Jimi Hendrix Was Here

On September 18th, 1970 Jimi Hendrix was sleeping at his girlfriend Monika Danneman's apartment in London. She left for cigarettes and when she came back, Jimi was covered in vomit. She tried to wake him. For some reason, she called Jimi's good friend Eric Burdon instead of an ambulance. 

Eric shouted into the phone, "Call the fucking ambulance!" Monika said she wasn't sure she should, because Jimi might get mad about the scandal. (Idiot!) Eric repeated his order. The ambulance arrived about 20 minutes later. From David Henderson's "Scuse Me While I Kiss The Sky" "Instead of laying him down in the ambulance, they sat him in a chair and strapped him upright. He tried to bend over so he could vomit, but one of the attendants quickly pushed his head back and strapped him in tighter. Jimi's head rolled back as the ambulance driver took off. The speeding ambulance pressed his body back in the chair and made it even more difficult for him to get his head down. There was bile and vomit near his Adam's apple. Jimi was unable to speak. Even if he could, the ball of vomit in his throat prevented him. The vomit massed in his vocal chords. His lungs became congested. His heart began to pump harder, and the right ventricle dilated. Fluid began to seep into his lungs. He was rushed from the ambulance into St. Mary Abbots Hospital. The doctors worked on him for over an hour, to no avail." He was pronounced dead at 11:25 am. His last meal was a tuna sandwich. Jimi Hendrix was born on November 27, 1942 in Seattle, the first of five children to James Allen "Al" Hendrix and Lucille Jeter. It's rumored that Al was born with six fingers on each hand.

Hendrix Home in 2001

Jimi's mother was a very neglectful alcoholic and she left him and his siblings alone at night to drink in the bars while Al was away in the Army. Their house was at 2603 S. Washington St. After Al was discharged from the Army, fighting was common in the Hendrix home. Jimi would hide in a closet to escape his life. His parents would finally divorce when Jimi was nine. His mother developed cirrhosis of the liver and died on February 2, 1958. Jimi was 15. Around this time, he acquired his first acoustic guitar.

Temple De Hirsch

He taught himself to play by watching others and listening to records in his room. (He really was a genius) Jimi's stage moves, including playing with his teeth and behind his back, were taken from a fellow Seattle musician, Butch Snipes, guitarist with local band The Sharps. Hendrix's first gig was with an unnamed band in the basement of a Seattle synagogue at 1511 East Pike. He was fired from the band for acting "too wild" onstage. (Big mistake, huge) The first formal band he played in was The Velvetones, who performed regularly at a community house at the Yesler Projects at 825 East Yesler, without pay. This is one rough area.

Yesler Projects Community House

Seattle cops don't even want to respond to calls over there. Jimi later joined the Rocking Kings, who played a few shows at The Birdland at 2203 East Madison. A Safeway with condo's above it sits there now.

Birdland in 1958

This happens to be the Safeway I shop at. (Best China Express in the city)

23rd and Madison Safeway

Around this time, Jimi was expelled from Garfield High School at 400 23rd Ave for poor grades and attendance.

Garfield High School

He was later given an honorary diploma, and in the 1990's a bust of him was placed in the school library. Garfield loves it's famous former students. A new performing arts center is named after Quincy Jones.

Bust in Garfield's library.

Jimi got in trouble for riding in stolen cars and was given the choice between spending two years in jail or joining the Army. He enlisted on May 31, 1961. At the base recreation center, he met fellow soldier and bass player, Billy Cox, who eventually became the bass player for The Jimi Hendrix Experience. He's the only member of the band alive today. Jimi was released from the Army in 1962 and he and Billy moved to Tennessee to work on the band. They played gigs here and there but Jimi decided to try his luck in New York. He moved to Harlem and eventually became the guitar player for The Isley Brothers' back-up band until late 1964. He then began recording and performing with Little Richard. He would play with several performers and bands until early 1966. He then met Keith Richards' girlfriend Linda at the Cheetah Club in New York and she introduced him to producer Chas Chandler. Chandler took Jimi to London and signed him to a contract. The two put together The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Jimi sent for his buddy, Billy Cox. Their first single was "Hey Joe." They would put out three albums before Jimi died. After he died, his girlfriend Monika publicly claimed that she had only discovered that Jimi was sick at 11:00 a.m., but that he was breathing, though unconscious and unresponsive (the ambulance was called at 11:18 and arrived 11:27). She also said Jimi was alive when placed in the back of the ambulance at approximately 11:30, and that she rode with him on the way to the hospital. The ambulance crew later denied she was even there. Additionally, her comments about the timing of some events that morning often differed in places, varying from interview to interview. Police and ambulance statements reveal that there was no one but Hendrix in the apartment when they arrived at 11:27, and not only was he dead when they arrived on the scene, but he had been dead for some time. In 1996, Monika Dannemann committed suicide shortly after being found guilty of contempt of court for repeating a libel against Kathy Etchingham, who had been a girlfriend of Hendrix in the 1960's. (Wow) Jimi's body was returned to Seattle and he was buried in Greenwood Memorial Park in Renton. Concerns began to mount over fans damaging the grave after someone stole the gold guitar impression that was engraved on it.

Jimi's grave

His father decided to create a memorial site for his son, and to move his body to the new memorial. Al Hendrix died two months before it's completion in 2002. He's buried there too. A 2004 probate suit argued that Jimi's sister Janie and a cousin, Robert Hendrix paid themselves exorbitant salaries and covered their own mortgages and personal expenses from Experience Hendrix, LLC while the beneficiaries went without payment and Jimi's memorial went uncompleted. In early 2005, a judge handed down a ruling that left the final will intact, but replaced Janie and Robert's role at the financial helm of Experience Hendrix with an independent trustee.

The site of the Hendrix home today

In 2001, a local developer was asked to help save Jimi's childhood home. The site was going to be developed for condo's. He purchased the house for $30,000 and moved it to a city-owned lot at 2010 S. Jackson.

2010 S. Jackson today

He and Al Hendrix had hopes of renovating the house and turning it into a music center. That never worked out and the city decided they needed the house to be moved again to make room for even more condo's. (Enough with the condos!!) The developer purchased a run down trailer park in Renton, across the street from the cemetery where Jimi is buried. He planned to tear down the trailer park and turn the house into a museum.

The Hendrix home while it was at the trailer park

into a museum. The housing economy tanked and all plans fell through. The city of Renton gave the developer until March 27, 2009 to fix up the house.

The trailer park today

They said it was an eye-sore. It didn't happen. The house was demolished. The trailer park is still there though and boy is it lovely... It's hands down the most dilapidated trailer park I've ever seen. Crack-head city. Good thing they tore Jimi's house down though. 

Photo Courtesy of Nicole Baummer

There is a statue of Jimi at Pine and Broadway and a park is named for him at 24th and Massachusetts. There are plans to add three really cool memorials on the empty field of that park. 

Jimi is by far the biggest star to come from Seattle. Just one more reason why I love this city. RIP