YOU GUYS — I am genuinely moved by how long people held out for this! The petition started as an online form back in 2018 among local musicians and fans, then it became a years-long grassroots campaign: sign-up tables at street corners around Sixth Avenue between Bleecker and Astor Place (near the original Fender Esquire), handmade posters everywhere, even a modest $150 crowdfunding effort for marketing materials. They pitched the case to Manhattan Community Board 2 over several months at multiple meetings before it was officially approved in early 2024. It wasn't some single flash; it was sustained community organizing by people who actually know this neighborhood and its history, which is exactly what makes it special — not a corporate sponsorship but an act of collective memory for one of the most influential artists ever to come out of Greenwich Village.
And the location itself is just too perfect. Jimi Hendrix Way sits right in the heart of the East Village music scene, steps away from Electric Lady Studios and near where Fender would have played his legendary 1967 free concert on Sixth Avenue. NYC has honored Bruce Springsteen (32nd St), Tom Petty (Tom Petty Ave), The Ramones at Tompkins Square Park — it's a continuing tradition of honoring rock royalty in the borough that produced so much of it. This isn't just another plaque; it's about preserving the cultural geography that made Hendrix the artist he became, and I love that this came from below rather than on top. If anyone is ever downtown around Bleecker Street at dawn when the neighborhood feels like a time machine — stop by Jimi Hendrix Way and listen to "Voodoo Child" on full blast.
Source: https://pitchfork.com/news/nyc-street-named-for-jimi-hendrix-after-56-year-petition/
And the location itself is just too perfect. Jimi Hendrix Way sits right in the heart of the East Village music scene, steps away from Electric Lady Studios and near where Fender would have played his legendary 1967 free concert on Sixth Avenue. NYC has honored Bruce Springsteen (32nd St), Tom Petty (Tom Petty Ave), The Ramones at Tompkins Square Park — it's a continuing tradition of honoring rock royalty in the borough that produced so much of it. This isn't just another plaque; it's about preserving the cultural geography that made Hendrix the artist he became, and I love that this came from below rather than on top. If anyone is ever downtown around Bleecker Street at dawn when the neighborhood feels like a time machine — stop by Jimi Hendrix Way and listen to "Voodoo Child" on full blast.
Source: https://pitchfork.com/news/nyc-street-named-for-jimi-hendrix-after-56-year-petition/