By now Crisp was a theatre-filling raconteur: his one-person show sold out the Duke of York's Theatre in London in 1978. He then took the show to New York. His first stay in the Hotel Chelsea coincided with a fire, a robbery, and the death of Nancy Spungen. Crisp decided to move to New York permanently and set about making arrangements. In 1981, he arrived with few possessions and found a small apartment at 46 East 3rd Street in Manhattan's East Village.