The life and art of Jimi Hendrix are touchstones that artists and fans revisit, for example Outkast's André 3000 playing him in the 2013 biopic Jimi: All Is By My Side. Now residents and merchants on W. 8th Street in New York City's Greenwich Village hope co-naming their street "Jimi Hendrix Way" will have the same effect on tourists and foot traffic.
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Comparable to the 1977 renaming of a portion of W 106th Street as Duke Ellington Boulevard by the Riverside Drive home where he composed, these Greenwich Villagers want to memorialize the magic of Electric Lady Studios, which Hendrix bought in 1968 and opened in 1970, the year of his death.
Local merchant Richard Geist said, "We want to bring that magic back."
The co-naming process is still at the stage of collecting petition signatures, after which the next steps are community board support followed by a full vote of the New York City Council.
