NYC names street after Jimi Hendrix

West 8th Street in New York City has long been home to musical greatness: Electric Lady Studios, the iconic recording studio commissioned by Jimi Hendrix in 1968, is right down the block. The studio has fostered dozens of famous artists throughout their careers, including Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, U2, John Mayer, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, and more. And now, West 8th will honor Hendrix. On June 10, New Yorkers held an unveiling ceremony for Jimi Hendrix Way. The event was originally scheduled for February, but got delayed due to the city’s monstrous snowstorms. Hendrix’s nameplate can now be seen on a street sign on the corner of West 8th Street and Sixth Avenue. 

The effort to rename West 8th after Hendrix has taken a long time: Janie Hendrix, Jimi’s sister, told the New York Times that her family had been working to rename the street in her brother’s honor since his passing in 1970—the same year the studio was completed. “We used to have a petition in Electric Lady Studios to sign that said, ‘Name this street after Jimi,’ and it seemed to go nowhere,” Janie told the crowd. “We also tried to get Jimi’s face on a stamp, and that eventually happened, 12 years ago. All in due time.”

The street’s renaming comes in tandem with the announcement of a new education partnership, called TeachRock, headed up by Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Stevie Van Zandt. The national initiative aims to provide free online lessons and resources to underserved children, using music to tutor elementary school-age children in humanities subjects like history and language arts. In a statement, Janie called the collaboration a way of “carrying Jimi’s legacy forward through education,” and that his “music remains a powerful gateway for young people to connect with history, creativity, and their own potential.” Van Zandt remarked, “Jimi Hendrix didn’t just play guitar, he reimagined what art could be. With TeachRock, we want students to experience that same sense of possibility and discovery that so many of us felt the first time we heard Jimi. His story, lyrics, and sound remind young people that creativity has no limits.”

Keep scrolling for more great stories.