Petition For Elliott Smith Memorial
by Lesley Barger | 00.00.0000

Since the death of beloved singer/songwriter Elliott Smith, fans have been searching for different ways to mourn and remember the man and his music. The citizens of Los Angeles have gone one step beyond candles and tribute albums and have begun a petition to set aside a section of Echo Park, the area of East Los Angeles where Smith primarily lived and worked, and rename it in his honor, to set aside a certain amount of funding to develop and maintain some sort of memorial to the man and his music.

Well, why don’t we let the petition speak for itself. After an annoying number of “Whereas” statements, the petition to “Honor the Memory of Songwriter Elliott Smith” concludes:

“We the undersigned hereby petition the Mayor of Los Angeles and all members of the Los Angeles City Council to honor the memory of Elliott Smith by way of the following:

1. Renaming and the setting aside of a section of Echo Park in his honor, with appropriate funding to maintain and develop said section to properly memorialize and pay tribute to him.
2. Renaming a thoroughfare in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles in his honor, with funding sufficient to create appropriate signage changes, where needed.
3. Any other fitting tributes to his name, where appropriate.”

This kind of memorializing is not too far fetched, since the dedication ceremony for renaming a New York street corner after legendary rocker Joey Ramone took place earlier this month. And we’re just talking Echo Park here, not NYC. I don’t think the guys at the Rodeo Mexican Grill and the Tortilla factory across the alley will make too much fuss about the whole thing.

The speaker repair store store, Solutions! in Silverlake, CA has been a makeshift Elliott Smith shrine since his death, with candles, photos, letters and flowers covering the Sunset Blvd. sidewalk in front of the building.

The petition is linked from the news section of the Saddle Creek records site, showing the Omaha label’s ongoing support of their fellow musician and friend. Over 2000 signatures are already attached to the petition, but it will be up to the Man to decide whether or not the memory of Elliott Smith will live on in our ears, our hearts or in the Thomas Bros. Guide.