Homeless Man Saves Doors of the Legendary Chelsea Hotel Going to Auction

About fifty doors from the legendary Chelsea Hotel, which has housed generations of artists in New York, will be auctioned on Thursday after being saved by a homeless man.

The list of famous guests is long: Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen, Jimi Hendrix, Mark Twain, Jack Kerouac, Bob Marley, Humphrey Bogart, Joni Mitchell, Madonna, Andy Warhol. They stayed at the hotel for several days, weeks, and sometimes even years. Leonard Cohen immortalized the history of that twelve-story building on 23rd Street with the song “Chelsea Hotel No.2.” The hotel, opened in 1884, closed in 2011 for renovations, and only the facade of the original building will be preserved.

>>>‘Divorce Art’ – Russell Crowe Organizes Auction of Private Film Memorabilia Collection

However, an unknown man is bringing the hotel back into the spotlight today. After living in the Chelsea Hotel from 2002 to 2011 and being evicted for not being able to pay for accommodation, Jim Georgiou ultimately decided to live on the sidewalk across the street with his dog Teddy.

From there, in 2012, he noticed workers preparing to throw away old doors and managed to save about fifty of them with the help of friends, says Arlan Ettinger, president of the Guernsey auction house organizing the sale. Georgiou then spent long hours in a nearby library trying to identify the individuals who had stayed in the rooms to which the individual doors belonged.

>>>For ‘Alcoholic’ Deck of Cards, Collector Spent Half a Million Dollars

He managed to connect 22 doors with famous guests and received Guernsey’s approval last year after being rejected by several auction houses.

He no longer lives on the street, staying with friends, but despite limited means, he decided to donate half of the proceeds from the sale to the nonprofit organization City Harvest, which helps hungry New Yorkers.