Following is a list of secondary street names in Community Board 7 and information about the people or institutions that have been so honored. The list, which is alphabetical by first initial of the first name, covers all secondary street names adopted since enactment of Local Law 28 of 1992, which provided that secondary street names did not require an alteration to the City Map. This list and information about the honorees are from the website NYC Honorary Street Names and are copied with the kind permission of the website’s creator, Gilbert Tauber. The list also includes several pre-1992 names and descriptions of honorees in CB7, provided by Mr. Tauber.
Ariel Russo Place (4 Years Old)
Present name: West 97th Street
Location: Between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway
Honoree: Ariel Russo was 4 years-old when she was killed on a sidewalk in June 2013 when an unlicensed teen driver jumped the curb while fleeing from the police and struck her. Records indicated a four-minute delay between the time EMS received the 9-1-1 call and the time an ambulance was dispatched. Her death led to the enactment of new procedures in the tracking of emergency response times. Her death was also a factor in the redesign of Amsterdam Avenue into a safer street.
LL:2013/154
Arturo "Chico" O'Farrill Place
Present name: None
Location: The intersection of West 88th Street and West End Avenue
Honoree: Cuban-born Arturo “Chico” O’Farrill (1921-2001) was a classically trained composer, who in the 1950s pioneered the musical art forms known as Afro-Cuban Jazz and Afro-Latin Jazz. Mr. O’Farrill lived at 574 West End Avenue for nearly 40 years.
LL:2004/63
Bernie Wohl Way
Present name: None
Location: Northeast corner of West 88th Street and Columbus Avenue
Honoree: Bernard Wohl (1930-2006) led Goddard-Riverside Community Center for 26 years and was instrumental in securing its new facilities. He also contributed so much of his time and energy in improving the West Side and the conditions of those less fortunate, including serving on Community Board 7.
LL:2007/28
Beulah E. Sanders Way
Present name: None
Location: Northwest corner of Columbus Avenue and West 92nd Street
Honoree: Beulah Sanders (1938-1984) was a founding member and later Chair of the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO). During the Nixon administration, she and the NWRO were active in the face of new federal work requirements for welfare. She fought to get the voices of those on welfare, particularly urban mothers, heard by the senate committee shaping the legislation. She was chair of the NWRO at a time when many conservatives sought to further curtail welfare. In New York, she led a march of nearly 2,000 mothers through the rain to demand long-awaited clothing vouchers for children before the school year started. In 1967, when the clothing grants had stalled, she confronted Mayor John Lindsay on the steps of City Hall. These actions garnered significant media attention and gave momentum to the NWRO. With support from labor groups, tenants’ organizations and anti-Vietnam activists, she helped build and eventually led, the largest welfare rights group in the United States. She also attended peace conferences in war-torn parts of the world, such as Vietnam. In 1968, she and NWRO, provided Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and his associates with a basic understanding of the welfare system. Welfare reform quickly became an integral part of Dr. King's Poor People's Campaign provided a strong link between the civil rights and anti-poverty movements. (Rosenthal)
LL:2019/24
Cooper Stock Way
Present name: None
Location: Northwest corner of West End Avenue and West 97th Street (300 Block)
Honoree: Cooper Stock was 9 years old when he was struck and killed in 2014 by a taxi cab driver who failed to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. His death resulted in a new city law, called Cooper’s Law, that suspends the TLC license of any taxi driver charged with a traffic violation that results in a person’s critical injury or death, and revokes the license if the driver is convicted of a violation that was the direct cause of the critical injury or death. http://cooperstocksway.org/what-is-coopers-law/ (Rosenthal)
LL:2015/15
Corine Pettey Way
Present name: None
Location: At the northwest corner of 101st Street and Central Park West
Honoree: Corine Pettey (1930-2015) had a 30-year career with the NYC Board of Education as a teacher and elementary school principal. In the 1960s, she had joined the Riverside Democrats and advocated for the law which today prevents renters from being evicted by landlords converting their rental buildings to co-ops. She was later elected a Democratic District Leader. After retiring from the Board of Education in 2004, she returned to political advocacy, joining the board of Three Parks Independent Democrats. She was elected annually as a judicial delegate to the Supreme Court Judicial Convention. She also advocated for the Upper Westside Neighborhood Retail Streets bill to preserve small businesses, and to stop fracking in New York State. (Levine)
LL:2019/158
Detective First Grade Steven McDonald
Present name:
Location: At the 86th Street Transverse, Central Park
Honoree: Steven McDonald (1957-2017) joined the NYPD in 1984. In 1986, at the age of 29, he was shot by a 15-year-old boy in Central Park and became paralyzed from the neck down. He forgave his assailant and made many public appearances over the years spreading the message of forgiveness to the public. The Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award has been presented each NHL season since 1987-88 to the Rangers player who goes above and beyond the normal call of duty. (Rosenthal and Mark Viverito) [Note: Supersedes designation "Detective Steven McDonald Way" and corrects location from 85th Street Transverse to 86th Street Transverse. The word "Way" is omitted in the new name. In L.L. 237 the location appears in the "Old Name" column.]
