Valentine’s Day can be a sappy pain in the neck for many of us cynics out there. This year, forsake the chocolate, shun the flowers and tell Cupid to mind his own business. This year, we are going to cuddle up with James Dean. Or at least the memory of him.
Tragically killed in a car accident when he was 24 years old, just as he was finishing his third film, James Dean is forever cemented in heartthrob infamy. Boys want to be him and girls want to be with him. And some boys want to be with him. He was the ultimate sex-symbol, bad boy and bro with his impeccable coif, devil-may-care attitude and knee-weakening smile. This past week would have been his 81st birthday. Let’s cuddle up with a glass of wine and revisit his three classic films—or wait, a better idea—make a hotel booking in Los Angeles to make a pilgrimage to all of the spots he filmed!
His first real break was East of Eden in 1955. He played jerky Cal Trask who had major daddy, brother and mommy issues. Basically it was a strained family setting for Cal. Most of the film was shot on location in Monterey but the back lot of the Warner Brothers Studios in L.A is where the real magic happened. The facades of the downtown are still intact and you can glimpse the set for the whole parade and park scene here.
Probably his most noted role, Rebel Without a Cause, was filmed entirely in Hollywood. You can visit the site from the opening scene (7529 Franklin Ave) but much more impressive is the Griffith Observatory. At the observatory there is even a statue of James Dean in honor of the time he spent there filming. The view from here is breathtaking! If you visit the same Warner Brothers back lot tour I mentioned earlier, you will see the façade of the police station, which has since stood in as a high school for a new show. As for Dawson High School, it was played by Santa Monica High, which you can certainly give a visit. Unfortunately Getty Mansion, where the abandoned mansion/pool scene was filmed, was torn down shortly after the movie was made. If you are determined to follow Jimmy Dean’s trail though, you can go to the site of the old mansion at 641 N. Irving Blvd.
The small town of Marfa, Texas will probably never fully recover from the summer of 1955 when Rock Hudson, Liz Taylor and James Dean moved in to film Giant. You can still stay at the Hotel Paisano, where most of the cast and crew took their meals and hung out after shooting; there is a room dedicated to the film packed with interesting memorabilia. The Palace Theatre, where locals and the stars alike used to watch rough-edited screenings of the previously filmed scenes is still standing, but has been privately owned since the 1970s. If you take a drive down dusty highway 90, you may still spy the ramshackle windmill from Jett Rink’s Little Reata ranch or the pile of rubble that was once the Benedict mansion film set.
So whether you are weeping openly on your couch at the thought of such great talent dying so young, or taking matters more seriously by packing up and heading off on an Ode to James Dean through the west, have a happy Valentine’s Day!
Photo of James Dean courtesy of Classic Film Scans and Flickr Creative Commons
