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A Dean Fan (no login)
Posted Sep 27, 2005 10:57 AM
Note: The following article was published in the California State University, Fullerton Daily Titan newspaper on March 15, 1978.
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California State Highway 46 streaks eastward from the city of Paso Robles, near the northern edge of San Luis Obispo County, and cuts across gentle rolling hills and sweeping fields dotted with an occasional ranch.
It is a desolate, windblown vista, broken only by the squatty, weather-beaten buildings that make up the hamlets of Whitley Gardens, Shandon, and Cholame.
Almost twenty-five miles from Paso Robles, and less than a mile east of Cholame, the highway cuts through a gap in the Temblor Mountains, so named because the San Andreas Fault runs at their base.
Here the highway splits: 46 continues eastward to Bakersfield, and its branch, Highway 41, turns northeast toward Fresno.
This junction near Cholame was the epicenter for a shock that reverberated around the world over two decades ago, but not because of the constantly shifting San Andreas Fault.
Actor James Dean, idol to millions of moviegoers, was killed in a violent automobile accident at that junction.
Cholame, population five, consisting of a Chevron gas station, a small store, and a tiny post office, remained virtually unchanged since Dean’s death on Friday, September 30, 1955. Until recently.
The alteration in Cholame’s skyline is a stylized sculpture built in the memory of Dean by a wealthy Tokyo businessman, Seita Ohnishi.
Ohnishi, 50, reportedly idolized Dean for his lifestyle and philosophy. The businessman contacted a Los Angeles architectural firm to seek help for his proposed memorial.
Ohnishi, who had never been to Southern California and speaks no English, made a total of three trips from Tokyo to Cholame to supervise the erecting of his memorial.
After examining the site of the accident, which is now nothing more than a couple of road signs and flashing yellow signals, Ohnishi chose to build the memorial around a tree of heaven growing in front of the Cholame post office.
Ohnishi reportedly chose the site with the tree because the Japanese consider trees symbolically sacred.
The sculpture, composed of concrete and stainless steel, was cast in Japan and then transported to Cholame, accompanied by Ohnishi.
After returning to Japan, the businessman made a final trip to Cholame several months later for the dedication ceremony, held last September on the anniversary of Dean’s death.
Ohnishi reportedly never disclosed to anyone during his three trips to California why he decided to pay tribute to the actor 22 years after the fatal accident.
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James Dean had wrapped up shooting on the Warner Bros. film Giant and was set to compete in an automobile race held at the Salinas Airport.
Dean originally intended to pull his new silver Porsche Spyder on a trailer behind his 1955 Ford station wagon. However, at the last minute he decided to drive the sports car to put some pre-race mileage on it.
Accompanying Dean in the Porsche was his mechanic, Rolf Wütherich, 29. Following in the station wagon-with-trailer were Sanford Roth, a noted photographer, and Bill Hickman, a fellow actor. The quartet departed Los Angeles around 1:30 p.m.
Racing down the Grapevine grade on Route 99 (now Interstate 5) north of Los Angeles, the caravan was stopped by a California Highway patrolman for going 65 mph in a 45 mph zone. Both Dean and Roth received citations from the officer.
Resuming their trip, the two cars turned west onto Highway 466 (today shortened to 46) just north of Bakersfield and headed for Paso Robles, where they would catch U.S. 101 north for Salinas.
Dean’s fast Porsche left the slower station wagon behind as the two cars climbed over Polonio Pass.
The downgrade from the pass runs straight as an arrow down to the “Y” intersection of Highways 46 and 41; a short distance beyond, Cholame is visible.
Approaching the intersection from the opposite direction was a large black-and-white 1950 Ford Custom Tudor coupe.
Dean’s Porsche accelerated to a reported estimate of 85 mph on the downgrade toward Cholame. As the two cars converged on the junction, the Ford veered over the center line.
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The memorial sculpture displays the actor’s name, date of birth, day and time of his death, and a figure eight turned sideways -- the symbol for eternity.
Also set into the sculpture is a plaque with the quote, “What is essential is invisible to the eye,” taken from Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince.
Below the quote is an explanation by screenwriter William Bast, who was a close friend and roommate of Dean early in his career:
“This quote...was probably James Dean’s favorite. It seemed to hold a deep and private significance for him, and he used it often -- especially with those he loved.”
The operator of the Cholame post office, Lilly Grant, told a Los Angeles Times reporter that travelers “stop to look at our lovely sculpture...they want to know who put it up and why.” But she admitted that “not too many cars go through here.”
Although the cost of building, transporting and erecting the sculpture has been estimated at $15,000, it is seen by few. Overall, it is a quiet, lonely spot.
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Donald Turnupseed, a student at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, was headed home to Tulare for the weekend to visit his parents. At the “Y” intersection just past Cholame he would veer left onto Highway 41 and head northeast for Fresno.
Turnupseed later testified at a hearing held in San Luis Obispo that he slowed as he approached the intersection, glanced up the hill to look for oncoming cars, then crossed over the line to continue his trip on Highway 41.
According to the report, Turnupseed said he never saw the other car. Police later concluded that the color of Dean’s car and the twilight dusk camouflaged the Porsche. Turnupseed’s Ford and Dean’s Porsche hit almost head-on.
The impact of the crash was terrific. Dean’s car ended up in a ditch by the roadside, “looking like a crumpled pack of cigarettes,” said Roth, who arrived in the station wagon minutes after the crash.
Dean was dead on arrival at Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital. Rolf Wütherich, thrown from the wreck, survived with a smashed jaw, a broken leg, and multiple contusions, cuts and abrasions. Turnupseed escaped with a gashed forehead and a bruised nose. No charges were filed against the student.
Dean was buried in Fairmount, Indiana, a few miles from Marion, his birthplace. Three thousand mourners attended the funeral services, a thousand more than the population of Fairmount.
The author of a biography on the actor wrote that fans and idolizers of Dean have chipped away pieces of the headstone on his grave, and even today the cemetery receives many visitors looking for the actor’s final resting place.
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Meanwhile, in Cholame, the constant breezes rustle the leaves of a tree encircled by a stainless steel pillar that mirrors a lonely highway intersection. |
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