OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — Legendary martial artist and filmmaker Bruce Lee was honored in Oakland on Monday by local leaders and the community with a commemorative street renaming.
In the 1960s, San Francisco native Bruce Lee opened and operated a martial arts school at Garnet Street & Broadway in Oakland. On Monday, the intersection is now known as Bruce Lee Way.
Lee’s daughter Shannon said the town and her father were a perfect fit before he became an international superstar. “Oakland was chosen because Oakland was where his peers were and where that open mind was,” Shannon said.
“As we rename this street in honor of Bruce Lee today, we also pay tribute to the values that he stood for. That is what martial arts does,” said Oakland’s District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife.
Lee’s former martial arts school is no longer in the area, but the impact it left behind remains as strong as the man who co-founded it.
Councilmember-at-large Rebecca Kaplan, who spearheaded the effort for the honor, said Lee “role modeled a strength and determination that shined forth and helped change that perception and that stereotype of Asian Americans.”
Darren Murata of the Oakland Asian Cultural Center added, “while Bruce is best known as a martial artist and a movie star, he was also a writer, a philosophy and a poet. He was a true artist.”
Bruce Lee’s widow, daughter and granddaughter were on hand at the ceremony.
OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — Legendary martial artist and filmmaker Bruce Lee was honored in Oakland on Monday by local leaders and the community with a commemorative street renaming. In the 1960s, San Francisco native Bruce Lee opened and operated a martial arts school at Garnet Street & Broadway in Oakland. On Monday, the intersection is now […]
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