Eddie Van Halen got his own tribute in the New York City system, according to Brooklyn Vegan. Renowned street artist Adrian Wilson, revamped the idea he used for the late-Ruth Bader Ginsburg, by changing the wall sign at Brooklyn's Van Siclen Ave. station on the A/C line to read “Van Halen Ave.”
Wilson posted a shot of his unique street tribute on Instagram, writing:
Come on people!
I even explained on TV how this works and how easy it is.
A famous person dies, look up the name of a subway stop and put a sticker over it to memorialize the person.
It's that easy!
I left it 4 days for someone else to head to Brooklyn and take the credit but nobody stepped up, so ok, I guess I've got to do it myself… you're welcome.
Although Eddie Van Halen was as died-in-the-wool Southern California as it comes — some of his closest friends and musical alliances were on the East Coast. Mountain leader — and native Long Islander — Leslie West revealed to us a while back that his connection with Eddie was as quick as it was strong: “BTO opened for them on one tour, and I'm not stupid. I called — what's his name — Randy Bachman. I said, 'Y'know'– they (had) just recorded 'Mississippi Queen,' Bachman-Turner — I said, 'I'll come out for free. Just let me play with you.' He said, 'Well, we're opening for Van Halen.' I said, 'Oh, really?' I knew they were, and that's when I started really becoming friends with Eddie. And every night in the hotel, we'd sit there and play. He'd play my (Les Paul) Junior, I'd play his guitar. We had great times, man.”
