Movement to Name Street After George Carlin Gains Momentum
MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS — The comedian who railed against the establishment could now be honored with his own street.
Close to 3,000 people have signed an online petition asking Community Board 9 and the City Council to name the 500 block of West 121st Street after George Carlin, the ground-breaking performer who shocked audiences with a routine about seven dirty words that can’t be uttered aloud on television.
Carlin was arrested decades ago for performing the routine after the U.S. Supreme Court deemed it “indecent.”
Carlin, who died in 2008 at age 71, lived and went to school on the Morningside Heights block between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. He drew from his experiences there for his bits, said Kevin Bartini, the stand-up comic who started the street-naming movement earlier this summer.
“I can’t imagine what Carlin would have been without growing up in Morningside Heights,” said Bartini. “The melting pot of different cultures — the black section of Harlem with the Spanish section and the Jewish people — he seemed to absorb their cultures and their sound, and that came out on his first two albums.”
On the 1973 album “Occupation Foole,” Carlin said he and his friends called their neighborhood “White Harlem” because it sounded tougher than Morningside Heights.
Bartini, 32, who warms up audiences for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” said he’s been overwhelmed with positive responses about the street naming. Bartini lives nearby, on West 113th Street and Manhattan Avenue, and spent several weekends this summer collecting paper-and-ink signatures.
The campaign picked up momentum when it went online, garnering 2,500 signatures within a day. Bartini said he first sought permission from Carlin’s daughter, who gave the idea her blessing.
Community Board 9 officials couldn’t be reached for comment immediately on Thursday.
Community Board 9 District Manager Eutha Prince told the New York Post she’d never heard of Carlin, but if locals could make a compelling case for naming a street after him, the block could be christened in “the next 12 to 18 months.”
Bartini said even people who may not be fans of Carlin’s politics or his views on religion — he thought it was “bulls–t” — could find a reason to support honoring him.
“He was an amazing presence over the last century,” Barini said. “He was a champion of the First Amendment, a lover of the English language and a lover of New York City. He was a revolutionary who changed the way we thought.”