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Inside the Dream Palace: The Life and Times of New York's Legendary Chelsea Hotel

Sherill Tippins

3.66 · Rating details · 716 ratings · 115 reviews

The next best thing to having a room key to the Chelsea Hotel during each of its famous—and infamous—decades

The Chelsea Hotel, since its founding by a visionary French architect in 1884, has been an icon of American invention: a cultural dynamo and haven for the counterculture, all in one astonishing building. Sherill Tippins, author of the acclaimed February House, deliv ...more

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Hardcover, 480 pages

Published December 3rd 2013 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (first published 2013)

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· 716 ratings · 115 reviews

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Nov 03, 2013 Mandy rated it it was amazing

This is definitely one of my reading highlights of 2013. A long book, I couldn’t quite manage it in one sitting, but how I would have liked to! It is an endlessly fascinating and thoroughly and painstakingly well researched biography of the iconic Hotel Chelsea in New York, and follows the successive generations of artists, writers, socialites and eccentrics who made it their home or base or refuge since its founding in 1884. From Thomas Wolfe to Dylan Thomas to Bob Dylan, from Andy Warhol to Le ...more

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Aug 10, 2014 Allan rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobook

I'm always interested in reading social history books on NYC, and have had my eye on this title for a while, so when it was released on audiobook, I decided to buy it.

I primarily know about the Chelsea from its infamy as the hotel where Nancy Spugden was found murdered, allegedly by Sid Vicious, and laterally through Patti Smith's memoir, and the novel 'Netherland' by Joseph O'Neill. Both the Spugden murder and Smith's time at the hotel are covered, along with the stories of a plethora of other ...more

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Apr 18, 2019 Sharon Barrow Wilfong rated it liked it

I had read so much about the different people who had lived in the Chelsea Hotel, watched the videos of Andy Warhol's Chelsea Girls, as much as I could without falling into a boredom induced coma, other videos about Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungeon, Patti Smith... I decided to read a history of the hotel itself.

There is no doubt Sherill Tippins is a good writer. The history from ancient to present flows like oil. We learn of the architects who constructed the hotel in the late 19th century. We lea ...more

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Apr 05, 2014 Kimmo Sinivuori rated it liked it · review of another edition

In her book "Inside the Dream Palace" Sherill Tippins applies the tested formula to take a cultural icon, in this case the Chelsea Hotel, as the point around which to write a counter cultural history of the USA. In some cases this formula work very well but in some cases it doesn't. Tippins in successful to an extent and there are some good passages that bring out interesting information that is new at least to me.

For example, the stories about the early artists, like Arthur B. Davies whose coll In her book "Inside the Dream Palace" Sherill Tippins applies the tested formula to take a cultural icon, in this case the Chelsea Hotel, as the point around which to write a counter cultural history of the USA. In some cases this formula work very well but in some cases it doesn't. Tippins in successful to an extent and there are some good passages that bring out interesting information that is new at least to me.

For example, the stories about the early artists, like Arthur B. Davies whose collection of paintings sparked the idea to establish the NY Museum of Modern Art, who lived in Chelsea are a pleasure. I also enjoyed very much reading about the shamanistic underground film maker Harry Smith. As a matter of fact, I think Tippins should have written the biography of Smith instead, so well she tell his story.

However, the passage about Jack Kerouac is almost embarrassing as Tippins tries desperately to build a case where the failure of Kerouac to accurately portrait his night with Gore Vidal in the Chelsea as a grand betrayal of Kerouac as an artist. Also, l struggled to find what is the link between the creation of Allen Ginsberg's masterpiece the Howl, the San Francisco Poetry Renaissance and Ferlinghetti's battle to keep the Howl in the shops and the Chelsea Hotel?

Often it also seems that Tippins really doesn't have anything new to say like in the case of Arthur Miller's tenure in the Chelsea Hotel or the punk rockers and the Max’s crowd. Nothing new comes out from the tragic tale of Sid and Nancy either.

