By Scott T. Sterling
A group of New York residents in Greenwich Village have started a petition to rename a local street in honor of music legend Jimi Hendrix.
New Yorkers living in the area want to rename the block of Eighth Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues after Hendrix, who is believed to have lived in a cottage apartment on that block. The space is adjacent to the legendary Electric Lady Studios, which the guitarist built before his untimely death in 1970.
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“Gentrification is killing us,” business owner Richard Geist, who opened Uncle Sam’s Army Navy on the street in 1998, told the New York Times. “Eighth Street has lost the magic and we want to bring that magic back, and bring traffic back to help business.”
Getting the street co-named after Hendrix will require a lengthy and complex process (the honorary name is typically posted along with the original). The City Council reportedly approves approximately 100 new street names each year.
“I’m worried about the gentrification of the block,” added local internet entrepreneur Rob Key, who lives in Hendrix’s alleged former cottage and supports the petition. “The history of New York gets lost sometimes and that’s what this is all about.”
