The Chelsea Hotel was once the heartbeat of old New York bohemia. Mark Twain, Patti Smith, and Madonna all resided in the hotel. Leonard Cohen met Janis Joplin in its elevator. Sid Vicious stabbed Nancy Spungen to death in #100. Bob Dylan wrote “Sara” in #211. Down the hall, in #205, Dylan Thomas drank 18 straight whiskeys before slipping into a coma from which he never emerged. Now, this enclave of the counterculture is on the verge of a serious transformation, with developers polishing it up into a boutique hotel. The Chelsea’s residents, however, aren’t going gentle into that good night. They’re fighting to keep their homes while living in a construction zone. Dreaming Walls, produced by Martin Scorsese and directed by Amélie van Elmbt and Maya Duverdier, documents the eccentric group of New Yorkers who are holding down the fort at the Chelsea Hotel, which is scheduled to open to the public late this summer. —Clara Molot