Cholame, California

I've loved James Dean since I was a child.  I have no idea how I first came to know of him but, once it started, I collected everything I could about him.  The iconic James Dean, immortalised by his tragic death at the age of just twenty-four, made only three feature films.

Although I have visited as many places as I could in my travels where I knew James Dean had been, this post is going to focus on my trip to Cholame, the place where James Dean was killed 60 years ago this year.  Cholame is an unincorporated community in San Luis Obispo County, California.  James Dean's ghost is said to have been seen replaying that fateful event. 

James Byron Dean was born in Marion, Indiana on February 8th, 1931.  Jimmy lost his mother at the age of nine, and his father, being unable to care for a young son, sent him to live with his aunt and uncle, the Winslows.  A Quaker home, the Winslows lived on a farm in Fairmount, Indiana, and cared for Jimmy as if he was their own son.

Jimmy performed well at school, and decided to move to California after graduating to attend Santa Monica College to major in law.  He transferred to UCLA and changed his major to drama.  In 1951, he dropped out of UCLA to pursue a full-time acting career. 

Following successful theatre performances and small parts on television shows, in 1953 director Elia Kazan gave Jimmy the role of Cal Trask in Steinbeck's "East of Eden".  He went on to portray the quintessential rebel, Jim Stark, in Nicholas Ray's film "Rebel Without A Cause", opposite Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo.  Giant, which was released after Jimmy's death, saw him in a supporting role next to Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson. 

Jimmy was the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and he remains the only actor to have received two posthumous acting awards.  In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him the 17th-best male actor. 

In 1954, Jimmy became interested in motor racing.  He purchased various vehicles after he completed filming East of Eden, including a Triumph Tiger T110 and a Porsche 356.  Prior to starting the filming of Rebel Without A Cause, he competed in his first professional race in Palm Springs.  He did very well in the race.  A month later he raced at Bakersfield, where he finished first in his class.  With ambitions to race in the Indianapolis 500 shelved due to his busy schedule, and all other racing barred by Warner Brothers while he filmed Giant, Jimmy's final race was on May 30th, 1955, in Santa Barbara. 

On September 30th, 1955, Jimmy was scheduled to race in Salinas, California.  He was accompanied by Rolf Wutherich, the Porsche mechanic sent from Germany to assist Jimmy with his newly-purchased Porsche 550, a car named "The Little Bastard" by Jimmy.  Photographer Sanford Roth and stunt coordinator Bill Hickman followed Jimmy's Porsche in another car.  It had been Wutherich's idea to drive the Porsche from Los Angeles to Salinas to help break the new car's engine in.

Travelling on California State Route 466 (now 46), at the junction with California State Route 41, a 1950 Ford Tudor, travelling at high speed, driven by 23-year-old student Donald Turnupseed, turned in front of Jimmy's car.  Unable to stop, the Porsche hit the side of the Ford and ended up at the side of the highway.  Donald Turnupseed exited his car with only minor injuries.  Mechanic Rolf Wutherich was flung from the car, while Jimmy was trapped inside the mangled Porsche.  He sustained numerous fatal injuries, including a broken neck.  At the scene, a witness with nursing training detected a weak pulse, but Jimmy was pronounced dead on arrival at the Paso Robles Memorial Hospital. 

Roth and Hickman arrived ten minutes after the accident, and Hickman was said to have helped extricate Jimmy from the Porsche wreckage.  It's said that Jimmy died in Hickman's arms in the ambulance.  Wutherich had a broken jaw and other minor injuries.  Wutherich later developed severe psychological problems as a result of the accident, suffering depression, suicidal tendencies and alcoholism.  In July 1981 Wutherich, intoxicated at the wheel, crashed his car and died after having to be extricated from the wreck.

Though an original inquest suggested that Jimmy had been speeding, it was later revealed that he had, in fact, been doing the speed limit of 55 miles per hour. 

James Dean was buried in Park Cemetery in Fairmount, Indiana.  His grave is less than a mile from where he grew up on his uncle and aunt's farm.

Beside the Jack Ranch Cafe, about a mile from the accident scene, is the James Dean Memorial Sculpture.  Erected in 1977, the sculpture is composed of stainless steel and is around a Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus Altissima).  The project's benefactor was a Japanese businessman, Seita Ohnishi.  It is said that Seita Ohnishi also purchased the last photographs taken of James Dean by Sanford Roth at the accident scene. 

