Chelsea Guitars shares storied past as they look ahead to the future at now renovated Chelsea Hotel
CHELSEA, Manhattan (WABC) -- At Manhattan's iconic Chelsea Hotel, suites start at $700 a night and go up from there, which is ironic when you consider that for the better part of a hundred years, the place was known for being a cheap play to stay for starving artists! Now, after a renovation costing hundreds of millions of dollars, one shopkeeper has been allowed to stay on in the building to provide a link to the hotel's storied past.
Dan Courtenay has shared a hamburger with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and Chinese food with Joan Baez. Both legends bonded with him over a shared love of great guitars. Few know these instruments better than the proprietor of Chelsea Guitars. "Back in the day guitars were meant to be loud, very loud," Dan explains to me at his workbench where countless instruments have been repaired.
His tiny shop is a mecca for all sorts of musicians. "Jackson Browne comes by a lot, and he's a great guy, and he's a guy who's interested in the world around him. I got to meet these guys that had such talent, that's an amazing thing to be around." But, Dan is more than a mere fan. He's more like a trusted advisor, "and, I will argue with you even though, you know, you're a famous guy if I think you're wrong," the owner tells me, "but I think that's why people come here."
Originally from Queens, Courtenay has been in business at Manhattan's Chelsea Hotel for three and a half decades. "It's like any small business in New York. What hurts is the bills just keep coming: not complaining, just explaining."
Outside the shop, a statue of Marilyn Monroe he found in Long Island shows the way into the narrow space that used to be a tailor's shop before the entire hotel was renovated over the course of the past half dozen years. "I know a lot about the building," Courtenay reminds me. "I know a lot about the people who were here so that's why I'm a link."
He's a link to the hotel's bohemian past when Patti Smith and the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe were friends. He wrote a memoir based on that time called "Just Kids," Courtenay notes, "Most of the people now are newer. 34 years is a long time although it went by," he says with a snap of his fingers, "like that."
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