What I would have liked to read would have been what the staff thought about all the weird characters that stayed in the Chelsea. Was it a pain or was it a pleasure. How did they interact? Where they scared? Did they want to work here? Were there some interesting characters in the payroll?

Also, it would have been nice if Tippins would have put the Chelsea into context with other similar hotels that were favored by artists like the Beat Hotel in Paris where Burroughs and Gysin lodged or the Welcome Hotel in Villefranche-sur-Mer where Cocteau stayed. Were these hotels similar in the way they treated artists? Was the ownership likeminded and did they have any contact?

I would have liked to read more about the lesser characters who inhabited the Chelsea. How did they see the big stars? Last but not least, I think books like this would benefit from much more and better quality illustrations and photographs.

All in all, I liked the book, it was well written and a pleasure to read but it really left me with a feeling that someone could/should write a definitive history of the Chelsea. I think the cultural importance of the place is so great that it deserves it. ...more

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Nov 23, 2013 Elly Sands rated it really liked it

This book was so well written and researched that I have to give it at least 4 stars. It didn't quite get 5 stars because it gets bogged down in places with too much information. I was surprised to learn about the initial reason and philosophy regarding the building and design of Hotel Chelsea in 1885. It is too involved to write about here but one of the descriptions in the book is accurate when saying "Art was built into it's bones". It explains why over the years such a variety of artists wer ...more

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Jun 13, 2014 Katrina rated it it was ok

Shelves: non-fiction, 2014-books

This is a lengthy history of the Chelsea Hotel, the legendary home to many leading figures in American Bohemian and counter-culture artistic movement. I found the writing became bogged down in details and strayed too far from the subject matter to give it more than 2 stars.

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Jul 26, 2019 BookishStitcher rated it really liked it

A fascinating look at this historic NY hotel that was the birthplace of so many amazing works of art.

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Mar 25, 2019 Julie Barrett rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: finished-2019, american-history

It's an odd structure for a book but it kind of works. Tippins starts off with the story of the actual building of the hotel, which is interesting. I had no idea originally is was a sort of socialist co-op. Once the building is built, she then tells the story of the hotel by following along the different famous groups of people who lived there. At times, I would forget I was reading a book about the Chelsea Hotel, so far off did the tangents go. I did learn a lot about various obscure - to me, a ...more

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Apr 07, 2013 Karen rated it liked it · review of another edition

It took me a long time to get through this book - it was rather a slog. I thought Tippins's writing was good, overall, but she tended to overuse phrases and words (if she described one more person as "penniless" I was going to throw the book across the room) and at times I felt that the book was getting pretty far from the Chelsea. I could see what she wanted to do - to follow the hotel from decade to decade and show how events outside the hotel were influencing what was going on inside - but th ...more

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Nov 29, 2014 Catherine Siemann rated it it was amazing

Shelves: cities

As a longtime (though now former) resident of Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, I'm fascinated with this legendary building -- What the real estate developers have done with it in the last two years is the problem with contemporary NYC in a nutshell.

The Bohemian residents of the Chelsea, especially those from mid-century through the punk rock era, have had their stories often told -- I was fascinated to learn more about the building's origins and the philosophy behind it, and to trace various th ...more

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May 17, 2014 Mona Bradley rated it liked it

So many decades of history; so many names to try and remember.

One niggle is the book's last real chapter ends in the late 70s/early 80s and that does a disservice to the meat that is the removal of Stanley Bard as manager.

Also while the book is seemingly arranged in a linear fashion, it at times seems like there were small time shifts in chapters but it might have been me.

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Nov 30, 2016 Stephanie rated it really liked it

This book increased my respect for Patti Smith. I'll probably tackle her Just Kids book next. Really awesome stories, cultural context, and some economic/political commentary. What a tour of space and time at the Chelsea Hotel!

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Sep 22, 2017 Ruth rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, 2017-read-books, non-fiction-factual, music-except-the-rolling-stones, compilations

Excellently written. Full of facts and mini stories.

