Chelsea is associated with well off residents and high end shopping with many designer boutiques. It was a centre for the 'swinging sixties' and members of the Beatles, and The Rolling Stones had homes on the area's main drag, the King's Road. The area remained a hot spot for popular culture through the Punk era, but by the 1980's it has become more austere. The area's bars and clubs are popular with Princes William and Harry and 'Sloane Rangers' - a type of brash upper class youth whose title derives from Chelsea's Sloane Square.

In the 19th century, Chelsea gained a reputation as a home for artists, and had a thriving bohemian culture. Artists such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, J. M. W. Turner, James McNeill Whistler and John Singer Sargent all lived and worked in the area, as did the writers Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, Bram Stoker, Tolkein and Thomas Carlyle. The home of the latter was turned into a museum by the Carlyle Memorial Trust, which was established by Virginia Woolf's father, Leslie Stephen. By the 1900's the area was more a centre for high end, luxury residences than artists

The name Chelsea comes from the Anglo Saxon term for "river landing place for chalk". The earliest record of the Manor of Chelsea dates back to before the 11th century. In 1536 the manor was bought by Henry VIII, and the house served as a residence for two of his wives, Catherine Parr and Anne of Cleves as well as his daughter, Princess Elizabeth who later became Queen Elizabeth I. Chelsea was a popular but rural neighbourhood, and was a source of fresh produce for the City of London until the 19th century, when the area was built up during the city's expansion.

Kings Road was so named as it was originally Charles II's private road from St James's Palace to Fulham. The road was not open to the public until over a century later.

The area has produced a famous pastry, the Chelsea Bun, which is a coil of sweet dough filled with currants and topped with sugar, variations of which can be found in most bakers around the UK.

Chelsea is also famous for the china it produced at the Chelsea porcelain factory, in the 1700's, which is considered to be the first domestic porcelain workshop. Francis Thomas who was the director of the porcelain factory is buried in the All Saints Chelsea Old Church graveyard, along with Sir Thomas More, and many of the nobles who lived in the area.

One of the most well known buildings in Chelsea is the Chelsea Royal Hospital, which was established by Charles II to provide care for injured soldiers. The building was designed by the architect Sir Christopher Wren, and the grounds are used for the Chelsea Flower show each year.