Recently I took care of some unfinished business. I visited the grave of Bruce Lee.
It seems there is an internet rumor floating around that a cat named Lucy guards the grave. http://www.globalhonk.com/mysteries/hbrucelee.html According to the Web site, Lucy does not like visitors touching the headstone.
So armed with a digital camera, coins, flowers and good intentions, I visited the grave-site which is located in the Lakeview Cemetery in Seattle.
The location is beautiful. There is a granite bench in front of the grave site where Bruce is interred next to his son Brandon. The inscription on the bench reads, "The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering."
I could not find any evidence of a cat anywhere near the area. No cat fur, no muddy paw prints and sadly no cat. I really wanted to find a cat looking over the grave. It would make for a great story, but I found no evidence that the other Web site is anything more than a clever photochop.
I sat for a while taking in the scene. I spent a number of years in Asian American theatre group and the influence of this one man permeates so much of how Chinese are perceived in entertainment. Before Bruce Lee, Chinese were always seen as racist stereotypes such as coolies or some guy with a heavy accent and a Fu Manchu. Even worse, sometimes they were portrayed by white actors. Not a single movie featuring Charley Chan had someone of Chinese decent playing the lead character.
After Bruce Lee, all that changed.
OK, so there are still more characters that are aliens on TV than Asians. And Kung-Fu did star a white guy (the role was supposed to go to Bruce), but he was the guy that broke a lot of molds and taboos and there is no telling where he would be today if he did not pass away at such a young age.
If you are interested in visiting the final resting place of Bruce and Brandon Lee, you can find Lakeview Cemetery on 15th Ave on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Head through the main entrance to the top of the hill to a white flag pole. The grave site is just to the left of the pole looking towards Lake Washington.
