In this documentary, famed filmmaker (and native New Yorker) Abel Ferrara chronicles the history of a fading piece of the city, the Chelsea Hotel. The building has been home to legends such as Bob Dylan, Charles Bukowski, and R. Crumb, but its management is trying to make more money with richer tenants while the current artist denizens are turned out. A resident of the Chelsea Hotel, Ferrara recruits his current and former neighbors--including Milos Forman, Dennis Hopper, and Ethan Hawke--to comment on the changes. Actors Bijou Phillips, Adam Goldberg, Giancarlo Esposito, and Grace Jones help Ferrara re-create the building’s fabled history, including the lives of infamous tenants Sid Vicious and Janis Joplin. CHELSEA ON THE ROCKS goes beyond the walls of the hotel, telling the story of a city in flux.