The transcript below is from the video “First Look Inside Bruce Lee’s Former Dojo | Plus his Memorial Statue and a Visit to his Former Home” by SCOTT ON TAPE – Your Pop Culture Tour Guide.
SCOTT ON TAPE – Your Pop Culture Tour Guide:
Los Angeles, California
What’s going on everybody? How are you doing today? Here I am in Chinatown in Los Angeles, California. Hope you’re doing well. I’m doing a video today on Bruce Lee. I watched Enter the Dragon probably over 400 times [inaudible] . We watched 3 movies; Aladdin in the morning, [inaudible] in the afternoon and Enter the Dragon at night. So literally, I’ve seen this movie a lot. I’m very excited as you could tell. I get very excited about certain things and Bruce Lee is one of them. Now, right here is his former dojo. It’s now reopened. I don’t know if it’s open right now but this is where it is. I’m very excited. I’m going to take a look and here is the dojo, right here, yeah. Very very cool. And it’s reopened.
SCOTT ON TAPE – Your Pop Culture Tour Guide:
So it was closed for 50 years and barely reopened into dojo but it’s now a shared artists base where there is an artist collective, where there are a bunch of different owners of businesses, artwork, clothing, and more work on their products. So it’s no longer a dojo but it still kind of looks like a dojo inside. Do you want to go inside? Yeah? Okay, let’s go inside.
Bruce Lee owned and operated this studio from 1967 till 1969 and there were various businesses for quite a while and then, remained vacant for 18 years. Now, in November of 2018, Eric Carr, who was a student of Jerry Poteet, one of Bruce Lee’s main students reopened this studio for once a month classes. I’m not quite sure if that’s still happening. And here are some pictures of Bruce Lee in that studio. The second picture right here, that’s opening day and that’s Bruce Lee there in the back in the black.
SCOTT ON TAPE – Your Pop Culture Tour Guide:
Right there, that’s it, that’s 628 College Street here in Chinatown. That’s where Bruce Lee taught Jeet Kune Do right in there, which is crazy. I am shocked, I thought it was still a dojo. It’s not but it’s right here. We were inside, you and me. Now, we’re going to see something else really really really cool about Bruce Lee that’s just around the corner. And then, we’re going somewhere really cool about Bruce Lee. Alright. I don’t want to leave, you know, when I come to a place like this with so much history, I don’t want to leave but time is of the essence and we must go. Let’s go.
SCOTT ON TAPE – Your Pop Culture Tour Guide:
If you are at Bruce Lee’s dojo, you just got to walk down College street to Hill street, make a lapse and I believe the statue should be, I’ve actually never seen it before, but I know it’s right in the heart in, and you enter off of Broadway. I should be able to get there through this entranceway on Hill Street. Although I over shot by [inaudible]. I have to cross through without the light. But that is what I’ll do. We’re gonna run together. We’re running and we ran. This is really cool. The statue should be right down here, I think. It’s going to do this in real time. Let’s see where it is. Pretty cool. Where’s the statue? Okay, it should be down, probably down this way. And they shot a scene from Pretty in Pink in here. The statue should be right around here somewhere. And there we are. The statue right there. Beautiful. Beautiful Chinatown and this is just right at the entrance where, I believe this is called the Sun Mun Way, I think.
SCOTT ON TAPE – Your Pop Culture Tour Guide:
At the pedestrian intersection of Sun Mun Way and Jung Jing Road.
Wow! Look at that. And it reads: Bruce Lee Statue Project is a community initiative aimed at celebrating the life and legacy of Bruce Lee through the placement of a statue in Los Angeles Chinatown. Bruce Lee’s contributions to martial arts and action films were truly innovative. More importantly, however, Bruce Lee was an Asian American pioneer who changed our cultural landscape by breaking down racial barriers and creating a personal philosophy that continues to inspire millions of people the world over. And that’s so true because I get asked about Bruce Lee [inaudible] all the time, from all ages, all sorts of people all over the world, write in the comments or my live chats asking about Bruce Lee. And I’ve been to his grave which is humbling, that’s on my channel. And this is crazy, I’ve driven along here, this blocks it so I’ve never actually seen it. Here we are.
SCOTT ON TAPE – Your Pop Culture Tour Guide:
I think everybody knows a little bit about Bruce Lee, I’m going to give a brief about him right now. He was born in San Francisco, but he grew up in Hong Kong. He was introduced to the entertainment industry at an early age, as his father was an opera singer and part-time actor. The younger Lee began appearing in films as a child and was frequently cast as a juvenile delinquent or street urchin. As a teenager, he took up with local gangs and began learning Kung Fu to better defend himself. At that time, he also started dance lessons, which further refined his footwork and balance; in 1958 Bruce Lee won the Hong Kong cha-cha championship.
