Photo by Ed Cheng
We’re throwing a party to unveil the new “Corky Lee Way” 李揚國路 street sign at Mott St & Mosco St where Corky last exhibited his photographs in the beloved corner newsstand! After the official unveiling ceremony, join the Corky Lee Way Committee, Think!Chinatown, 21Pell and Corky’s family, friends and fans for an afternoon of community joy. Dance to music Corky loved at a Block Party on Mosco St with YiuYiu 瑶瑶 (Chinatown Records 華埠錄音), Les The DJ, and Judo Club. Enjoy screenings of excerpts from “Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story” and other films to honor our dearly missed friend Corky Lee at 21Pell - the film & performance series Corky pioneered at this historic sanctuary. Share your Corkypedia-isms, pose with a replica of the “Corky Lee Way” sign, pick up a commemorative sticker, and honor and remember the unforgettable Corky Lee.
This is a block party for the whole family! Let us know you’re coming ~ rain or shine! Meet you at the box 💃🕺
Sponsored by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and NYC Dept of Cultural Affairs with support from NYC Dept of Small Businesses. Thank you to our community safety partner, Nonviolent Peaceforce. Thank you to the generous support of the Hirose family.
YiuYiu 瑶瑶 (aka Rochelle Hoi-Yiu Kwan) is a cultural organizer, oral history educator, and DJ based on Lenape land in NYC's Manhattan Chinatown. She takes on her childhood name YiuYiu 瑶瑶 as an artist and DJ for Chinatown Records, a community effort to celebrate the richness of music and history that comes with inherited family record collections. Alongside her family and neighbors, YiuYiu 瑶瑶 produces Chinatown block parties, sonic family histories, and listening sessions to foster intergenerational dancefloors and memories as powerful acts of resistance and resilience. @rochellehkwan
Chinatown Records is a homegrown community effort to celebrate the richness of music, memory, and history that comes with inherited family collections. From Chinatown block parties to sonic family histories to endless listening and research, Chinatown Records is an ever-growing record of the people we love who bring all this music back to life with us. @chinatownrecordsproject
Les The DJ a.k.a. Les Talusan is a DJ, whose musical practice immerses people in the joy of community-powered discovery. Born and raised in Manila, Philippines, and now based in Washington, DC for over 20 years, Les continues to find inspiration behind the decks in the U.S. and abroad. Fueled by their own story of resilience, liberation, and courage as an immigrant, parent and survivor, Les brings to the center the songs long cherished, remembered, and celebrated by people of the global diaspora. @LesTalusan
Judo Club is Billy Asai on electric guitar and electric bass, Richard Ebihara on acoustic guitar, Jun Suenaga on percussion and Perry Yung on bass and shakuhachi flute. They first met in March 2022 playing together at a memorial for their mutual friend Geoff Lee. Judo Club performs original heartfelt songs inspired by their history as Asian Americans. They tell their stories of triumph, sacrifice and love, strumming at the very core of what it is to be American. Their concerts are a foot tapping, love filled, musical celebration of those who helped in building and defending this country and community.
The Corky Lee Way Committee, founded in 2022, is composed of members from OCA (LI, NJ, NY, WHV chapters), Chinese Adoptee Alliance and Think!Chinatown. For more than a year and a half, the committee worked tirelessly to petition and advocate that Mosco Street, in Chinatown, be co-named Corky Lee Way. Together, we gathered more than 1,000 signatures from community members and supporters nationwide; more than 20 letters of support from community leaders and AAPI-centered organizations, and received support from Community Board 3, City Council, and Mayor Eric Adams. Corky Lee Way was passed in an omnibus street-conaming bill and was signed by the Mayor on July 23, 2023.