Seattle area’s many Jimi Hendrix memorials

While planning continues for Jimi Hendrix Park, a number of places around Seattle already pay tribute:

Bronze bust of Hendrix at Garfield High School library, 400 23rd Ave.

Donated by the Hendrix family in the mid-1980s. Sculptor is Jeff Day, of Whidbey Island. The public can see the bust during school hours but must get a pass at the main office.

Day said his agent had trouble getting Garfield to accept the gift because of “how Hendrix died.”

At the dedication, Day said he was taken aback when reporters asked him about the propriety of Hendrix being honored, because of his association with drugs. “I remember saying that I thought the sculpture would be inspirational to kids at the school because it shows what he overcame,” Day said.

Janet Woodward, school librarian, said, “The students have always enjoyed the bust. They like to roll up a piece of paper and stick it in his mouth to make it look like he is smoking a cigarette or a joint. Such is his reputation. Everyone thinks they are quite original in doing this.

“The bust is also used for many scavenger hunts that teachers create. One time, a student put a walkie-talkie inside the empty head and had him saying things.”

Day laughed and said he didn’t mind the pranks.

Jimi Hendrix statue on the sidewalk on Broadway.

Dedicated in 1997, the bronze statue was commissioned by Mike Malone, a real-estate developer. He was the founder of AEI Music Network, a music programming and distribution company with worldwide operations.

Malone has a valuable guitar collection that includes Elvis Presley’s first guitar that he used at Sun Studio and Hendrix’s last guitar. He has also commissioned statues of Chuck Berry and John Lennon.

All were by Seattle artist Daryl Smith. The Hendrix statue is in front of a building Malone owns that houses Blick Art Materials at 1600 Broadway. Malone has his office at the adjoining The Broadway Building, which he also owns.

“I see people all the time taking pictures of it,” he says. “Sometimes a big limo pulls up, a couple of rockers get out, look at it, take a picture, and get back in the limo.”

Jimi Hendrix Memorial at Greenwood Memorial Park, 350 Monroe Ave. N.E., Renton.

Dedicated in 2003, at 30 or so feet high, it features a granite dome supported by three pillars. Hendrix’s remains were moved here from his original burial site. His father, Al Hendrix, said the Renton cemetery was all he could afford.

It didn’t matter to fans, and over the years they visited Hendrix’s grave by the thousands.

A 1999 Seattle Times article says, “Cemetery officials estimate that 50,000 to 60,000 people trek to the gravesite each year — along with an unknown number who visit at night.” Experience Hendrix, the family company that manages the Hendrix assets, now puts that estimate at about 100,000.

Fans leave all kinds of mementos at the site — flowers, picks, drawings, money, cigarettes, alcohol, pictures. Experience Hendrix says items left at the grave are kept in an archive room not open to the public.

Woodland Park Zoo’s Jimi Hendrix memorial at the African Savanna Exhibit. South zoo entrance: 750 N. 50th St. West entrance: 5500 Phinney Ave. N.

The memorial consists of a series of rocks surrounded by a mosaic walkway in a flame design.

The largest rock used to be heated — a “hot rock” meant to symbolize Hendrix’s music — but the heating element hasn’t worked for years.

Attached to the rock is a bronze plaque in the shape of a sunburst that reads, “This viewpoint was funded by worldwide donations to KZOK Radio in the memory of Jimi Hendrix and his music.”

EMP, Seattle Center, 325 Fifth Ave. N.

Opened in 2000 by Paul Allen, who owns considerable Hendrix memorabilia, EMP currently is showcasing an exhibit called “Jimi Hendrix: An Evolution of Sound.” You can see such items as Hendrix’s Woodstock Fender Stratocaster.

— Erik Lacitis