Ghosts, Celebs, and Rock 'n' Roll—A History of NYC's Hotel Chelsea

Hey, Travel Tales listeners. We're hard at work on season four, which we'll be releasing in fall 2023. In the meantime, we'll be regularly featuring episodes from our sister podcast, Unpacked, which unpacks a tricky topic in travel each week. This week: How does the hotel that attracted luminaries like Andy Warhol, Janis Joplin, and Sid Vicious undergo a renovation without losing its gritty, celeb-packed history? In this week’s episode of Unpacked, we’re debuting “If These Walls Could Talk,” which shares the secrets behind iconic hotels, beginning with New York City’s legendary Hotel Chelsea. AFAR’s hotel editor Jennifer Flowers takes us behind the scenes, where ghosts, celebrities, and charismatic residents lurk. Meet this week’s guests Sean MacPherson, hotelier  Sherill Tippins, historian and author of Inside the Dream Palace Resources Read this week’s show notes, including a full transcript of the episode. Watch Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel, the Martin Scorcese documentary.  Read Inside the Dream Palace, Tippins’s book about the hotel Book a night and see the history (and maybe a ghost or two) for yourself! Read more about AFAR’s 2023 Stay List, which features the Hotel Chelsea