Fire Erupts in Historic Chelsea Hotel

Fire erupted on the first and second floors of the famous Chelsea Hotel on Nov. 2 but was quickly extinguished by firefighters.

No guests or hotel workers were injured although a single firefighter was transported to a local hospital with non life threatening injuries, according to an FDNY spokesperson, who said the cause of the blaze is under investigation.

Pedestrians and local business workers hoping to get a peek at the action, crowded around the hotel, a one time bohmenian hangout which had been a favorite of literary, music and artistic icons over the years including Mark Twain, Dylan Thomas, Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and Sid Vicious. Pete Hamill stayed there during his short run as editor in chief of the Daily News in 1997 and so did Madonna in the early 1980s returning in the 1990s to shoot portions of her 1990s book “Sex.” So did Arthur C. Clarke who wrote “2001: A Space Odyssey” while residing at the Chelsea. Playwright Arthur Miller (“Death of a Salesman”) and actress Jane Fonda all spent time there.

It was celebrated in song over the years including Graham Nash’s “The Chelsea Hotel,” Jefferson Airplanes “Third Week in the Chelsea” and one called simply “The Chelsea Hotel” by Dan Bern.

It was also the scene of tragedies and deaths and some claim to have seen ghostly apparitions while visiting. Famed rock photographer Billy Maynard was found beaten to death in his eighth floor room in 1974. Perhaps the moist infamous tragedy occurred three years later in 1977 when 20 year old Nancy Spungen, the British girlfriend of Sex Pistols bass guitarist Sid Vicious died of a stab wound to the stomach. The couple was infamous for their drug fueled binges while staying there. Vicious was charged with her murder. He at first confessed to stabbing her but then recanted the confession and said he was passed out on a bed when the incident happened. He died of a heroin overdose the following year in a friend’s Greenwich Village pad while out on bail.

Michael Imperioli, who would go on to fame playing Christopher Moltisanti in the HBO hit “The Sopranos,” once told the show, “Celebrity Ghost Sightings” on the Bio Channel, that he had seen a ghost dressed in late 19th century woman’s clothing standing in a hallway during his stay on the eight floor of the Chelsea in his pre-Soprano’s days.

The Chelsea Hotel Blog elaborates on who he might have seen: “A woman named Mary hanged herself in her eighth-floor room after her husband (or possibly fiancé), who was sailing to New York from Europe aboard the Titanic, died when the boat sank in 1912—but her restless spirit doesn’t confine herself to one room.”

A previous fire that erupted in January 1978 left one man dead while hundreds were forced to flee into a freezing rain. A New York Times story from that time did not reveal the identity of the dead person.

In the latest fire, the 911 call came in at 10:23 a.m. reporting a fire on the second floor ductwork. When firefighters arrived, they discovered that the fire was located in a first floor kitchen that extended to the second floor.

This triggered the second alarm at 10:40 a.m. on Nov. 2 and the FDNY said it was brought under control by 11:57 a.m. .

No residents or staff members were reported injured. One firefighter was sent to Lenox Hill HealthPlex for minor, “non-life threatening” injuries, the FDNY spokesperson said.

FDNY fire marshals are still investigating the cause of the latest fire. Would we be wrong to note it appeared to be in the vicinity of the old Room 100 where Nancy Spungen died?

FDNY did not return our call asking if firefighters has spotted any new paranormal activity at the time of the latest fire.