I need you, I don't need you and all of that jivin' around.

This time we were staying around Chelsea, an area I once worked close to and rather different from the part of New York that most tourists gravitate towards. We were staying close to the Chelsea Market and the High Line, both of which are busy yet different somehow from the Times Square vibe.

Of course the Chelsea Hotel is well-known and had rebirth recently, under new ownership. 

Many well know of the folk that have stayed there: I'll list a few: Chet Baker, Nico, Tom Waits, Jim Morrison, Patti Smith, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jeff Beck,Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Iggy Pop, The Grateful Dead, Edith Piaf,Bob Marley, Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollack, Cher, Madonna, Dee Dee Ramone, Joni Mitchell, John Cale, Marianne Faithfull, Bette Midler, Stanley Kubrick, Sid Vicious. Nancy Spungen, Jimi Hendrix, Canned Heat, Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper, Janis Joplin, Dennis Hopper, Uma Thurman, Jane Fonda, Viva, Elliott Gould, Edie Sedgwick, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Mark Twain, Arthur Miller, Arthur C. Clarke, Tennesse Williams, Sam Shepherd, Jack Kerouac, Quentin Crisp, Valerie Solanas, William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso

...to name but some.

And the immediate area has the pretty cafes like in Europe. We enjoyed lunch in Pastis, a twist on a French pavement cafe. People from the ship, natives of New York, had recommended a whole string of places to us, all within short idle. 

Just around the corner is the bustle of the Chelsea Market and we're only a couple of Blocks from the Hudson River.

Oh, and did I mention that the cabs have changed? They used to be slab-like Ford Crown Victorias, but now they are nearly all Toyota SUVs or similar van creations. I could still spot the cabs from across the river which still looked traditional, but even the green suburban cabs have changed. Apparently Ford stopped making the iconic taxicab in 2011 and now there are just two left in the city.