Bill Graham’s Way (Manhattan)
Present name:Second Avenue
Location:Between 6th Street and 7th Street
Honoree: Bill Graham (1931-1991) founded and operated two of rock music's most celebrated venues, the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco and the Fillmore East in New York. Born in Berlin in 1931, he was among a group of children evacuated to the United States to escape the Holocaust. A decorated veteran of the Korean War, he settled in San Francisco where, in 1965, he became manager of the San Francisco Mime Troupe. This led to a career organizing benefit concerts on behalf of such causes as African Famine Relief, the United Farm Workers, and Amnesty International. The Fillmore East, originally a Yiddish Theatre and later a movie house, stood at 105 Second Avenue. Under Graham's management it was a major rock venue from March 1968 to June 1971.
LL:1994/46