LL:2017/237
Doris Rosenblum Way
Present name: Southeast side of West 94th Street
Location: Between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West
Honoree: Doris Rosenblum (1925-1996) was district manager of Manhattan Community Board 7 for 12 years. She was an original member of
the Mitchell Lama Residents’ Council, and for six years, served as co-chair. She also served as President of the Stryckers Bay Neighborhood Council and on the Board of Stryckers Bay Apartments.
LL:2008/48
Duke Ellington Boulevard
Present name: West 106th Street
Location: Between Central Park West and Riverside Drive
Honoree: Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1899-1974) owned two adjoining townhouses on Riverside Drive just south of 106th St. He never lived there, although members of his family did. He used 333 Riverside Drive mainly for his business office and studios. This is where he did much of his composing and arranging, collaborating with colleagues such as Billy Strayhorn, who lived two blocks away at 310 Riverside Drive.
LL:1977/83
Edgar Allan Poe Street
Present name: West 84th Street.
Location: Broadway to Riverside Drive
Honoree: Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is one of the most important figures in the American literary canon, but for most of his brief and tormented lifetime, he barely earned a living as a magazine editor, and as a writer of poems, novels, and short stories. He lived at several places in New York in the 1830s and again in the 1840s. From December 1844 to early 1845 he lived in the Brennen farmhouse overlooking the Hudson near 84th St., and it is here that he wrote "The Raven." According to the POC, "City Planning has stated that this bill is acceptable and has withdrawn its previous objection that that it would disrupt the grid system." POC 1979 v. 2, pp. 2262; https://untappedcities.com/2012/08/10/in-search-of-poe/).
LL:1979/59
Elie Wiesel Way
Present name: None
Location: At the southwest corner of 84th Street and Central Park West
Honoree: Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) was born in Sighet, Transylvania. At the age of 15, he and his family were deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz. His mother and younger sister perished. Two older sisters survived. He and his father were later transported to Buchenwald, where his father died shortly before the camp was liberated in April 1945. After the war, he studied in Paris and later became a journalist. During an interview with French writer, Francois Mauriac, he was persuaded to write about his experiences in the death camps. His memoir, Night (La Nuit), has since been translated into more than thirty languages. He received more than 100 honorary degrees from institutions of higher learning and was a devoted supporter of Israel. He also defended the cause of Soviet Jews, Nicaragua's Miskito Indians, Argentina's Desaparecidos, Cambodian refugees, the Kurds, victims of famine and genocide in Africa, victims of apartheid in South Africa, and victims of war in the former Yugoslavia. He and his wife Marion were especially devoted to the cause of Ethiopian-born Israeli youth and founded the Beit Tzipora Centers to support such youth. Elie Wiesel was the author of more than sixty books of fiction and non-fiction, and for his literary and human rights activities, he received numerous awards. In 1986, he won the Nobel Peace Prize and established The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. (Rosenthal and Levine)
LL:2017/45
Firefighter Kevin Bracken Corner
Present name: none
Location: The intersection of West 73rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue
Honoree: Firefighter Kevin Bracken (b. 1964) died on September 11, 2001 during fire and rescue operations following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
LL:2003/62
Firefighter Ruben Correa Street
Present name: West 83rd Street
Location: Between Columbus Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue
Honoree: Firefighter Ruben Correa (b. 1957) died on September 11, 2001 during fire and rescue operations following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center
LL:2003/62
Freedom Place
Present name: None
Location: The unnamed street lying west of West End Ave between West 66th St and West 70th St.
