The Street In Front
of Rock-N-Roll High School
On Sunday, October 30th, the city of New York officially made an intersection,
in the Queen's Forest Hills neighborhood, every future punk's most wanted block
to live on.
Thanks to a proposal passed on July 14th of this year, the corner of 67th Avenue
and 110th Street was renamed "The Ramones Way", in honor of one the
first bands to change the musical landscape of the city in the late 70s.
The corner is in front of Forest Hills High School, which is where the original
line-up attended, and, hence, was thought to be the perfect place to commemorate
the outfit.
The original date
was set for the previous Sunday (the 23rd), and I was puzzled after arriving,
and not seeing a newly covered street sign. It was only after one of the handful
of folks hanging around checked the Ramones' social media, that we discovered
the service had been moved to the following weekend. I packed up my camera,
and headed home, only to happily return again a week later.
I turned up to find the sign ready to be unveiled, and a schoolyard packed with
a little over a hundred fans.
As the speakers
played the Ramones' 1976 debut, the crowd gathered around the podium.
I grabbed a program pamphlet, and took a seat right up front.
The ceremony was
confirmed by New York City Council Member, Karen Koslowitz, which begun at 11am,
on this beautiful autumn Sunday morning. Speakers included Council Member Koslowitz;
Congresswoman of the 6th District of NY, Grace Meng; Joey Ramones' brother Mickey
Leigh…
…Ramones'
tour manager, Monte Melnick; Ramones' first band manager, Danny Fields…
…and the
amazing Captain Sensible of The Damned made it all the way from across the pond
to honor Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy.
As the observance
concluded, the crowd headed out to the street for the unveiling. After a very
Ramones-like "1, 2, 3, 4…" the cover was removed, and the crowd
cheered.
Many stuck around
to chat, and I maneuvered through the crowd to get photos of some of the more
interesting fans…
…as well
as - of course - a few shots of people's backs.
Though I missed
the ceremony, the city previously honored A Tribe Called Quest's Malik "Phife
Dawg" Taylor, by renaming the corner of Linden Boulevard and 192nd Street,
in Queens, on August 3rd.
While many of us may lose a little piece of ourselves when those who we admire,
or have influenced us, pass on, it's always reassuring that one can find community
in keeping the spirit of these creative giants alive.
A. Souto, 2016
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