Merle Lister, a dance choreographer and New Yorker who has lived in the Chelsea Hotel for many decades, talks about her life from childhood to now. I was told by a friend who met her that I should contact her and film her. Merle has lived in the Chelsea Hotel for decades and has experienced much of its history, now being one of the few remaining original residents.

Merle made her life about art and dance. Her and her husband, a lighting technician, spent may years creating dance shows around the world. Although Merle is a Canadian, New York became her home. She talks about old New York and how it has now been cleaned up. "I miss the bookstores, there used to be bookstores". I don't blame her.

Manhattan is a great place but even as a visitor, behind the amazing large buildings and straight streets, the chain shops have moved in and the soul has been removed, much like a lot of Central London. Life is now found outside in the boroughs. You can't create things on Manhattan like you used to. The money moved in.

Merle has worked with many renowned artists and has seen the city develop, having moved from Canada, where she studied and was brought up. We chatted in her room in the Hotel. She had been moved several times from room to room as a new housing company slowly did the place up for luxury apartments. The hotel was once known to let rooms out to artists for the price of their art. Things have changed. But they kept Merle and some older residents, who still sit in the corridors and stroll out with their strollers.

Again, I am lucky to have been able to meet a New Yorker like her, with her mixed Canadian and New York accent, and to meet her in such a legendary place where the likes of Leonard Cohen hung out too.

You can see her in the amazing documentary "Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel"

Filmed in September 2018 by Marcus Hessenberg

See more of my work at www.marcushessenberg.com

I am a videographer and photographer based in London, creating short films as I travel. Please do subscribe for more films.