on Monday night.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article has been changed to reflect an error. The original item stated that Mr. Thomas was Mr. Elder's father-in-law. In fact, he is his step-father. The author regrets the error.
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If the tenants chase the new owner out of what is essentially a filthy dump SRO for mental patients, addicts and "outsider artists" it will be sold.
The new owner/s will likely be less tolerant and turn it into another luxury condo with a Duane Reade and an ATM on the ground level.
Unless you consider, "thewiseking", that Elder doesn't own but a tiny sliver of the Hotel Chelsea's corporate shares and therefore could never consent to sell it. The majority owners, the Bard Family, say its not for sale so its probably not for sale. Elder somehow managed to wrest temporary control of the place. Can't locate any statements from Elder indicating he's ever operated a large (or any) Hotel and recent events have demonstrated how savvy he is in regard to the Criminal Code --which is 'not very'. He's also just set the Hotel up for a multi-multi-million dollar Civil Court lawsuit that will no doubt include the owner of the so-called 'Star Lounge' who either lent or hired his goons to Elder so he could chase out 'bothersome' tenants. The tenant they went after would had just beat Elder in court the week before and Elder probably wanted to incite a fistfight, have the tenant arrested, and then displaced. The apartment is far too valuable now that its rent stabilized and this guy can't be a dummy, having beat the Hotel's lawyers without even hiring a lawyer of his own. Far from being a "filthy dump", the Chelsea will rise again to former glory under the Bard Family. Only a matter of time. This go-round, though, everybody will be acutely aware how high the stakes are and in the end, that will result in a better Hotel for everyone concerned. Even David Elder and Marline Krauze, who will no doubt make more money instead of more animosity.
The owner of the unlikeable lounge in the basement says of his current landlord he's a nice guy? Ha! So far Elder has demonstrated only the opposite, starting with his kicking the beloved Bards pout of the hotel they are majority shareholders of and have managed diligently and passionately for over a half century. He and Marlene Krauss have shown nothing but disdain for residents. Where was he all those years before he took oer. Did he or Krauss ever make any attempt to meet and talk with residents before the ouster (they haven't done much in this regard since). Look at the court case with Piri Thomas. he has tried to find a legal way for years to deprive the old man, his stepfather, of money rightfully his. he did the same to another old man, Stanley bard, and was able to find a daft arbitrator who agreed.
Since they've taken over they've made a mockery of the hotel and otherwise mismanaged it. Bring back the Bards. Now he's hired thugs to harass a tenant who made a nonviolent statement of his dislike for Elder. Witnesses will tell you they've physically attacked thios tenant, and spend a lot of time outside his door spying on him and otherwise harassing him. This is not the way things were at the Chelsea Hotel.
The Chelsea is not an SRO. Nice try. It's been an active and very successful artist community among other things for 124 years (it opened in 1884, not 1883). About ten years ago the majority shareholders began to seriously pressure Stanley to increase profits and make the hotel more upscale. He tried to accomodate them without hurting the tenants, but it was never enough for them. Weren't they the ones who wanted to put profitable shops in the lobby? Just look at what that hotel did for music alone, and imagine these two uptight heirs dealing with Patti Smith, Dee Dee Ramone, Sid, Dylan, Janis, Jimi, Virgil or Kleinsinger.
Things are only going to get worse for Elder and Krauss. the best thing for everyone would be for them to leave, maybe sells their shares back to Stanley, and let the Bards run the hotel they know so so well.
From what i saw, the place was never filthy in any decade I stayed there, from the 1970s on. This is largely propaganda from the two little heirs. It's old sure, that's part of its immense charm, which the little heirs have done their best to remove from the hotel. It was a magical place. Now the Muggles have invaded with their army of Death Eaters. Sad.
P.S. I suspect that's Elder calling himself "thewiseking." Some ego that pisher has.
One error aside, this newspaper has covered the story better than anybody.
Oh, please. Arthur "Artie Nash" Rosenblatt is just a rich kid prep school drop-out living off his parents money. He was fighting Bard - who never even wanted him around - for residency and started witholding rent soon after he checked in as a hotel guest. Nash-Rosenblatt is no friend of the Chelsea hotel, he contributes nothing (hasn't paid rent in years, is a suspect in the 2nd floor drug ring along with Daudi, and was likely behind the painting slashings after feuding with his true-artist neighbors across the hall). In fact, the only thing Rosenblatt has "curated" is his arms with tattoos.
