The State Of New York has pronounced 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, the Bronx birthplace of hip-hop where DJ Kool Herc once spun, a historic landmark. In the late-'70s, he would throw massive neighborhood parties, sometimes in parks or the community room of 1520 Sedgwick, where he would send snippets of reggae and funk records booming out of his unmatched sound system. One of Herc's greatest innovations was stringing together the breaks, or the most danceable parts, of different songs to keep a crowd on its feet all night. When the building closed for renovations in 2006, local organizers jumped into action and applied for the landmark status that would bring official recognition but also preserve the status quo. And even though rumors of the management selling the property to a private investor have been mulling among tenants in the last few months, the commemoration of the site's 70s heyday and its impact on history and culture comes with hope that it might help the building remain low-income housing. www.myspace.com/thefaterofhiphop
