Playground Named for a Beastie Boy

Robert Stolarik for The New York Times A crowd of family and fans gathered in Brooklyn Heights on Friday morning for the dedication ceremony of Adam Yauch Park.

“The name’s MCA - made in Downtown Brooklyn,” Adam Yauch sings on “Oh Word?,” the eighth track on the Beastie Boys’ 2004 album “To the 5 Boroughs.’’

Before he was a world-famous rapper, film director and activist for Tibetan independence, Mr. Yauch hung out and learned to ride a bike at Palmetto Playground in Brooklyn Heights, down the block from his childhood home, where the Beastie Boys used to rehearse on the top floor.

Now, that playground, at Columbia Place and State Street, has been renamed “Adam Yauch Park” in commemoration of Mr. Yauch’s many accomplishments, as well as his lifelong devotion to New York in general and to Brooklyn in particular.

“I can think of no greater honor for someone whose reach was so global to be memorialized on the playground where he grew up,” City Councilman Stephen Levin, who represents the neighborhood, said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday.

Mr. Yauch (pronounced YOWK) died a year ago of cancer at age 47, and his death was mourned by fans the world over. As a member of the Beastie Boys, who are enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Mr. Yauch was among the most influential of hip-hop musicians.

“People told us, ‘We didn’t know your son was so famous,’” Frances Yauch, Mr. Yauch’s mother, said at the ceremony. “We didn’t know it either. We were so proud of the way Adam used his celebrity.”

The ceremony was filled with Mr. Yauch’s family, friends and fans, who cheered loudly when a sign reading “Adam Yauch Park” was unveiled. Among the speakers were John Silva, the longtime Beastie Boys manager, and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz, Mr. Yauch’s bandmate of nearly 30 years.

Mr. Horovitz gave a short, heartfelt speech marked by nervousness and humor, describing Mr. Yauch as a “New York kid” with “just enough crazy” to go with his creativity and kindness. In contrast to the suits worn by city officials, Mr. Horovitz’s choice of dress stayed true to Beastie Boys style: jeans, a T-shirt and plastic sunglasses with pink temples.

A speech by Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn borough president, was especially animated. He began by saluting the people and borough of Brooklyn, as he usually does, and congratulating the Nets basketball team on its victory on Thursday night, at which point Mr. Horovitz, a Knicks fan, shook his head in apparent disapproval. But Mr. Markowitz perhaps redeemed himself with a remix of the Beastie Boys’ “An Open Letter to NYC.” He rapped gems like, “On the L, we’re doing swell / On the G, the place to be,” as the crowd laughed.

“Rap started in the Bronx,” Mr. Markowitz said. “But it took Brooklyn to refine it and bring it to the world.”