Cemeteries of Seattle

Seattle’s most famous three grave sites are where Bruce and Brandon Lee, Kurt Cobain, and Jimi Hendrix are memorialized.

Bruce and Brandon Lee are buried at Lake View Cemetery on top of Capital Hill in Seattle. Martial-arts film star Bruce Lee died at the age of 32 from a cerebral hemorrhage. His son Brandon Lee died at the age of 28 after being shot by an improperly loaded gun while filming the movie The Crow.

Kurt Cobain is not yet buried, but his unofficial memorial benches are in Viretta Park in Seattle. Cobain was the lead singer of the Seattle grunge band Nirvana. On April 5, 1994, he committed suicide.

Jimi Hendrix is buried at Evergreen Memorial Park in Renton. The electric guitar player extraordinaire died before his time at the young age of 27. The left-handed Hendrix taught himself how to play a right-handed guitar as a young boy. In 1966, he formed his first band in London, called the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Their first single, “Hey Joe,” quickly went to the top 10 in the United Kingdom. Other famous hits were “The Wind Cries Mary” and “Purple Haze.” In June 1967, Hendrix pounded, smashed, and burned his guitar before an audience of 50,000 at the Monterey Pop Festival in California. He later released more songs, including “Up From the Skies” and “Axis: Bold as Love.” One of his most memorable performances was his version of “The Star Spangled Banner” at the Woodstock festival in New York.

BRUCE AND BRANDON LEE MEMORIAL BENCH. Lake View Cemetery, just north of Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill at 1554 Fifteenth Avenue East in Seattle, serves as the final resting place for Bruce Lee (1940–1973). He is buried under the red-granite monument, inserted with a Hong Kong–made ceramic picture. His beloved son Brandon (1965–1993) is buried under the black-granite monument. On the memorial bench is this inscription: “Husband and Father, Son and Brother. You are always with us—Linda and Shannon.” Stop at Lake View Cemetery office located across from the cemetery to pick up a map to locate the Lee monuments. If the office is closed and the cemetery gates are open, then you may proceed on the road toward the top of the hill. Look for a large red-marble gravestone marker beside a similarly sized black marble gravestone marker adjacent the road towards the front of the hill.

BRUCE AND BRANDON LEE MONUMENTS. The graves of Bruce and Brandon Lee, located side by side on the central hill, attract mourners from around the world. People inspired by the teachings of Jeet Kung Do or the Lee family legend are continually adorning the graves with offerings of flowers and coins. Bruce’s grave site marker has this inscription: “Because we don’t know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens a certain number of times and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that’s so deeply a part of your being that you can’t even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more. Perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems so limitless. For Brandon and Eliza / Ever Joined in True Love’s Beauty.” (Courtesy Cherian Thomas Photography, Lot 276.)

VIRETTA PARK. At the foot of East John Street at 39th Avenue East, down to Lake Washington Boulevard is the 1.8-acre Viretta Park, named after C. L. Denny’s wife, Viretta Jackson Denny, a relative of Pres. Andrew Jackson.

KURT COBAIN’S MEMORIAL BENCHES. Viretta Park has two benches that are covered by graffiti and memorabilia to Nirvana rock star Kurt Cobain (1967–1994). The park is located between the former homes of Kurt Cobain to the south and Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz to the north.

CHRIS NOVOSELIC VISITS MEMORIAL BENCH. On Holy Saturday 2007, a very special visitor paid his respects at Cobain’s memorial bench. While cyclists and motorists drove past seemingly undisturbed, Nirvana band member Krist Novoselic, dressed in a dark pinstriped suit, descended from a path just behind the memorial bench. He left behind a dozen white roses and a card. With his head bowed, Novoselic stood motionless for a few moments before disappearing up the same path he came down. Author Robin Shannon happened to catch this private moment.

FOREVER IN DEBT. This is a close-up of the card left by Krist Novoselic. Quoting from the Nirvana song “Heart-Shaped Box,” the card says, “Forever in debt to your priceless advice / Love, Holy Saturday 2007.”

KURT COBAIN’S MEMORIAL BENCHES. These photographs show Cobain’s memorial benches in Viretta Park. Thousands of adoring fans have visited the park since the fateful day of Cobain’s death. From around the world, fans come to visit and leave flowers or light candles on the benches in the park next to the home where Cobain took his life. (Courtesy Cherian Thomas Photography.)

PHOTOGRAPHER CHERIAN THOMAS PONDERS COBAIN. On the day before Easter in 2007, photographer Cherian Thomas, from Toronto, Canada, muses that, “by looking at the bench, I understand from the names of Cobain’s fans just how varied his fan base is. The names span from North American names to the Far East. His music and lyrics continue to validate Nirvana’s popularity even today.”

CLOSE-UP OF MEMORIAL BENCH. Fans often carve messages into Cobain’s memorial bench, such as this lyric from one of his songs: “Forever in debt to your priceless advice.”

JIMI HENDRIX MEMORIAL. Every year on his birthday, November 27, hundreds of fans from around the world come to the memorial to celebrate Jimi Hendrix. In 1968, Hendrix said, “It’s funny the way most people love the dead. Once you are dead, you are made for life.” (Courtesy Cherian Thomas Photography.)

JIMI HENDRIX SIGNATURE. Guitar legend Jimi Hendrix was born Johnny Allen Hendrix in Seattle on November 27, 1942. His father, Al Hendrix, later changed his son’s name to James Marshall Hendrix. Jimi Hendrix died in London on September 18, 1970, and his death certificate reads as follows: “Inhalation of vomit; barbiturate intoxication (quinalbarbitone); insufficient evidence of circumstances; open verdict.” He was buried on October 1, 1970, at Greenwood Cemetery in Renton, Washington. (Courtesy Cherian Thomas Photography.)

JIMI HENDRIX MEMORIAL. Robin Shannon is pictured above visiting Hendrix’s grave in 2007. On October 6, 1999, Jimi’s father, Al Hendrix, wrote to the fans, “A resting-place for a loved one is almost always a private issue dealt with quietly by family members. However, I have always understood that Jimi in some way belongs to his fans and the world.” In 1999, Al Hendrix and his daughter Janie Hendrix commissioned architect Mark Barthelemy to design the huge memorial. Incorporated into the design are themes from Hendrix’s music, his beliefs, and involvement with family members. The close-up below shows flowers atop an engraved stone that expresses the sentiment of many fans: “Forever in Our Hearts.” (Both images courtesy Cherian Thomas Photography.)