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Feb 06, 2015 Bill Wallace rated it it was amazing

A fine microcosmic history with macrocosmic ripples. The Chelsea Hotel itself was an incubator of sorts for progressive, transgressive, and radical art for over 100 years. Ms. Tippins book traces the lives and art of the hotel's inhabitants and follows their paths out into the wider world in a very satisfying way that provides a different lens on some familiar mid-century history. I liked the early chapters somewhat better because I was less familiar with the stories of Howells, Dylan Thomas, a ...more

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Jul 28, 2016 Paul rated it really liked it · review of another edition

An excellent account of one of the great icons of New York Life - the Chelsea Hotel - from its beginning as a Utopian experiment in living - no class divisions, encouragement of artistic endeavour - to being THE place to live in the Big Apple from the 20s through to the 60s with residents as illustrious as Dylan Thomas, Arthurs Miller and C. Clarke, Bob Dylan, etc etc ....... to its seeming demise amidst the chaos of the 70s and Nancy Spungen's death.

What made the book stand out in particular is ...more

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Nov 12, 2013 Leah rated it really liked it

Shelves: promos-arcs

Inside the Dream Palace is a worthy read for anyone who loves New York, or the history of American culture. It’s doubtful that any building in the entire country has housed as many influential artists as the Chelsea, and their stories are what make the residence much more than an intriguing architectural marvel. Mark Twain, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, the Ramones; the list of notable tenants goes on and on. The walls of the Chelsea have seen it all, from Jackson Pollock vomiting profusely on the di ...more

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May 15, 2015 Danika rated it liked it

surely some people of color lived at the Chelsea. there's little evidence to suggest they were anything but bellhops in Tippins' book. also, the lion's share of the female figures in the book (Patti Smith being the exception) are portrayed as tragic victims. this portrait of the Chelsea is rendered mostly in shades of white and features a lot of dicks. dear publishers and writers, i'd like to see some other kinds of paintings.

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Aug 09, 2017 Philip Cherny rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfiction, history, space-place-landscape-geohumanities, art-history, nyc

I came to this book with somewhat low expectations, being accustomed to regular disappointment in titles that sounded much more interesting when I heard them publicized in podcasts, added to my observation that the hype of this release outside the New York Times review apparently fizzled out relatively quickly. Fortunately I enjoyed this read much more than I expected to (or probably should have), and now catch myself recommending it to virtually all of my friends. I found myself so entertained I came to this book with somewhat low expectations, being accustomed to regular disappointment in titles that sounded much more interesting when I heard them publicized in podcasts, added to my observation that the hype of this release outside the New York Times review apparently fizzled out relatively quickly. Fortunately I enjoyed this read much more than I expected to (or probably should have), and now catch myself recommending it to virtually all of my friends. I found myself so entertained by the narrative that the critical scholar in me kept looking for faults in the book, suspicious of its actual edification value. While it’s true that Tippins hasn’t produced a scholarly masterpiece, she has impressively managed to construct a historical narrative that reads less as a work of nonfiction and more as a novel every bit as entertaining as a work of fiction. I’m astounded by the sheer level of detail she captures, which must have required an immense amount of research and collating of material. Her narrative unfolds with such intimate details of peoples’ lives that I often finding myself wondering to what extent the details were fabricated (nonetheless, an amazing historian’s imagination to craft the prose in such a manner). It helps you feel as if you are there witnessing the generations of legendary bohemian artists and seminal culture producers.

This book reads as a novel, albeit with an unconventional narrative that focuses on a particular place (pardon me for stating the obvious.) By this I mean the Chelsea Hotel serves both as the backdrop for characters’ lives, thus a ground for several fragmentary stories to develop, and also as the chief character in the story—a story whose narrative remains unresolved as history inevitably continues towards the always open future, but also a microcosm and symbol for the greater macrocosmic history of the country…or its counter-cultures at any rate. Tippins emphasizes this latter aspect of the narrative with her descriptions of generational zeitgeists and recurring metaphorical motifs, most notably Charles Fourier’s utopian pipe dreams and Harry Smith’s never-ending work on his experimental film, Mahagonny, based on Brecht and Weil’s satirical dystopic opera, The Rise and Fall of Mahagonny. This historical and narrative focus on a particular place ideally sharpens the reader’s sense of history and place, giving one a greater appreciation for the depth and layers that lurk behind any local establishment fortunate to endure long enough to boast a legacy.

