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 legend Jimi Hendrix. As you probably know, the location was chosen because of its close proximity to the guitarist’s Electric Lady Studios at 52 West 18th Street—Jimi also often stayed at the cottage behind the studio which is recent years has been rented out for 10,000 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 Zaphyrella (who had designed for Anna Sui and had her designs sold in Henri Bendel).
So many cool guests turned out to speak including Steven and Maureen Van Zandt, Vernon Reid and the most legendary recording engineer of all time, Eddie Kramer. Kramer was instrumental in setting up Electric Lady Studios back in 1970 on Hendrix’s behalf including designing the state of the art recording consule. Jim never actually got to record there before his passing but was very excited about getting things off the ground and getting friends to come in and use the facilities. To say that musical great have recorded at Electric Lady over the years would be one of the great understatements in rock history!
The comments from the Teachrock students of were particularly touching and some of the staff members and execs were cheering them on! I still cannot believe that they found Jimi’s 1964 Curtis Knight & The Squires bandmate Ace Hall for the event….and yes, that was the legendary groupie/author/rock historian Pamela Des Barres (who appeared in the 1967 promotional video for “Foxy Lady”) that you saw standing near the stage! You can see from the photo above that she still looks youthful and has the energy of a 20 year old! 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. Her speech was candid and revealing, and mentioned how grateful she was to be in her position, looking up while speaking as if to “kiss the sky.” Janie was the one who make the final speech for the day before the actual street sign unveiling happened. It was done after a little bit of tugging and a few laughs!
For many Hendrix fans, this was one of the most significant New York tributes ever given to him, 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 that day.
