'60s Guitar Legend to Receive Major Honor 56 Years After His Tragic Death

It’s no exaggeration to say that the world still hasn’t gotten over the sudden passing of Jimi Hendrix at the age of 27 in 1970. Over half a century later, his memory is just as alive as ever…and now the iconic and influential musician is receiving a major (and majorly cool) honor.

As Far Out reported, New York City is naming the part of West Eighth Street where Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios is located “Jimi Hendrix Way.” The new sign will be unveiled during a ceremony on Feb. 24, when Hendrix’s sister, Janie Hendrix, will speak (along with E Street Band guitarist Stevie Van Zandt and NYC council member Harvey Epstein). Both Janie and Van Zandt helped to campaign for the name change, part of an effort to promote musical education by Experience Hendrix LLC and Van Zandt’s non-profit charity, TeachRock.

“This collaboration speaks to the heart of our mission — carrying on Jimi’s legacy through education,” Janie said in a statement, adding, “His music is a powerful gateway for young minds to connect with history, creativity, and their own potential.”

“Jimi Hendrix didn’t just play guitar — he reimagined what art could be,” Van Zandt said. “I want TeachRock to transport students into that same sense of possibility and discovery I felt the first time I saw Jimi perform. His story, lyrics, and sound remind young people that creativity has no limits.”

Hendrix follows in the footsteps of a handful of other musicians with strong ties to NYC to have streets named after them, such as Run DMC, Joey Ramone, and Missy Elliott.

The history of Electric Lady Studios came to life in a 2025 documentary

In an interview with Guitar World last year, Hendrix’s engineer Eddie Kramer opened up about his part in director John McDermott’s documentary, Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision.

“It’s the history of how we put the damn place together, which was kind of a miracle when you think about it,” Kramer said, adding, “It was basically a bunch of hippies who thought they knew what they were doing. And I guess we did…”

“Well, that was Jimi’s thing,” Kramer continued. “He loved to jam. He loved to go down to the Generation Club, as a place to hang— and he would always jump on the stage, no matter what was going on. So one day I get the call saying, ‘We’re gonna build a nightclub in the Village.’ And I’m looking at the site, thinking, ‘This is a great space. But what about what Jimi’s been doing for the past year, spending money day after day at the Record Plant, The Hit Factory, wherever?’”

“I mean, thank goodness he did that because it meant we had a huge body of material to work with,” Kramer recalled. “But, you know, he was spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on studio time. So I came up with a proposal: ‘Let’s make this the best studio in the world for Jimi. It’s gonna be his home, he’ll love it, it’ll be a place he can relax and create.’ And they went, ‘Yeah, good idea. Okay, let’s do that.’”

The rest is music history.

Related: Lawsuit Claims These Iconic ’60s Rockers ‘Died in Relative Poverty’