You are currently browsing the stories about the Chelsea neighborhood
The Last Police Chief
by William Bryk 06/03/2006Neighborhood: Chelsea
The Mail and Express reported appointment as a patrolman cost $300, promotion to sergeant, $1,400, and advancement to captain, $14,000. Policemen made back their investments by taking bribes. As Luc Sante observed of Big Bill in his book Low Life, "It was well known that he was corrupt; he in fact admitted as much quite readily." [...]
Cat Fantasia
by Thomas Beller 06/03/2006Neighborhood: Chelsea
For several hours one afternoon last week, the unremarkable interior of a midtown hotel room was transformed into a kind of cat fantasia for the nineties, featuring some of the more exotic and genetically up to date entries in the Ninth Annual Cat show, which was recently held at Madison Square Garden. Cats were perched [...]
The Visitors from Philadelphia
by Benjamin Watson 06/03/2006Neighborhood: Chelsea
I am not from New York, nor have I ever lived there; the result, mostly, of not being a multimillionaire, nor having friends who are multimillionaires. I was living in Philadelphia, New York’s embarrassingly second rate little brother, and had traveled up to “da big city” for the day with my girlfriend, to peruse potential art [...]
I Wanna Be Sedated: A Night at the Roxy
by Abigail Frankfurt 06/03/2006Neighborhood: Chelsea
Between 10th and 11th avenue, on the north side of 18th street sits the Roxy night club which, on Wednesday nights, houses a medley of characters whom appear to have been pickled by time. Wednesday at the Roxy is “disco night.” Everyone is on roller skates. The speakeasy secrecy of this sub-culture scene contaminates one with [...]
Explaining My Cupcake Habit
by Victor Lembrey 05/05/2006Neighborhood: Chelsea
Because I work in Norwalk and live in Chelsea, whenever I have a bad day mixed with a bad drive home mixed with not being able to find a parking space, I usually stop by Billy’s Bakery for chocolate cupcakes. They ease the pain. So I’m leaving Billy’s recently with my cupcakes and I see [...]
Me and Bobby Blow
by Sherri Rosen 04/06/2006Neighborhood: Chelsea
I was walking down the steps to the downtown train at West 23rd Street & 7th Avenue. I heard a trumpet being played and someone singing. As I got to the bottom of the stairs, I see this guy sitting on a bench facing me as I was slipping my Metrocard through the turnstyle. He seem [...]
Craigslist Love
by erika 01/19/2006Neighborhood: Chelsea
After my boyfriend and I broke up, I was lonely so I put an ad on Craigslist. What is it about a man that makes him think sending a picture of his private parts is going to turn a woman on? A little mystery and anticipation is a great thing. I put the ad under “women [...]
Man Maid
by Liza Monroy 10/26/2005Neighborhood: Chelsea
In New York City, you never know who might inadvertently teach you an impromptu life lesson. Maybe the local bagel maker gives you insight into your love life, or a phrase uttered by a cab driver changes your outlook, at least for the duration of the taxi ride. One recent Saturday, I encountered one of [...]
Siddhartha of Central Booking
by Patrick W. Gallagher; Photos by Stephen Hoban 09/01/2005Neighborhood: Chelsea
On the far Northern side of a vast concrete enclosure, we had been divided up into two parallel rows at either side of a narrow barricaded space and Jason, our Arresting Officer, stood between the two rows talking about sports, TV, and how he was looking forward to his retirement. Jason was a 23 year old [...]
Convergence
by Jessica Frank 09/01/2005Neighborhood: Chelsea
(Following is an excerpt from “Chapter 15: Prelude to Battle” of “Now is Not a Good Time,” a book-in-progress about (among other things) progressive patriotism, the antiwar movement during the first term of the Bush administration, and one woman’s attempt to learn to love her country and its people—if not its government—in complicated and troubling [...]
SWF Seeks Dream Apt.
by Liza Monroy 05/12/2005Neighborhood: Chelsea
Apartment hunting in New York City is like dating: in the search for the One, you’ll inevitably run into countless disasters along the way. While my romantic relationship has been the model of stability for once, buying my first Manhattan apartment was like looking for love all over again. The idea of settling down gave me [...]
Russian President Putin Stops for a Donut in Chelsea
by Thomas Beller 09/28/2003Neighborhood: Chelsea
Vladimir Putin stopped by a gas station in Chelsea on Friday afternoon on his way to a visit with President Bush. On hand to greet him was Senator Charles Schumer. The gas station had received a make-over–new paint, new sign. It had once been a Getty, but like all the Gettys in the city it [...]
