Janis Joplin’s Room Door and Famous Neon Sign Among Chelsea Hotel Artifacts Coming to Auction

The iconic Chelsea Hotel sign.

Guernsey&CloseCurlyQuote;s Auction House

The Chelsea Hotel on West 23rd St. in New York City is a legend of 20th-century culture, serving as the residence of famous figures like activist W.E.B. du Bois, era-defining musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Joni Mitchell, great authors like Thomas Wolfe and innovative artists like Jackson Pollock. Guernsey’s Auction House, another New York City institution, will auction elements of the hotel on September 24, following a two-day exhibition celebrating the hotel’s history and influence. Lots include individual letters from the hotel’s original neon sign, each professionally stored and mounted (and each with a presale estimate of $5,000 to $10,000); stained glass windows; the tin sign from restaurant El Quijote; and doors from the rooms of famous residents.

This isn’t the first time Guernsey’s has offered the chance to own a piece of pop culture in the form of a Chelsea Hotel artifact. In 2018, they held their groundbreaking Chelsea Doors auction. Despite their chipped paint, cracks, and graffiti, the doors sold for impressive prices, with one belonging to the room where Bob Dylan stayed selling for $125,000. Even a door that wasn’t attributed to a celebrity’s room sold for $12,500.

Although Janis Joplin was known to have spent time in the rooms of others (including Leonard Cohen’s room 424), to be sure she had her own room at the Chelsea. Presale estimate for Janis Joplin’s Room 411 hotel door is $15,000-$25,000.

Guernsey's Auction House

There are still a few more doors up for grabs in this auction, namely, those belonging to room 411, where Janis Joplin lived, and room 415, where musician Rufus Wainwright worked on his album Poses.

Bob Dylan’s original recording session master tapes for his first album, “Bob Dylan.” Markings on the slipcases and the enclosed tape logs describe the John Hammond-produced sessions at Columbia Studios, New York City, on Nov. 20 and 22, 1961—presale estimate: $300,000-$500,000.

Guernsey&CloseCurlyQuote;s Auction House

The auction expands its focus from the hotel to its residents and the culture of downtown New York City as a whole. Other lots include a leather jacket owned by playwright Arthur Miller, some of Madonna’s earliest demo tapes and instruments, and the original recordings of Bob Dylan’s first album. The highest presale estimates go to three portraits by Jean-Michel Basquiat of his artist friends, two of Andy Warhol and one of Keith Haring. Each of these paintings is expected to sell for $1,500,00 to $2,000,000.