NYC’s infamous Chelsea Hotel unveiled a plaque last week in honor of singer/poet Leonard Cohen, the former resident and songwriter of “Chelsea Hotel #2”, reports ArtsBeat’s Dave Itzkoff. “I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel…” the inscription reads, quoting Cohen’s famous song “for an American singer who died a while ago,” aka Janis Joplin, and, leaving out the slightly more scandalous subsequent lyrics.
Whereas, Bob Dylan’s former room #211—the one where he supposedly wrote Blonde on Blonde—hasn’t gotten much respect by the hotel’s owners and was partially destroyed by a construction crew, Cohen’s new plaque commemorating his 75th birthday adorns the Chelsea with those of Dylan Thomas, Thomas Wolfe, and Arthur Miller.
For pictures of Cohen’s plaque go here and to catch up on the Dylan room construction scandal go here.