Bohemian Home

Today I'm with the artist and hairdresser Gerald de Cough at his amazing apartment in the fabled Chelsea Hotel. I have been living in this hotel since October 1st, 1994. I'd The hotel has an incredible history, home to cultural icons such as Andy Warhol, Patty Smith and Jim Morrison. It is now in its eighth year of renovation. Gerald is one of 50 residents still remaining at the Chelsea Hotel, enduring the noise and dust before it is transformed into a luxury hotel. Our city is changing. We're constantly surrounded by construction. I'm very used to it. Photographer Colin Miller recently captured the homes of the hotel's remaining residents in a new book, Hotel Chelsea. When I first came to the Chelsea, I was taking photographs for an architecture firm. I basically thought it was empty. And so up on the rooftop, there was this one window where you could see down into an apartment. And that window was Gerald's place. Super saturated colors down there. I realized that there was still kind of life happening at the Hotel Chelsea. I started this gold brick wall and I went to I really didn't have a clear vision. Do This means something. It's kind of what happened. But I know that I love color and I know that I love vibrance. It'such incredible light here that it could really hold it. I don't So that's kind of where the beads came from. I was at this So I started Well the photographs on the wall, I work with photographers doing hair. I got And I love collage. The kitchen is such a big room. I just The real estate market is insane. The prices are insane. Beautiful things are being destroyed all the time. But there's also a way that people survive in this city. And I think that survival is something kind of beautiful. I feel like a king I feel The painted walls, the layering, the ceiling, the floor, everything has Gerald's touch. It's beautiful and it gives you hope that even though we're living in a city of constant change certain things remain beautiful and authentic.