The only one to blame for the current sad state of the Chelsea Hotel institution is Stanley Bard, who let these people take advantage of his good will and poor planning.
Um, Stanley Bard is not to blame, Mr. David Elder. Much credit goes to him for what he created at the hotel. It's the known-nothing minority shareholders who have made the hotel such a sad, institutional place now. By the way, where did Mr. David Elder put his elderly stepfather's money?
Correction...
Arthur Nash has been heading up the revolt against Bard's displacement since the day it happened, so save your breath Glennon 'Travesty' -- we all know you're a frustrated little child. After all, we dealt with you. Maybe not for as long as you'd like, but thats something you'll have to live with.
Artie defeated the legal claims and even stuck it in your face by representing himself doing it. If you have doubts then pull up the court record and you'll see where Artie had the case against him thrown out as a frivilous piece of junk. Kind of like the exit you made from the Hotel Chelsea, Glennon.
Furthermore, Artie was the last tenant that Stanley Bard permitted a written Lease to and paid more rent that most tenants while Stanley was here.
Time to move on, Glennon. You weren't really around long enough to know that much about the Hotel or its residents--only long enough to snitch a couple to the cops and attract the disdain of us all-- but we forgive your ignorance anyway. Go hang ten with your lovely bride (we know some guys who knew some guys who knew her in New Orleans, by the way...long story) and be happy that you're in David Elder's shoes right now.
Be sure to check out Artie's exhibit on Capital Punishment at the National Museum of Crime and Punishment in downtown Washington DC, opening TODAY May 16th and with a Grand Opening May 23rd, 2008.
couldn't pull up anything on that capital punishment show but foudn this:
www.myspace.com/MOBinAmerica
looks pretty cool and would seem to disprove bonehead comments re mr. nash
oh man i know this dude who got roughed up he had a gallery show downtown about the mafia sorry to hear this is going on; hes mad cool. is that hotel owner some kind of dummy hiring thugs to tcb? probably watched too many hollywood movies
It doesn't surprise me that they are now slandering Artie Nash, after he beat them fair and square in housing court. They've fed everyone a packet of lies from the get go. Marlene and David are, simply, full of sh*t.
I also believe Artie Nash's socalled mafia memorabilia is a fake! He is a con artist, and of criminal and sociopathic mindset.
Well What do I have to say about Arthur Nash other than he's a sociopath with delusional thoughts of grandeur.He thinks he was actually down with the disco 2000 Michael Alig's crew at Limelight and Club USA. He is a wannabee gangster who sells fake mafia bullshit. He has a small penis and his girlfriend is a tranny! Keep trying to suck Able Ferarras cock...YOU ARE PATHETIC!TAke those corny ass bard signs down too...GET A LIFE LOSERS!! Stop acting like a child throwing stink bombs and playing pranks, and trying to punch out your hotel manager. Grow up! Normal, mature human beings dont resort to this kind of behavior.
Correction for Anonymous: Artie Nash does not clenched fists in the photograph. It is the manager of the Hotel, identified as David Elder, who has clenched fists. Of course you have to read the story otherwise you wouldn't know that small but significant detail. Nash obviously has one hand in his pocket and one hand at his side. A few comments about Mr. Nash seem pretty malicious and innaccurate. Do these boards even have a moderator?
NO! You are all cowards. People like me here, right? I'm an artist too, right? SAY IT, OR I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!!! Artie Nash rules! Look at my tattoos. So what if my girlfriend slept with the whole hotel! She's mine now! F-YOU!
This guy arthur nash has a problem with every single person he comes in contact with. Do not believe a word he sais. All of the return comments protecting him are from his own self. Of course he would make comments against others because everyone/ tennants included want him out of the hotel, and the management does too.
Artie Nash is the scummiest of scum, and is driving the Chelsea down the toliet. Sad that he is attempting to speak out for the hotel. If Stanley were around, he would have thrown this scumbag out on his sorry butt.