FIFTH AVENUE AND 57TH STREET TEMPORARILY NAMED FOR BILL CUNNINGHAM

Colleagues from the fashion industry and other dignitaries gathered on the northeast corner of 57th Street and 5th Avenue today as it was temporarily named for Bill Cunningham, the legendary New York Times photographer who died on June 25 at the age of 87.

Cunningham, who was once designated a “Living Landmark,” was remembered for his “turning our sidewalks into runways and New Yorkers into models,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. His photographs were a staple of the New York Times “Sunday Styles” sections for decades.

As previously reported by MR, Cunningham began his career at WWD, later freelanced for such newspapers as The Daily News and The Chicago Tribune, and became a regular contributor to the Times in the 1970s, where he worked for the next five decades. He was also one of the founders of the magazine Details in 1982.

Custom clothier Domenico Spano, who attended the ceremony, said: “I felt like I lost my older brother. He was a friend for 35 years and I was among his most photographed subjects. I found out only recently that he was a very private man. With me, he was very outgoing. Our friendship was from the heart.”

The street name honor will last exactly one week, per New York City law, however, there is a petition circulating to make the designation permanent, a decision that can only be made by the New York City legislature. In addition, designer Jeffrey Banks, a longtime friend of Cunningham’s, is reportedly commissioning a statue or a plaque to be placed in his honor.