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In the weeks since the Hotel Chelsea board saw fit to oust longtime managing director Stanley Bard, the legendary artists' haunt has received a ton of press (of which we particularly enjoyed this recently-published Village Voice piece by Tricia Romano). Today, there's more news for the hotel: rumor has it that new owner BD Hotels want to open a spa in the building's basement, which currently houses nightspot Star Lounge. The always-colorful Hotel Chelsea Blog thinks that this is a very bad idea, because:
As AHCB # 3’s medium reported to us earlier an elemental spirit has long made its residence in the Chelsea Hotel’s basement. We feel fairly certain it is already pissed off by being kept awake by the insipid dance music being blasted at all hours in Star Lounge. We hope that this will prove to be the last straw.Okay, the presence of an elemental spirit totally beats any other reason we could think of for why this spa should not come to pass. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, BD Hotels.
· Club Med for Rats [Living With Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog]