The Halloween Afterparty: Jimi Hendrix Memorial, Renton, WA

When Jimi Hendrix died in London in 1970, his father only had enough money to bury him with a modest headstone in the Greenwood Memorial Park in Renton, WA. By then Hendrix was truly a world citizen, but his father brought him home to rest in the Northwest of his birth. The Jimi Hendrix Memorial as it now stands was just a dream of his.

It wasn’t until 1995 that Jimi’s father, Al Hendrix, finally won the rights to his son’s music after a two-year legal battle. He finally had the financial backing to build his son and their family a memorial befitting Jimi’s musical legacy.

Today, the Hendrix family memorial is much more than just a modest headstone. Fans come from all over the world to pay their respects on Jimi’s birthday, November 27, and last year the family put up a Christmas tree they invited fans to decorate. From the start, Al Hendrix understood what Jimi meant to the world outside their family. On the memorial website he’s quoted, “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.” Al Hendrix passed away in 2002, just before the site could be commemorated, but today it stands as he hoped it could one day be.

Visit Jimi: www.jimihendrixmemorial.com.