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We fought for our right to party and so we will!
About a year after NYC officially approved the naming of the intersection of Ludlow and Rivington streets as “Beastie Boys Square,” and for the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, there will be a ceremony and block party for the official dedication of the Lower East Side spot.
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This weekend, starting at noon on Saturday, September 9, Mike Diamond (Mike D) and Adam Horovitz (Adrock) along with NYC officials and Councilmember Chris Marte, the party will celebrate the naming at the site of the iconic gatefold cover of the band’s sophomore album “Paul’s Boutique.”
This album is often seen as the album most steeped in New York culture because it has lyrical references to the Ramones, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, the Village, Chrystie Street, the D Train, Ed Koch, the Knicks, the Yankees, Shea Stadium, the Palladium, Phil Rizzuto, the Atlantic Antic, the New York Post, El Diario, Bernard Goetz, Broadway, Jazzy Jay, Bad Brains, and more.
There was an almost decade-long push to get the cover’s spot location co-named for the group—the 2012 death of Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch was the impetus. LeRoy McCarthy, a music and hip-hop advocate who had a hand in the naming of Christopher Wallace Way in Brooklyn and the Wu-Tang Clan District in Staten Island, is behind the naming.
His original request was denied back in 2014, when the Lower East Side’s community board voted against it because they said it didn’t meet all the requirements needed for a co-naming, according to DNAinfo’s reporting. The community board banned McCarthy from bringing the proposal back to them for five years. And it finally happened in 2022.
On Saturday, the celebration will feature a special guest DJ set by Jon Bless HiFi System, pop-up activations and more until 2pm. Then, the Apple Original Film Beastie Boys Story, directed by Beastie Boys collaborator and Academy Award winner Spike Jonze, will debut at the IFC Center in Greenwich Village with showings on both Friday, September 8 and Saturday, September 9 at 11:30pm. SiriusXM will also relaunch its Beastie Boys Channel this Thursday, September 7, on channel 105.