Thursday, September 7, 2023

Hold it now, hit it: Beastie Boys Square is finally becoming a reality on the Lower East Side

On Saturday afternoon, the corner of Rivington and Ludlow will officially be co-named Beastie Boys Square. 

This ends a nearly 10-year effort for this co-naming designation. City Council signed off on it last summer with the strong support of District 1 City Councilmember Christopher Marte.

LeRoy McCarthy has been behind this effort and kept with it even after Community Board 3 voted 24 to 1 to reject the Beastie Boys Square application in January 2014. CB3 also reportedly barred McCarthy from reapplying for the street naming for five years.

The former clothing store on the SW corner was the backdrop for the band's seminal sophomore release from 1989, "Paul's Boutique." 

The afternoon will feature appearances by Michael "Mike D" Diamond and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz. (Adam "MCA" Yauch died in 2012.) There's also word of some pop-up shops...
Brooklyn-based artist Danielle Mastrion created the original BB mural in 2014...
She started a new mural late yesterday... here's a work in progress...
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9 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 7, 2023 at 9:26 AM

    CB 3 are a bunch of duds!
    Thanks to LeRoy McCarthy, Christopher Marte and Danielle Mastrion for not giving up!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 7, 2023 at 12:00 PM

    The Beastie Boys personified my adolescence.

    ReplyDelete
  3. DanSeptember 7, 2023 at 12:14 PM

    Super cool!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousSeptember 7, 2023 at 12:50 PM

    No sleep 'til Saturday!

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousSeptember 7, 2023 at 3:09 PM

    It is too bad that Adam Yauch and Ricky Powell are not around to witness and document this event.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousSeptember 7, 2023 at 4:27 PM

    I am a middle aged man in his fifties. The Beastie Boys were among some of my favorite groups when I was coming of age as a teenager during the mid to late 80s. I feel lucky to have grown up during a period as a Gen xr where there was damn good music all over the radio and on records and where musicians who knew their craft. It was just so much better and authentic. Today the stuff my son listens to is crap. I love this for our neighborhood. Go Beastie Boys! Fight for your right !!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousSeptember 9, 2023 at 1:55 PM

      Hahahaha! You sound JUST like the old folks back then shittin on the Beasties.

      Delete
  7. oldmanfancySeptember 8, 2023 at 11:49 AM

    Let's GO!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. JQ LLCSeptember 18, 2023 at 8:26 AM

    The Beasties went from making the Never Mind the Bollocks of rap albums to the Abbey Road of rap albums. The ironic thing about Paul's Boutique is that it was entirely recorded in California.

    Also, Paul's Boutique was located in Brooklyn according to the commercial track Ask for Janice.

    This is still a cool thing to see an honor to one of the greatest bands ever from NYC. RIP Adam and Ricky.

    Now how about renaming Linden Blvd for a Tribe Called Quest...

    ReplyDelete

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