Fans: Dylan Thomas' Hotel Chelsea Apartment Entrance May Become Part Of Stairwell
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The entrance of an apartment in the Hotel Chelsea apartment where Welsh poet Dylan Thomas fell into a coma before he died may soon become part of a stairwell in a refurbished historic building.
The news comes from Thomas fans who issued an urgent appeal Thursday to try to save the apartment in Manhattan's famed hotel, at 222 W. 23rd St., where Thomas stayed during U.S. visits.
Four days before his death in 1953, the poet fell into a coma there after a drinking binge at the White Horse Tavern in the West Village.
Artie Nash occupies the apartment, where he said visitors pay homage to Thomas. Nash is battling a developer renovating the 19th century building to turn it into a hotel.
The Hotel Chelsea is also known as the place where Nancy Spungen, the girlfriend of Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, was found stabbed to death in 1978. The Chelsea was also the place where Jack Kerouac wrote "On the Road," and where Arthur C. Clarke wrote "2001: A Space Odyssey."
A spokeswoman for the Chelsea Hotels company that owns the property says the majority of long-term tenants will be staying.
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