Martial arts legend Bruce Lee and his son Brandon are both buried right here in Seattle.
A new push to honor their memories with a museum is gaining steam.
Bruce Lee went to school here, opened a martial arts school here, and considered Seattle to be his hometown.
City councilman Bruce Harrell is holding a fundraiser with Bruce Lee’s daughter Shannon this Friday as part of a capital campaign to raise $10 million dollars.
The fundraiser is this Friday at the Imperial Garden restaurant.
Harrell is also working with the city`s Office of Economic Development and its office of Arts & Cultural Affairs to try and make the project a reality.
The Bruce Lee Action Museum would include a place where people could do martial arts, as well as a theater, gift store and research library.
According to information on the Bruce Lee Foundation website, in the early 1960s, Bruce moved to Seattle where a family friend, Ruby Chow, had a restaurant and had promised Bruce a job and living quarters above the restaurant. He enrolled at Edison Technical School and later the University of Washington where he majored in philosophy and met his future wife.
It has long been the dream of the Bruce Lee Foundation to build a Bruce Lee Museum. We see this home, this museum, not as a martial arts history museum or a Bruce Lee memorabilia museum but as a place that encompasses and expresses the totality of Bruce Lee’s legacy – Action! – dynamic movement, active personal expression, self actualization, the breaking of barriers! Bruce Lee was a dynamic action star and screen presence, an innovative thinker, a person who broke boundaries of race, culture, and tradition, an innovative family man, and now, a global icon. He accomplished these things by being passionate, directed and enthusiastic. He was actively dynamic in his expression of his very self and it translated across cultures and time and is the feeling that awakens within all of us when we see him move and when we listen to him speak.
My father said, “Success comes to those who become success-conscious. If you don’t aim at an object, how the heck on earth do you think you can get it?” And so, in 2008, the BLF unveiled its initial plans for the museum. (See News and Photo Galleries) Action takes on a whole new meaning inside its doors. The idea behind BLAM is to look at the notion of “taking action” as the catalyst for change and growth using Bruce Lee and his legacy as the vehicle for this. The museum will contain exhibits ranging from movie memorabilia to training equipment to writings and photographs to personal memorabilia. The museum will house a permanent exhibition space, a gallery for visiting exhibitions, a store, a theater, a meditation space, an outdoor training area, a research library, and a cafe. The intention behind the exhibits is to express the theme that our actions manifest our dreams with hard work and perseverance.
There is so much to be gained from a true understanding of Bruce Lee, the complete man. He is an inspiration and a motivational icon for so many people the world over. His battles against prejudice, his philosophy of self expression, his martial art contributions, his desire to teach and share, his undaunted drive, his excellent physical conditioning, his undeniable charm and charisma, all have left an indelible mark on history that has stood the test of time. It is a true testament to what one person with focus, perseverance, and passion can accomplish. It begs for us to get the lesson and pass it on. Bruce Lee’s example speaks of what a life governed by simplicity, directness, flow, and living in the moment can manifest.
We hope you will help us in realizing the dream of keeping Bruce Lee’s legacy alive and flourishing so that it may continue to positively influence and inspire the world through our organization, the Bruce Lee Foundation and the realization of the Bruce Lee Action Museum.
Coming Soon – www.bruceleeactionmuseum.com!!
sources: myfoxspokane.com