SCOTT ON TAPE – Your Pop Culture Tour Guide:
Bruce Lee’s parents were increasingly disturbed by his street fighting and run-ins with the police, so they sent him to live in the United States with family and friends in Seattle shortly after he turned 18. It was here where he finished high school and studied philosophy and drama at the University of Washington. While in Seattle, he opened his first martial arts school, and in 1964 he relocated to Oakland, California, to found a second school. It was about that time that he developed his own technique – Jeet Kune Do, a blend of ancient Kung Fu, Fencing, Boxing, and philosophy, which he began teaching instead of traditional martial arts. He drew the attention of a television producer after giving a Kung Fu demonstration at a Los Angeles-area Karate tournament, and he was cast as the sidekick Kato in the television series The Green Hornet.
SCOTT ON TAPE – Your Pop Culture Tour Guide:
Lee had difficulty finding acting jobs after the cancellation of The Green Hornet, and he began supplementing his income by giving private Jeet Kune Do lessons to Hollywood stars, including Steve McQueen. In the 1969 film Marlowe, Lee received notice for a scene in which he destroyed an entire office through Kickboxing and Karate moves. Troubled by his inability to find other suitable roles, however, he moved back to Hong Kong in 1971. There, Bruce Lee starred in two films that broke box-office records throughout Asia, and he later found success in the United States with Tang shan da xiong (Fists of Fury or The Big Boss) and then The Chinese Connection (also known as Fist of Fury) that was the Hong Kong English title.
SCOTT ON TAPE – Your Pop Culture Tour Guide:
Then Bruce used his sudden box-office clout to form his own production company, and he co produced, directed, wrote, and starred in his next film, Return of the Dragon. Lee’s following film, Enter the Dragon, was the first joint venture between Hong Kong and U.S.-based production companies, and it became a worldwide hit, thrusting Lee into international movie stardom. Tragically, he died 6 days before the film’s Hong Kong release. The mysterious circumstances of his death were a source of speculation for fans and historians, but the cause of death was officially listed as swelling of the brain caused by an allergic reaction to a headache medication. At the time, Lee had been working on a film called Game of Death, which was pieced together with stand-ins and cardboard cutouts of Lee’s face and was released in 1978.
SCOTT ON TAPE – Your Pop Culture Tour Guide:
I should mention that there is a pretty fierce photo of Michael Jackson with Bruce Lee. It’s not real, it’s photoshopped. Bruce Lee died in 1973 and Michael Jackson was 15 in 1973 and he didn’t look quite the same. Here is the original picture with Christie Brinkley.
SCOTT ON TAPE – Your Pop Culture Tour Guide:
It’s incredible! It’s just wild. Really cool. Alright, we’re going somewhere else and we leave Bruce Lee. Alright, we’re going somewhere else and we leave Bruce Lee right now. Here it is. Here is the Bruce Lee statue in Chinatown in Los Angeles. Before we leave Chinatown, I just thought you should see this. It’s just absolutely beautiful. Wow!
SCOTT ON TAPE – Your Pop Culture Tour Guide:
Culver City, California
Alright, so right now we’re walking through a house that was owned by Bruce Lee from about 1967 and 1968. Big shout-out to Sean from all over Los Angeles. You’ve seen him in my videos before and see him some more. This is Bruce Lee’s former house right here. He owned this house when he opened the dojo I believe all over to Chinatown. And yeah, this is really cool to see. And they lined up a couple of shots with the background right here. He was doing like a workout in the front lawn and something he was doing with his medicine ball. He was doing his workout right here. That’s his house right there. This was Bruce Lee’s house. Isn’t that crazy? And if you turn right around here, that’s the famous lawn with the brick wall in the background. He was right there. I’ll insert a shot of Sean when he posed on that lawn right now.
SCOTT ON TAPE – Your Pop Culture Tour Guide:
You should follow allaboutlosangeles.com, on Instagram and his website. Lot’s of cool stuff. But there you go, that’s Bruce Lee’s house. One of them. So this tiny little street right on Culver City where Bruce Lee used to drive up and down, I’m assuming.
These two photos of Bruce Lee were not necessarily taken on this street. Just think they’re cool.
Look at that. Welcome home. Someone’s coming home at that house. It’s a nice house, green area. That’s my video about Bruce Lee. Alright, thanks for watching. Bruce Lee, rest in peace. Brandon Lee, of course, rest in peace as well. And all of you, thanks for watching. Peace. Out