Honoree: This naming commemorates Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, the three young men who were murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, on June 24, 1964 while working on the Freedom Summer campaign to register Black voters. National outrage over the murders helped to secure the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. (Wikipedia)
LL: 1965/65
Gary Lincoff Way
Present name: None
Location: At the intersection of Amsterdam Avenue and 95th Street
Honoree: Gary Lincoff (d. 2018) was an internationally renowned mycologist (mushroom expert). His books include the ever-popular Audubon Field Guide to North American Mushrooms. He was the former president of the New York Mycological Society and taught courses at the New York Botanical Gardens for over 40 years. Nearly all current mycologists, both amateur and professional credit his teaching. He was sought-after by news outlets, and also by physicians in cases of mushroom poisoning. In addition to NYMS, he was president of the North American Mushroom Association. Although a world-wide inspiration, he mostly explored Central Park, identifying more than 700 species of fungi there by the time of his death. (Rosenthal)
LL:2019/158
Henry J. Browne Boulevard
Present name: West 90th St.
Location: Northwest corner West 90th St. and Columbus Ave.
Honoree: Father Henry J. Browne (1919-1980) was a crusader for peace, civil rights, affordable housing, and tenants’ rights on the Upper West Side from the 1950s to the 70s. Between 1958 and 1970, Browne was resident, associate pastor, and finally pastor of the Church of St. Gregory the Great on West 90th Street. In 1959, he helped found the Strycker’s Bay Neighborhood Council and was at the center of organizing long-time residents to insist on their relocation rights in the face of a 20-square-block urban renewal plan. In 1962, Browne and the coalition he led secured a dramatic expansion of promised low-income housing units. Under Browne’s leadership St. Gregory’s grew as a center of local activism on behalf of working people and against the Vietnam War. He organized bus trips to anti-war protests in Washington, D.C., and gave sanctuary in the church’s rectory to the Rev. Philip F. Berrigan, who was wanted for destroying draft files in Maryland. In April 1970, FBI agents raided the rectory, breaking a locked door and arresting Berrigan. Browne left St. Gregory's in 1970, pursued a mainly secular career as a professor in New Jersey, and raised three children with his common-law wife. (Michels)
LL:1982
Humphrey Bogart Place
Present name: West 103rd Street
Location: Between Broadway and West End Avenue
Honoree: Humphrey DeForest Bogart (1899-1957) was one of Hollywood’s best-known movie actors of the 1930’s and 1940’s. He appeared in 28 films, including “High Sierra,” “The Maltese Falcon,” and “Casablanca.” Bogart grew up in the brownstone at 245 W 103rd St.
LL:2006/13
Isaac Bashevis Singer Boulevard
Present name: West 86th Street
Location: Between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue
Honoree: Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991) was a novelist and short story writer. He wrote in Yiddish but his works were translated into numerous other languages, and were made into plays and films. In 1978 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Mr. Singer lived for many years in the Belnord Apartments on this block.
LL:1993/43
James and Rina Garst Way
Present name: West 94th Street
Location: Between Columbus Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue
Honorees: James D. Garst (1926-2006), a veteran of the Merchant Marine in World War II, was a longtime advocate for affordable housing. He was a founder of the New York State Tenants and Neighbors Coalition, and a board member of the Mitchell-Lama Council. Rina Garst (1931-2016) was active in the Upper West Side community for more than half a century. She was an anti-war activist and had extensive involvement in the labor and civil rights movements. She was instrumental in the creation of a housing program called Naturally-Occurring Retirement Community (NORC) for three Upper West Side buildings. She established what became the Goddard-Riverside NORC; was director of the Education Council of District Council 37-AFSCME; worked for the Department of Consumer Affairs; and managed Socialist David McReynolds’ 1968 campaign for Congress. (Rosenthal) [Note: This designation appears intended to supersede the 2008 naming of the "southwest side of West 94th Street" as James D. Garst Way. At this writing, the relevant section of L.L. 48 of 2008 has not been repealed.)
LL:2017/237
Jerome Robbins Place
Present name: none
Location: The intersection of West 62nd Street and Columbus Avenue
Honoree: Jerome Robbins (1918-1998) was one of the first great American-born ballet masters. In his career with the New York City Ballet he created some 50 works. From 1944 to 1964 he became famous beyond the world of ballet, choreographing for such Broadway musicals as On The Town, Peter Pan, The King and I, West Side Story, and Fiddler on the Roof.
