It’s a holiday miracle! Readers will likely recall that we reported on a temporary naming of a street after Jack Kirby as a promotional event for the Fantastic Four movie. Later we reported on how a decade of efforts to get the intersection of Essex and Delancey streets on the Lower East Side (near Kirby’s birthplace on Essex Street) named after Kirby had been thwarted By New York City regulations. Over the last few months a new, more politically savvy campaign has been launched, spearheaded by Columbia University’s Karen Green and Roy Schwartz, a comics historian, board member of the American Jewish Historical Society. At the time it appeared to be making progress. Sure enough, this week during Hanukah and before Christmas, the New York City Council approved the co-naming of a street “Jack Kirby Way.”
With vast majority of people already in holiday mode at this point, Schwartz took to Instagram to announce the phenomenal news:
The press is dragging their feet, so I’m breaking the news! I’m delighted to report that yesterday the NYC city council voted JACK KIRBY WAY into law!
It’s been a long journey, with many, many forms & permits, a petition drive, LES community board presentation and vote, NYC transpiration committee presentation and vote, district council member approval, and other hurdles along the way.
But it’s now approved. Henceforth, Essex St. btwn. Delancey & Rivington Sts. on NYC’s Lowe East Side, where Jack Kirby was born and raised, will be co-named in perpetuity Jack Kirby Way!
A street sign unveiling ceremony will takes place in the near future, likely in the spring. Stay tuned for more news.
Best holiday gift ever!
The monumental impact of Jack “The King” Kirby on not just the comic book industry but culture at large is the stuff at legends at this point. Back in October when we first reported on the efforts, it was right before the NYC mayoral election when young socialist Zohran Mamdani seemed poised to win. Sure enough, the young underdog won, a victory that marked a decided turn from last year. We contemplated that approval of Jack Kirby way would more likely be approved with a social media savvy politician like Mamdani as mayor. Whether or not there’s any correlation, it’s definitely been a great holiday season for New Yorkers!
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