CHICAGO  — The late Bernie Mac is getting a special honor in Chicago.  Mac died on Aug. 9, 2008, at the age of 50.

Now, his legacy will be celebrated with an honorary street name. The block of West 69th Street where Mac grew up in the Englewood neighborhood will gain the additional name of “Bernie Mac Street.”

Mac was born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough in Chicago in 1957. He began his career as a comedian on the South Side in 1977, when he was just 19.