LL:2004/63
John L. Nelson Way
Present name: None
Location: At the northeast corner of Columbus Avenue and West 91st Street
Honoree: John Nelson (1947-2015) managed school safety at PS 84, the Lillian Weber School for the Arts, for 34 years. For two years after his retirement, he continued to volunteer at the school where he was a father figure to many children. When not at school, he could be found at Sol Bloom Playground teaching sportsmanship and skills. Basketball and football were his passions. He spent countless hours teaching young athletes techniques not only using their bodies but also their intellects. During the 1970s and ‘80s, when the city’s parks and recreational facilities were overrun with drug dealers and addicts, he watched over his young students and provided them with support. He made a lasting impact on all the students he worked with, one that carried far beyond the playing field. (Rosenthal)
LL:2016/92
Josh Rosenthal Way
Present name: West 72nd Street
Location: Between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
Honoree: Josh Rosenthal (b. 1957) worked at Fiduciary Trust in the World Trade Center. He was killed in the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001.
LL:2003/15
Leonard Bernstein Place
Present name: West 65th Street
Location: Between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue
Honoree: Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) was the leading American composer and orchestra conductor of the 20th Century. He achieved international recognition for his work in both classical music and the Broadway stage. In 1953 he became the first American ever invited to conduct at La Scala. From 1958 to 1969 he was music director of the New York Philharmonic. Parallel with his classical career, he composed music for such famed Broadway musicals as "On the Town," "West Side Story," and "Candide."
LL:1993/42
Miles Davis Way
Present name: None
Location: At the northwest corner of West 77th Street and West End Avenue
Honoree: Miles Dewey Davis III was one of the most innovative and influential jazz musician-composers of the 20th century. He was one of the first African-Americans to own a townhouse on the Upper West Side where he composed, collaborated and rehearsed at 312 West 77th Street for 25 years. (Brewer)
LL:2013/131
Mrs. Ponsie B. Hillman Way
Present name: None
Location: At the northwest corner of Columbus Avenue and West 71st Street
Honoree: Ponsie B. Hillman (1918-2008) was a retired teacher and former Assistant Treasurer of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). In 1963, she received a Teacher of the Year award for her work in educating African-American children who were denied access to schools due to desegregation efforts. During her tenure at the UFT, she served on the Executive Board; organized the AfroAmerican Heritage Committee; initiated the Asian-American Committee after an educational trip to Taiwan; and set up the UFT summer camp program. After her death, the Ponsie Barclay Hillman Precollege Scholarship was created to honor her as an educator, and as an advocate and a pioneer in the civil rights and labor movements. (Rosenthal)
LL:2017/110
Norman Rockwell Place
Present name: None
Location: At the intersection of 103rd Street and Broadway
Honoree: Norman Rockwell (1894-1878), an American illustrator and painter, was born at 206 West 103rd Street. He painted his first commission of four Christmas cards before his sixteenth birthday and was hired as art director of Boys? Life, the official publication of the Boy Scouts of America. In 1916, he painted his first cover for The Saturday Evening Post. Over the next 47 years, another 321 Rockwell paintings would appear on covers of the Post, mostly reflecting small-town American life. In 1943, inspired by President Franklin Roosevelt’s address to Congress, Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms paintings. They were reproduced in four consecutive issues of The Saturday Evening Post. His interpretations of Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear proved to be enormously popular. The works toured the United States in an exhibition that, through the sale of war bonds, raised more than $130 million for the war effort. During his 10-year association with Look magazine, he painted pictures illustrating some of his deepest concerns and interests, including civil rights, America’s war on poverty, and the exploration of space. In 1973, Rockwell established a trust to preserve his artistic legacy by placing his works in the custodianship of what is now the Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge, MA. (Levine)
LL:2016/23
Odessa Steward Street
Present name: None
Location: On the southwest corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 103rd Street
Honoree: Odessa Steward (d. 2010), a long-time resident of the Frederick Douglass Houses, was President of the 24th Precinct Community Council. She was also active in the Housing Tenant Patrol, the Tenants Association and the women’s softball league in Central Park.
