A petition has been launched in Manhattan to name a Lower East Side corner after rap trio the Beastie Boys.
LeRoy McCarthy, the same man who unsuccessfully petitioned a community board earlier this year to name a Brooklyn corner for the late rapper Biggie Smalls, is now asking Manhattan’s Community Board 3 and New York’s City Council to name the intersection of Ludlow Street and Rivington Street, where the cover of 1989’s Paul’s Boutique was shot,”Beastie Boys Square.”
McCarthy’s petition reads:
The Beastie Boys are: Michael “Mike D” Diamond, Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz, and Adam “MCA” Yauch (RIP). Aside for spanning genres of music over their 30+ year career, Beastie Boys, along with RUN DMC, were pioneers in expanding exchanges culturally in NYC, and worldwide.
The second album from Beastie Boys, “Paul’s Boutique” was photographed at the intersection of Ludlow Street and Rivington Street. In the panoramic photograph it captured the vibrancy of the ever-changing life on the streets of NYC. The album, released July 25th 1989, was groundbreaking, and it encompassed these Boys from NYC, rapping about life and times from their point of view. Because of the album cover photo, and the Beastie Boys were ever-changing NYC artist, the location of Ludlow Street and Rivington Street would be a great place to honor Beastie Boys with a corner co-naming.
The petition was launched in September and so far has 234 supporters. Via the Beastie Boy Square Facebook page, McCarthy said he would be presenting it to the Community Board 3 Manhattan in January.
“When Adam Yauch passed away, people came here for three or four days putting candles and flowers out, taking photos, really mourning his death,” Vicky Dalva, who manages and co-owns the wrap joint that now sits at the Paul’s Boutique corner, told the local news outlet. “At least one person comes in each week asking if it’s Paul’s Boutique.”
This past summer, a park in Brooklyn Heights was renamed after Adam “MCA” Yauch, following his death last year.
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