Brookyln Playground To Be Renamed After Adam 'MCA' Yauch Of The Beastie Boys

Adam Yauch, the late Beastie Boys member better known to the world as MCA, is set to have a Brooklyn playground renamed in his honor almost exactly one year after the rapper and musician’s death.

On Friday, fellow Beastie Boys members Michale “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Ad-Rock” will join New York City officials at Palmetto Playground in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood to officially rename the site “Adam Yauch Playground” in honor of the late musician. According to the New York Post, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Councilman Steve Levin and Parks Commissioner Veronica White are all expected to attend the ceremony.

The dedication of the Adam Yauch Playground comes as part of a grassroots effort by fans of the Beastie Boys to rename a New York City park after the beloved musician. From the beginning, fans focused their efforts on the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood where Yauch grew up as a child.

Originally, fans wanted to rename the nearby Squibb Park in Yauch’s honor, but Brooklyn Heights residents objected, saying that the name honors New York pharmaceutical producer Edward Robinson Squibb, who opened his first lab on the site of the park.

From there, fans concentrated on renaming Palmetto Park, on the basis that its name has very little connection to New York City. The park is named after the Cabbage Palmetto, the state tree of South Carolina.

“Adam Yauch Playground would be a much more fitting name since he actually hung out there, and it would be a great testament to a great leader and musician,” Councilman Steve Levin told the New York Post. Last May, Yauch succumbed to a years-long battle with cancer, only a few months following the release of the Beastie Boys' last album, "Hot Sauce Committee Part Two." Yauch was 47. Only weeks before his death, Yauch and his bandmates were formally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Beastie Boys publicly announced Yauch's cancer after it was diagnosed in 2009. While the group was planning the recording of "Hot Sauce Committee," Yauch's cancer forced the trio to shelve the project for some time and cancel several tour dates.