I spent so much time at [New York’s] Chelsea Hotel that I felt like I lived there for years and years and years—until the day it closed. It had big rooms and beautiful high ceilings—and OK, maybe not a lightbulb in all the lamps. Since then, I found this cool place called Hotel 31 in New York. There’s nothing hip about it, but the rooms are, like, $75 per night. [Editor’s note: nightly rates from $103.] I went and did a photo shoot there, because I found it online and it looked absolutely insane. The wallpaper is insane. The bedspreads are insane. It’s all super 1960s, ’70s, ’80s. I don’t think they’ve redone anything since that time. Everything is clashing. It’s an eyeful. It’s brilliant.
On Anthony Bourdain and his bulletproof suitcase.
I knew Anthony Bourdain when he was alive, and he was quite fascinating to talk to about traveling. One of his biggest points was that his suitcase was bulletproof. He was really proud of it. It wasn’t very big. And he always packed his jujitsu stuff. Not that much stuff, but that suitcase was bulletproof.
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