LL:2011/47
P.O. Calabrese and P.O. Keegan Plaza
Present name: None
Location: At the southeast corner of 60th Street and Broadway
Honorees: Officer Seraphin Calabrese and Officer Joseph Keegan were both assigned to Transit District 1. Both were killed in the line of duty with their own guns in two separate incidents in the Columbus Circle subway station, while attempting to make arrests. (Brewer)
LL:2013/131
PCS Way
Present name: None
Location: Southwest corner of Columbus Avenue and West 60th Street and southeast corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 60th Street.
Honoree: The Professional Children's School (PCS) was founded in 1914 by reformers concerned about the education of the numerous children then working in theater and vaudeville, who often had to skip or drop out of school because of work. PCS, encompassing grades 6 through 12, currently provides an academic education to about 200 children training or working in theater, film, TV, dance, music and sports. Schedules are designed to accommodate training and performance commitments, including remote learning for students on tour. Among its many notable alumni are Marvin Hamlisch, Yo-Yo Ma, Milton Berle, Scarlett Johanssen, Sarah Jessica Parker, Christopher Walken and Rita Moreno. (Rosenthal)
LL:2015/15
Peter Jennings Way
Present name: West 66th Street
Location: Between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West
Honoree: Peter Jennings (b. 1938) was the chief anchor of ABC-TV's World News Tonight from 1983 until shortly before his death in 2005. Jennings also anchored the ABC evening news from 1965-67, which at the time made him the youngest network anchor in TV history.
LL:2005/131
Power Memorial Way
Present name: None
Location: At the intersection of West 61st Street and Amsterdam Avenue
Honoree: Power Memorial Academy, founded by the Irish Christian Brothers in 1931, occupied a building at 161 West 61st St., a former children’s hospital, from 1938 to 1984. Power Memorial Academy produced numerous star athletes, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Len Elmore and Chris Mullin.
LL:2009/92
PS 84 Sidney Morison Way
Present name: West 92nd Street
Location: Between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West
Honoree: Sidney Morison (1931-2009) joined the New York City School System in the 1950’s as a math teacher at J.H.S. 118. He later became a math coordinator and Deputy to the Superintendent for District 3, and then served as principal of PS 84 for 26 years.
LL:2011/03
Robert Woolis Way
Present name: Northeast side of West 95th Street
Location: Between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West
Honoree: Robert Woolis (1924-2006) was one of the original tenants at Columbus House and the longtime president of its Tenants Association. He also co-founded the Mitchell-Lama Residents’ Council with Congressman Charles Rangel and served as its co-chair for many years.
LL:2008/48
Sareve Dukat Avenue
Present name: West End Avenue
Location: Between West 85th Street and West 86th Street
Honoree: Sareve Dukat (b. 1948) worked for the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance at the World Trade Center. She was killed in the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001.
LL:2003/62
Sesame Street
Present name: None
Location: At the southeast corner of 63rd Street and Broadway
Honoree: Sesame Street debuted in 1969 and has been reaching and teaching children ever since. Sesame Workshop serves vulnerable children through a wide range of media, formal education and philanthropically funded social impact programs. This co-naming commemorates Sesame Street's 50th anniversary in 2019. Sesame Street's offices are at 1 Lincoln Plaza. (Rosenthal)
LL:2019/24
Thelonius Sphere Monk Circle
Present name: West 63rd Street
Location: From West End Avenue to the end of the cul de sac
Honoree: Thelonius Monk (1917-1982), a jazz pianist and composer, was born in North Carolina. In 1922 his family moved to New York. Largely self-taught, he played the piano from childhood. In his teens he was a church organist and led a gospel band. In his twenties he was the house pianist at Minton's Playhouse, where he met and performed with many of the leading jazz musicians of the era. In 1945 he made his first recording with Coleman Hawkins and in 1946 made his first recording with his own group for Blue Note Records. In 1947 his career halted when he lost his cabaret card. During this period he mostly composed and made a European Tour. After regaining his cabaret card in 1957, he played at the Five Spot Cafe, appeared on TV, and made a concert tour behind the Iron Curtain. His last two concerts were at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall. Monk composed about 70 songs and made hundreds of recordings. (Council minutes in Supplement to City Record, Nov 10, 1983 p. CC10; Wikipedia).
LL:1983/25
Victor Wald Way
Present name: West 81st Street
Location: Between Broadway and West End Avenue
Honoree: Victor Wald (b. 1951) worked at Avalon Partners in the World Trade Center. He was killed in the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001.
LL:2003/15