Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn Officially Opened Today, May 3
Almost a year has gone by since MCA of the Beastie Boys passed away, and now New York City has honored the rapper by renaming Palmetto Playground after Adam Yauch in his home borough of Brooklyn.
Ad-Rock was at the ceremony and offered a very touching tribute to his bandmate who passed away from throat cancer at 47 last year. He joked (via Gothamist), "It's fitting we're here today to dedicate a playground to Adam Yauch, because like the Wu Tang clan, Beastie Boys is for the children." Ha! We're sure if you told the notoriously hard-partying Beastie Boys in the '80s a park in Brooklyn would be named after one of them, they would have looked at you like a crazy person, but here we are today...
Ad-Rock continued, "In life you don't get to choose your family... I got lucky because I got two great sisters and two great brothers. And I got extra lucky because around 1982 I got the chance to choose two other brothers, Mike Diamond and Adam Yauch. I'd like to thank the Parks Department and the people of Brooklyn for honoring my friend and brother, and recognizing how cool it is to have an Adam Yauch Park for other crazy New York kids."
MCA's mother, Frances Yauch, told the crowd her son Adam had learned to ride a bike in the park and often played basketball there as a youth. She said (via USA Today), "All the kids he knew in the '80s had bands; that's what kids did. Adam made us so proud of him, and I'm proud to have this park in his name." We can imagine this is a bittersweet moment for MCA's mother, who is proud of her son, but is probably still reeling from his
The third member of the Beastie Boys, Mike Diamond, was markedly absent from the ceremony. There's still no word on why he missed out on the celebration.
Watch Adam Horovitz Speak at the Ceremony
Watch Adam Yauch's Mother Speak at the Ceremony