James Dean

To end our Hollywood themed touristy vacation it seemed fitting to stop at James Dean's crash site.

Dean was driving Hwy 46 to go to a race in Salinas. There is a fork in the road where Hwy 46 meets Hwy 41. Dean was driving straight down 46 when a college student coming the opposite direction turned at the fork right into Dean's path. Dean was rushed to the hospital, but was dead on arrival.

We were expecting some sort of historical marker and actually spent an hour going out of our way trying to locate it. Turns out all that is there is just a CA Hwy sign that says that is the James Dean Memorial Intersection. No marker, statue, mound of rocks or anything. Really disappointing in that respect.

We had punched into our GPS looking for it under Places of Interest. It took us to 'James Dean's Last Stop'. This is where we took the above picture. It was where he had stopped for a final gas stop just 15 minutes or so prior the accident. Inside the gas station/restaurant they have a dummy made up to look like Dean sitting at the counter.

Michelle inquired and was told that even though everyone wants a memorial at the crash site, the State of California is not allowing it.

Oh well. We tried.