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‘Paul’s Boutique’ Corner Won’t Be ‘Beastie Boys Square’ Just Yet

Beastie Boys, square, 'Paul's Boutique,' Ludlow, Rivington, street corner

A Brooklyn man’s plan to name a New York City street corner after the Beastie Boys is no sure shot. LeRoy McCarthy’s proposal to have the intersection of Rivington and Ludlow streets in lower Manhattan officially co-named “Beastie Boys Square” went before a local community board panel earlier this week. But he’ll have to get more signatures from neighborhood residents before the board will vote on the idea.

The site was immortalized on the cover of the rap innovators’ watershed second album, 1989’s Paul’s Boutique. According to The Villager, McCarthy brought signatures from 17 apartment units out of 20 and eight of nine businesses on the block, which would appear to meet the 75 percent requirement for a co-naming, albeit within a small area. Community Board 3’s transportation subcommittee voted to require 500 neighborhood signatures from McCarthy, and the full board votes on that idea January 28. (“Fight for Your Right” takes on new meaning when applied to urban government.)

McCarthy, who’s also behind a currently stalled petition to name a street corner after the Notorious B.I.G., told Gothamist he hopes to refile the “Beastie Boys Square” petition next month. If the board does approve the honorific, which would follow the renaming of a Brooklyn Heights playground after late Beastie member Adam Yauch, the next step is approval from City Council. No sleep till the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall subway stop…