The Los Angeles Era

For information on each student listed, simply hover your mouse over their picture and you will be given a brief synopsis of the students biography. Scroll past the pictures for the complete curriculum from this era.

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  Dan Inosanto

   

  Dan Inosanto first met Bruce Lee in August of 1964 at the Long Beach Internationals. He did not seriously begin training with Lee until 1965, however this time was limited since Lee was still living in Oakland and was in Hong Kong for most of that year. In 1966, Inosanto's training was accelerated despite his already busy schedule with his simultaneous training in other arts such as Kenpo, Kali/Escrima, and Ark Wong's Kung Fu. Inosanto was later named as assistant instructor of Lee's school in Los Angeles. He has since went on to become one of the world's most renowned martial artist alive.

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  Ted Wong

   

  Ted Wong had no martial arts experience whatsoever when he first met Bruce Lee. However, he did have a passion for boxing which led he and Lee to have more then just a student/teacher relationship but also a close friendship. Like most, Ted started out training at the LA school and was soon invited to be a private backyard student at Lee's home. After less then a year of training, Bruce Lee awarded Ted with the rare Jeet Kune Do certificate. Wong continued to train with Lee until his death in 1973.

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  Bob Bremer

   

  Bob Bremer studied with Bruce Lee as soon as the Chinatown school opened and stayed until it closed. He worked with Bruce at Lee's house on Sunday when Bruce was free and called Bob to come over. Bremer later trained in Dan Inosanto's backyard until he moved to the high desert and had to get up too early go and train. After retiring, he began working with the Wednesday Night Group.

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  Bill Bremer

   

  Bill Bremer is the son of the LA schools, "Chief ass kicker", Bob Bremer. Bill spent two years at Lee's school and later entered the Navy. Unbeknownest to him, while Lee was filming, Enter The Dragon, Bremer was stationed in the same harbor where they were filming. Bremer is now retired and living the good life in Subic Bay, Philippines.

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  Dan Lee

   

  Dan Lee, like most of the LA student base, was a former Ed Parker student who jumped at the chance to train with Bruce Lee. He was a former champion boxer and is known as a Tai Chi expert. He currently teaches privately to a few individuals.

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  Jerry Poteet

   

  Jerry Poteet was a former Ed Parker black belt who later joined the LA school. His training at the school lasted about a year but he later updated his training under Dan Inosanto. He has since went on to build a successful JKD organization and released several informative books and DVD's. He is also an escrima instructor.

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  Steve Johnson

   

  Steve Johnson originally met Bruce Lee at his Oakland school and then transferred to the LA school. He has successfuly run a JKD school and conducts seminars around the world.

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  Herb Jackson

   

  Herb Jackson was a very close friend and student of Bruce Lee. He took up where George Lee left off and created several training devices for Lee in the late 60's and early 70's. Jackson was a frequent student of Lee's famous backyard workouts and constant guess at the Lee home.

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  Richard Bustillo

   

  Richard Bustillo is a former boxer who was a student at the LA school but admits he had little actual training with Bruce Lee. After Lee's death he opened "The Kali Academy" with Dan Inosanto which was later renamed the IMB Academy. Bustillo is skilled in several styles of Escrima and is constantly conducting seminars on "JKD Concepts" around the world.

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  Larry Hartsell

   

  Larry Hartsell was another Kenpo student under Ed Parker who gravitated to Lee's LA school. Hartsell first met Lee in 64 at the Internationals but did not begin his training with Lee until 1967. His actual time with Lee was less then a year but he and Lee developed a close relationship. Hartsell opened a JKD school in North Carolina with the permission of Dan Inosanto and later moved back to LA to train people in JKD at Inosanto's academy. He found his niche in JKD by introducing grappling into the mix which was not something that was taught by most JKD practitioners. Larry has since passed away in 2006.

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  Steve Golden

   

  Steve Golden was another Ed Parker black belt who defected to Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do. Although his training lasted less then a year at the LA school he is considered one of the premiere instructors in Jeet Kune Do. He has went on to develop his own system, primarily based on Lee's JKD known as Twin Dragons Gung Fu.

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  Jhoon Rhee

   

  Jhoon Rhee was a brief student of Bruce Lee since he lived on the East coast but both men had a mutual respect for each other with Lee attending several tournaments put on by Rhee for demonstration purposes.

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  Chuck Norris

   

  Chuck Norris is probably Bruce Lee's most famous student due to his success in the movie business. He used to train with Lee privately in his backyard and would demonstrate his skills in subsequent karate tournaments where he rarely lost. Lee gave Norris his big break in movies in, "Way of the Dragon". Norris has went on to make several block buster movies and has starred in various hit TV series.

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  Joe Hyams

   

  Joe Hyams was a reporter when he first met Bruce Lee who later turned into a screen writer. Both he and Stirling Siliphant split the cost of lessons with Lee due to the high cost of the training. Hyams went on to write one of the most popular books in martial arts history, called, "Zen in the Martial Arts". He recently passed away in 10/2008.

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  Bob Wall

   

   

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  Tom Bleecker

   

   

Los Angeles Curriculum

Fitness Program
• Alternate splits
• Waist twisting (three times to each side)
• Run in place
• Shoulder circling
• High kicks
• Side kick raise
• Sit-ups
• Waist twisting
Leg raises
Forward bends

Punching:
(Hanging paper*, glove, glove pad, wall pad, heavy bag)

*Paper Hanging exerciseBruce taught this exercise for two reasons, control and speed. Tape two wires to a concrete wall. The wires allow you to put an 8 by 11 sheet of paper at different depths towards the wall. The idea was to strike the paper as hard as you could, without moving it. You kept pushing the paper closer and closer until it laid against the wall. You had to hit as hard as you could, without busting your hand up. You became very skilled at depth control. The second exercise was for speed. You hung the paper from two corners, about shoulder high. The idea was to rip the paper with a punch. This required two elements, speed and recoil. It was the recoiling action that tore the paper. This was an important quality for doing concussion punching.
• Warm-up - the letting out of water [the idea of dropping the hammer loosely]
• The straight punch (left/right) then with pursuing

The entering straight right
• high
• low
• The back fist

Kicking:
• Warm-up - (left/right)
• letting out of water
• the whip
• Side kick - (left/right)
[note: choice of group training method]
• Facing two lines
• In group
• One student comes out
• Straight kick - (left/right)
• Rear kick
• The shin/knee/groin kicks
• Hook kicks [low first] and toe kick
• Combination kicking - eventually with hand

Basic Defense:
• The stop hit
• The shin/knee kick
• The finger jab (close range)
• Any type of kick to fit in
• The four corner counter

Power training:
• Isometric training:
• The upward outward force
• The basic power training
• The punch
• The kick

Classical techniques
• Pak sao
• Lop sao
• Gwa chuie
• Chop chuie/gwa chuie
• Pak sao/gwa chuie
• Double lop sao (a & b)
• Chop chuie/gwa chuie, lop sao/gwa chuie
• Jut sao
• Pak sao/jut sao
• Chop chuie/gwa chuie/jut tek
• Inside gate tan da
• Tan da low/gwa chuie
• Chop chuie/gwa chuie/lop sao

Combination:
• Right hand feint with groin kick
• Right kick feint with bil-jee
• Right feint to stomach with right straight to head
• Right feint to head shift to right to stomach.