The small Sri Sri Radha-Govinda Deities in New York were the first Radha-Krishna Deities to be installed in America. In April 1968, Srila Prabhupada performed the ceremony at 26 Second Avenue.

New York will always occupy a special place in history because there the holy names of Krishna were first publicly heard and chanted in America. It was concerning events like this that A. L. Bashan, the prominent Indologist, said that the Hare Krishna movement "is historically very significiant, because now for the first time since the days of the Roman Empire an Asian religion is being practiced by people of Western origin in the streets of Western cities."