The corner of Ludlow Street and Rivington Street in New York City is on track to be renamed “Beastie Boys Square.”
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In 2014, the local Community Board 3 initially rejected the proposal to rename the Lower East Side corner, also the cover of the rap group’s 1989 album, Paul’s Boutique. On July 14, a renewed application for the designation was approved by the New York City Council and is now pending the signature of the bill by NYC Mayor Eric Adams. The bill is expected to be called up for a vote in several weeks and be passed shortly thereafter, according to NYC Council member Christopher Marte.
Beastie Boys Square will honor the group and members Michael “Mike D” Diamond, Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz, and the late Adam “MCA” Yauch, who died after a long battle with cancer at the age of 47 on May 4, 2012.
“As many of us know, once the Beastie Boys hit the scene, it really changed the hip-hop game,” said Marte in a statement. “I see it as a celebration. A celebration for the Lower East Side, a celebration for hip-hop, and especially a celebration for our community who has been organizing for a really long time to make this happen.”
LeRoy McCarthy, who spearheaded the dedication of the square, also worked to get a mural up to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Paul’s Boutique on the same corner in 2014, where the street renaming will take place.
Formed in 1981, with Yauch from Brooklyn and Diamond and Horovitz from Manhattan, the East Village and Lower East Side of Manhattan was the pivotal meeting point for the rappers, from writing out of their apartment at 59 Chrystie St. and even recording the 1982 track “Polly Wog Stew”—released on an early EP (Rat Cage Records) and just four years before their full length debut Licensed to Ill—in a basement on Avenue A.
And then there was Paul’s Boutique, featuring a fictional store sign thought up by Mike D, adjacent to the actual retailer Lee’s Sportswear. The front of the album cover opened into a gatefold revealing a panorama of the intersection, photographed from 99 Rivington St. and credited to Nathaniel Hörnblowér, a pseudonym used by Yauch.
Produced by The Dust Brothers and recorded over a two-year period in Los Angeles, the album didn’t have the commercial success of Licensed to Ill but remains one of the Beastie Boys most iconic albums and has been referred to by many as one of the greatest albums of all time.
“The Beastie Boys lived and breathed the Lower East Side as the Lower East Side lived and breathed the Beastie Boys,” said Marte. “MCA, Ad-Rock, and Mike D put this neighborhood on the hip-hop map not just by calling it their home but putting it front and center on one of their top albums. There’s no denying these guys were punks, maybe not their neighbors’ favorite neighbors, but that’s what the Lower East Side was and always will be: a home to people who do things a little differently.”
In 2013, the Palmetto Playground in Brooklyn Heights was also renamed Adam Yauch Park after the late Beastie Boy, who grew up in the area and even learned how to ride his bike in the same park. “It’s fitting we’re here today to dedicate a playground to Adam Yauch,” said Ad-Rock during the dedication ceremony, “because like the Wu-Tang Clan, Beastie Boys is for the children.”
Another mural of Yauch titled, The Where Have You Been MCA, by NYC graffiti artist Cramcept is located on E. 7th St. and First Ave. in the East Village and has remained up since 2017.
Photo: Capitol Records
