New York, NY (June 11, 2026)—More than 55 years after his untimely passing, the presence of guitar great Jimi Hendrix is still felt in popular music—and now in New York City’s Greenwich Village as well. On Wednesday, June 10, 2026, West 8th Street was co-named “Jimi Hendrix Way” during a street corner ceremony held just down the block from Electric Lady Studios—the recording facility that Hendrix opened in 1970.
Emceed by council member Harvey Epstein, the event featured speeches from the artist’s sister and now president and CEO of Experience Hendrix, LLC, Janie Hendrix; producer/engineer Eddie Kramer; musician/actor “Little Steven” Van Zandt; guitarist Vernon Reid of Living Colour; platinum singer/songwriter Valerie Simpson; and others.
“Jimi Hendrix’s genius is in that sign,” Kramer told Mix after the ceremony, “because the music he created a few doors down in Electric Lady Studios? He was so happy in there. Before it officially opened, we started recording; it was Mitch [Mitchell, drummer] and Billy Cox [bassist] and Jimi, and they were wonderful in the studio. Jimi was on time every night at 7 o’clock—he couldn’t wait to get in.”
Few New York recording facilities have lasted as long as Electric Lady Studios, and even fewer have such a storied past. Despite the odds, the studio survived Hendrix’s death to flourish for decades and become a cornerstone of the city’s recording scene.
Today, Electric Lady hosts top artists from around the world, becoming a creative crucible for Taylor Swift, Adele, Lady Gaga, Jay-Z, Daft Punk, Beck, Jon Batiste, Lana Del Rey, Rod Stewart and many others. “The studio had a vibe,” Kramer conceded. “After Jimi died, everybody wanted to come and feel the vibe—and the studio’s still there; you can’t get in!”
But the studio was created almost by accident, said Kramer. During his time living in New York City during the late 1960s, Hendrix often sat in on jam sessions in the space when it was a nightclub called The Generation. When the venue shuttered in 1968, Hendrix bought it with the intention of opening a new club.
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“I walked in there to see the place and inspect it,” said Kramer. “I looked around and said, ‘Guys, this is crazy. You know how much Jimi is spending every year?’ It was over $200,000 a year in studio time, using studios all over New York City, and this was 1969! I know because I used to get the calls in the middle of the night—‘Hey, can you come and help a little?’ I would jump in a cab and go.”
Recalling how he and architect/acoustician John Storyk of WSDG built the studio, Kramer said, “To this day, John is still my best friend and we do a lot of projects together. We got lucky with the fact that the studio ceiling sloped upwards [and] gave us this wonderful situation with the sound. He did some things on the ceiling, which…worked out perfectly for the way the acoustics worked.”
All these years later, Electric Lady Studios is still impacting Kramer’s own career, as he spent the last few months crafting eight Dolby Atmos album mixes for Kiss—a band whose 1973 demo he first recorded during a one-day session inside the facility.
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Having a street named after Hendrix underlines the relationship that the guitarist had with Greenwich Village and the neighborhood’s creative community. During his ceremony speech, Kramer recalled, “Jimi would walk from his apartment on 12th street, carrying his guitar, with the big hat and the feather sticking up. Nobody bothered him; they came up to him and they said ‘hi,’ and he nodded to them. They were respectful; he was respected enormously. We would get over to the studio, the door would open, we would go down—and create the most amazing music.”
