It’s been nine years in the making, but finally the SE corner of 8th Street and Sixth Avenue has been named in honor of guitar god Jimi Hendrix. As you probably know, the location was chosen because of its close proximity to Jimi’s Electric Lady Studios at 52 West 8th Street. Just for the record, Jimi also often stayed at the cottage behind the studio which in recent years was renovated and rented out for over $10,000 plus per month! The petition for the street renaming was actually started in 2017 by local artist/designer Storm Ritter and my good friend, freelance clothing designer Xiu Xiu Zanzibar (who has designed for Anna Sui and has sold her own items in Henri Bendel).
So many cool guests turned out to speak including Steven and Maureen Van Zandt, Vernon Reid, Valerie Simpson and the most legendary recording engineer of all time, Eddie Kramer. (I have to give kudos to Steven Van Zandt for wearing purple velvet in the true Hendrix spirit!) Eddie Kramer was instrumental in setting up Electric Lady Studios back in 1970 right down to designing the state of the art recording console. Jimi only got to record there June 15, 1970 until his untimely passing on September 18 that year in London. To say that musical greats have recorded at Electric Lady over the years would be one of the great understatements in rock history!
The comments from the Teachrock students during the ceremony were particularly touching and some of the staff members and execs were cheering them on! I still cannot believe that the organizers of the event found Jimi’s 1964 Curtis Knight & The Squires bandmate—bassist Ace Hall—and got him to share his memories with the crowd. (Ace was sporting a very cool T-shirt showing his old band!) Legendary groupie/author/rock historian Pamela Des Barres (who appeared in the 1967 promotional video for “Foxy Lady”) was standing near the stage and several people came up to her to chat and for photo ops! You can see from the photo above that she still looks youthful and has the vibe of someone much younger. It’s interesting to note that “Miss P” was once the girlfriend of The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s bassist Noel Redding—while Maureen Van Zandt was once the girlfriend of drummer Mitch Mitchell.
One of the extra special guests was Jamie Hendrix, Jimi’s much younger sister who has been the chief officer of the Hendrix estate since father Al passed in 2002. Her speech was candid and revealing, and she mentioned how grateful she was to be handling her brother’s musical legacy. Janie was the one who made the final speech before the actual street sign unveiling happened. The job was done after a bit of tugging on the paper covering and there were quite a few laughs!
For Jimi Hendrix fans, this was one of the most significant tributes that could occur, permanently linking his name to the neighborhood where he created some of his most enduring music. June 10th, 2026 would have been Jimi Hendrix’s 83rd birthday, so it was especially fitting that the street naming ceremony happened on this day. I’m sure that he was looking down from heaven wearing a purple velvet suit pretty much identical to the one worn by the always colorful Steve Van Zandt!