To retain a sense of cohesiveness within each era of the hotel’s history, each chapter of the book more or less focuses on a few central characters at a time. Should I voice one complaint, I noticed at times the author seems to supplant her narrative with mere “name-dropping” (for lack of better term) by jumping quickly from figure to figure, sometimes merely listing them, without filling in the significant details of their lives. The sin of name-dropping of course goes further in that the sheer pleasure comes from the shallow merit of reputation in a name dropped rather than in any value of substance. I must confess I am guilty of taking pleasure in these names dropped, having studied art history extensively, but I could see how an outsider might find this tiresome. I could also defend Tippins’ name-drops by arguing they add to the narrative by filling it in with other details, personalities and minor characters that populate the hotel. E.g. though Tippins never focused exclusively on his life story, amusing anecdotes of George Kleinsinger populating his suite with tropical flora and fauna, essentially converting it into a rainforest, and how other characters kept figuring into his strange apartment served as yet another fun detail that gives the hotel a unique flavor.

I enjoyed how extensively Tippins’s book fills in historical gaps or overlaps and ties together all the threads of all I’ve learned in art history lectures, etc. It some instances, it sheds new light on narratives I’m already fairly familiar with—e.g. mostly only familiar with Hollywood-ized versions of Edie Sedgwick’s biography from the film Factory Girl, and Jackson Pollock’s life from the film Pollock, or Valerie Solanas shooting Warhol from a Wikipedia article.) I found myself excited by some of the artists’ creative ideas, even the more silly ones, and by the hopeful zeal of those not too jaded to push for the improvement of society. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident then in the utopian dreams of Charles Fourier which the book begins with. Lastly, I found myself discovering completely new finds, writing down the names of interesting seeming historical figures that I’m a bit embarrassed to admit I’ve never even heard of (among them: Virgil Thompson, Marc Blitzstein, George Kleinsinger, Mary McCarthy, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Richard Leacock, Gus Hall, Jorge Frick, Harry E Smith, Shirley Clarke, William Dean Howells, Edgar Lee Masters, John Sloan, Isabella Gardner, Vali Myers, Abbie Hoffman, Stella Waitzkin, Whitney Bell, and Juliette Hamelecourt). Not everyone would get as much a kick out of this book as I did, but I’m sure most people would get at least some enjoyment out of it even if they are not steeped in the history. ...more

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Apr 17, 2016 Amy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dissertation-books, books-i-own

Dissertation research.
I enjoyed this read, it is a good introduction to the Chelsea Hotel and its history. The book flows like a creative piece but is backed up with lots and lots of research (seriously the bibliography is huge).
However I only give it three stars because it isn't critical enough for what I need. It serves as a nice base and serves as a lead for further, more critical research.

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Dec 01, 2013 Elizabeth rated it it was amazing

The book really delves into the lives of the many famous residents if the Chelsea Hotel over the years. An interesting & fascinating must read for all history, arts buffs.

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Aug 27, 2016 Ian Forsyth rated it it was amazing

Shelves: avant-garde, bohemians, my-top-hundred, historical

Notes & Quotes:
What was a bohemian headquarters like this doing lodged in the world's most capitalist city?

There were other fears too: that the forced intimacy of Parisian-style apartment living might lead the residents to looser moral standards, or, even worse, that the apartment-dwellers might be mistaken for the lower-class types in the rooming houses downtown.

It was difficult to attract hard-working individuals to rural phalanxes and recommended that collectives locate themselves in citi ...more

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Aug 20, 2019 John Bialas rated it it was amazing

I waited until this week to start reading "Inside the Dream Palace," perhaps proving only to myself that years of procrastination can pay off because the ARC is a digital treasure I finally uncovered.

