Date: March 8, 2024
To: Culver City Council
The City of Culver City
CULVER CITY STREET RENAMING IN HONOR OF FORMER CULVER CITY RESIDENT –
BRUCE LEE
Dear Council Members and Mayor,
The Asian World Film Festival (AWFF), in partnership with the Bruce Lee Foundation (BLF), are excited to propose a phenomenal opportunity for Culver City Council!
We kindly request the renaming of Van Buren Place to Bruce Lee Street or Bruce Lee Avenue or Bruce Lee Boulevard in honor of legendary, iconic actor, Bruce Lee.
We would also like to request turning the property at 4114 Van Buren Place, where Lee lived from 1967 - 1968, into a small museum, as a lasting tribute to one of the film world's most legendary icons.
We believe that the street renaming and museum would be of tremendous economic value to the City, and would publicly acknowledge and document Lee's importance to the film industry, Culver City and its community, ensuring that his legacy is shared for generations to come by residents and visitors alike.
We propose three options for consideration:
Option One (Our preferred option)
The renaming of Van Buren Place to Bruce Lee Street or Bruce Lee Avenue or Bruce Lee Boulevard and the opening of a small museum at property number 4114
Option Two
The renaming of Van Buren Place to Bruce Lee Street or Bruce Lee Avenue or Bruce Lee Boulevard, without the museum
Option Three
If Options One and Two are not feasible, we propose naming the small (currently unnamed) stretch of road at the southern end of Van Buren Place, which runs adjacent to the Culver Theater, Bruce Lee Alley.
In addition to the street naming above, we would also like to propose that a beautiful bronze sculpture/statue, designed by master sculptor Sir Daniel Winn and based on the Festival's Bruce Lee Award trophy, be displayed in Culver City Town Plaza, nearby to the proposed Bruce Lee Alley.
We fully understand the complexities involved with a potential street name change and the opening of a museum, and we are aware that our application does not fulfill all the strict criteria required.
However, we understand that Culver City Council can grant special consideration to waive/modify the current requirements for street name change, and to provide alternative direction.
Both the Asian World Film Festival and the Bruce Lee Foundation strongly believe that the renaming of Van Buren Place and the opening of a small museum would benefit Culver City tremendously in many ways, in particular through generating additional visitors to Culver City, which would result in increased revenues for surrounding businesses. In addition, Culver City has always been the historic heart of screenland and the implementation of any of the three project options would be in keeping with and raise the reputation and profile of the City.
Our research already proves that there is overwhelming support for this project from Culver City residents and surrounding businesses. Without exception, we have met with no opposition to the idea from the local community, and if the project is agreed by the Council, AWFF and BLF would initiate extensive advertising and publicity on our websites and social media platforms.
Your consideration of approval for the above special request would be greatly appreciated and we look forward to hearing from you. If you require any further information, please let us know.
Yours sincerely,
Georges N. Chamchoum
Executive Director
Asian World Film Festival
Shannon Lee
Founder and Chairperson
Bruce Lee Foundation
Andy Cheng
Director
Bruce Lee Award and Martial Arts Event
Asian World Film Festival
Eileen Chen
Event Director and Producer
Asian World Film Festival
Attachment
1. We believe that Bruce Lee, with his legendary, iconic reputation, has had a tremendous cultural impact on Culver City, the heart of screenland, and has in fact provided over 50 years of historic value and service, not just to the Culver City community, but to the whole world. Even after his death, Lee is regarded as one of the most famous Asian Americans, with a fandom spanning cultures and generations that embraces his films and philosophy exploring personal growth and adaptability.
2. We would like to ask that you kindly modify this request, as the signatures and support from residents we have been in touch with regarding the Bruce Lee Alley proposal, have all been overwhelmingly positive.
3. Lee's cultural impact has greatly influenced several generations of Culver City residents and has helped to inspire and encourage young people within the community to become actively involved in a wide range of educational, social and artistic activities relating to the arts.
4. We believe Bruce Lee fundamentally contributed towards the development of the city in terms of his movies and the growth of the studios. Lee was instrumental in popularizing martial arts in the movies during the 1970s which led to many of the studios, including Columbia and later Sony, producing larger numbers of martial arts style films, many of which were hugely successful. For example, Sony made The Green Hornet in 2011, based upon the TV series starring Bruce Lee during the 1960s and was also responsible for the box office hit franchise The Karate Kid.
5. We would be grateful if you could support us on this requirement. However, Bruce Lee opened his own martial arts school in Los Angeles and his popularity sparked an explosion of similar establishments throughout the world, including Culver City, which has numerous martial arts style training schemes and classes for its residents. Aitysh USA, which runs the Asian World Film Festival, has held two martial arts events in Culver City Town Plaza in partnership with the Bruce Lee Foundation which attract large numbers of residents as well as martial arts enthusiasts from throughout LA County. The events are organized by award-winning veteran stuntman Andy Cheng who is the Festival's Director of Bruce Lee Award and Martial Arts Events and the first recipient of the Bruce Lee Award.
6. We will provide more letters of support from local businesses in the surrounding area which are likely to receive economic benefit from the initiative.