Pretty Vacant

What Kind of Restaurant Should the Chelsea Hotel Get?

Photo: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

The Post reports that designer Mark Zeff has been selected to help transform the Chelsea Hotel into the “upscale boutique hotel” it never knew it wanted to be, while the iconic property’s owner, real-estate investor Joseph Chetrit, is reportedly “in talks with several food and beverage types to run the downstairs lounge space.” Many, many people are still upset that the place where a chunk of Naked Lunch was drafted will inevitably offer guests comprehensive juice cleanses. The Chelsea Hotel’s forthcoming lounge is perhaps the safest venue to reference its outlaw and bohemian past, but what kind of restaurant do you put in a place where Sid Vicious stabbed Nancy Spungen, Bob Dylan ruminated in the stairwell, Allen Ginsberg ran naked through the halls, and Janis Joplin allegedly spent some time with Leonard Cohen on an unmade bed? Small plates? Charcuterie? [NYP]

What Kind of Restaurant Should the Chelsea Hotel Get?