This award-winning history of the Chelsea, published in 2013, is much more than the place itself. It's about people, and as a longtime student of American history, I was most interested in reading about William Dean Howells.

I've never read a word written by the novelist, literary critic and playwri ...more

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Nov 28, 2016 Pamela rated it really liked it

This book is an interesting documentary of sorts of the life of the building - from start to 2014. The story of the building and the many people who were in and out of the building. The story of the artists, the writers, the musicians, the drugs and the sad endings for so many. As one person mentioned it show the cowardice of Arthur Miller - something I did not know. The story of Brad - the manager of the hotel and how giving he was and how that probably contributed to the decline as the hotel w ...more

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Jul 18, 2017 Yaaresse marked it as abandoned-dnf · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, first-read-2017

DNF.

The book seems interesting enough. So far it is mostly about how the author got interested in the building's history and background about the architect and his utopian/bohemian ideas. I was just starting to get into the profiles of early residents when I decided to throw in the towel. I suspect I'd end up giving it three stars if I could finish it.

Unfortunately, my library makes the book available only via the Axis360 app. I loathe this app. It makes both accessing details for and reading ...more

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Oct 07, 2018 Sarah Jackson rated it really liked it

"Inside the Dream Palace" by Sherill Tippins is a comprehensive and fascinating examination of the history of the legendary New York landmark, the Chelsea Hotel. Tippins describes the development of the building, structural and interior decorating changes over the years, and more importantly the life and times of the various guests and residents from the building. It was certainly a Bohemian mecca for writers, artists, musicians and alike, and many fabulous works resulted from residencies in the ...more

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Jul 05, 2019 Pat rated it it was amazing

Absolutely fascinating..truly a masterful history of not just the legendary hotel but also of the Zeitgeist of American pop culture and the society at large. I felt like I was in a time machine,spiralling headily thru the 20th century and beyond, into this hideous parody of America that crushes souls in 2019. All the creative genius of the free world seems to have lived at, partied at, or been touched by one of the hundreds of happenings that were born in the Chelsea.. If a building can have a b ...more

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May 24, 2018 Marcel Ozymantra rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The only reason I'm not giving this book five stars is because it's too thin. Biographies of the residents, more photo's of the builing's inside, a plan, etc, should've been added. But then it would've easily been two or three times as thick. I can accept the limitations. With internet some of this ... negligence can be overcome.
A story of a building and the residents that gave it it's live shows the development of progressive and artistic new York from the tail of the nineteenth century until ...more

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Dec 30, 2018 Mariana Santos rated it liked it · review of another edition

The book started off well, with the well told and very interesting story of the great Chelsea hotel. Towards the middle it got incredibly lengthy going into the lives of everyone at the hotel, their friends, acquaintances and even strangers, the story was then lost and it got quite hard to finish... still it was enjoyable enough and I would recommend it but bear in mind that you have to have a lot of patience...

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Apr 11, 2018 G rated it liked it

More like 2.5 stars - I felt the narrative got bogged down by too many excursions into the art world. If I want to know more (as in, A LOT) about, say, Andy Warhol, I'll make sure to pick up a Warhol biography. Would have liked more actual Chelsea content, especially the post-1970s period, instead of a general crash course of the New York artistic landscape throughout the ages.

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Jul 18, 2018 Bullpost rated it really liked it

Great read on this iconic building. From its very interesting utopian-inspired beginnnings, to its rather seedy end, the book covers the history of the building and its famous residents. Anyone with an interest in Art, Music or Utopian ideas should enjoy it.

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About Sherill Tippins

Sherill Tippins

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SHERILL TIPPINS is the author of February House: The Story of W. H. Auden, Carson McCullers, Jane and Paul Bowles, Benjamin Britten and Gypsy Rose Lee Under One Roof in Wartime America. She lives in New York City.