On September 30th, 2005, the junction where James Dean was killed was dedicated as the 'James Dean Memorial Junction' as part of the official commemoration of the 50th anniversary of his death. 

Leading up to James Dean's death, there had been a series of strange coincidences.  Two weeks prior to his death he recorded a National Safety Council commercial, speaking the line, "Remember, drive safely, the life you might save might be mine".  On the day of his death, Hickman had warned Jimmy to stop speeding, and he had also received a speeding ticket prior to the accident. 

There have been many reports of a spectral Porsche replaying the events of the accident at the junction where it occurred.

James Dean's Porsche, "The Little Bastard", was said to be cursed.  Fresh after the accident, it was decided that the car would be taken around to local high schools to teach students about the dangers on the road.  However, when the Porsche was near Salinas, the vehicle transporting it was involved in a serious accident.  The driver was thrown from the truck, and the Porsche rolled off the truck and crushed him to death.  Nonetheless, the car was popular and it was taken on tour.  At one of the displays, the car broke three bolts mysteriously and crushed the legs of a fifteen-year-old boy.  Next, the car snapped in two and fell from the truck that was transporting it, causing a fatal accident.  When the engine and drivetrain from the car were sold to two different men, one was killed in a car accident and the other was seriously injured.  Two of the original unharmed tyres were sold, and they both later blew out, causing the new owner to lose control of his vehicle.  Later, a garage storing the car went up in flames, destroying everything but the car itself, and thieves trying to steal parts of the car were injured.  In 1960, the then-owner placed the Porsche in a sealed boxcar to transport it from Florida to California.  The boxcar arrived sealed, but the Porsche was gone. 

What I can say about visiting Cholame and the place where James Dean died is that I was overwhelmed by a sense of sadness.  There is a feeling of something wonderful having been lost in that place.  Though I considered visiting the place where James Dean died as a sort of homage to him, it actually made me come away wishing I hadn't gone there.  I like to imagine James Dean, happy, with a laconic smile as he drives away in his car. 

Hoover Dam

From as early as 1900, there had been discussions about a dam being built in the Black Canyon and Boulder Canyon. The proposed purpose of the dam was threefold: it would control floods, provide irrigation water, and produce hydro-electricity for the surrounding areas. It wasn't until Congress passed a bill approving the construction of the dam in 1928 that the Bureau of Reclamation created the bid documents, selling them to companies for five dollars.  It was decided that the contractor chosen to build the dam would have seven years within which to do so.  The contractor was obliged to prepare the site and build the dam with materials provided by the government. 

In 1931 the successful bidder, a company called Six Companies Inc, began construction of the dam.  The dam was to be built curving upstream in a narrowing curve, directing most of the force against the canyon wall.  This arch-gravity dam was to be constructed on the chosen site that lay in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, situated between the U.S. States of Arizona and Nevada. It was to be the largest concrete construction ever attempted. 

Originally the city of Vegas, about 48km from the dam site, lobbied to become the construction headquarters.  Instead, Six Companies was asked to construct a model city for the workers that would become known as Boulder City, Nevada.

Built during the depression, thousands of workers and their families descended on the site.  The then-President, Herbert Hoover, brought the construction start date forward, so the model city had not been built. A government camp was established for engineers and surveyors, and a shanty town of squatters, looking for work with their families in tow, blossomed around the site. The squatters' camp became known as McKeeversville. The conditions were extreme, with daytime temperatures reaching 48.8C (119.9F).  

A Los Angeles-based architect, Gordon B Kaufmann, designed an elegant Art Deco style for the new dam, replacing the original gothic-inspired design.  Artist Allen Tupper True used Navajo and Pablo designs and symbolism for the designs throughout the dam on walls and floors, and also devised an ingenious colour-coding system for pipes and machinery.  The finishing artistic touches for the dam were created by Oskar J W Hansen.  He created sculptures around the dam, as well as the 9.1m (30ft) bronze statues, known as the "winged figures of the Republic".  Hansen also created a monument to those killed during the construction of the dam.

The dam was completed two years before the expected date.  Impounding Lake Mead, it is the largest reservoir in the United States by volume.  After a small controversy with the name of the Dam, some people preferring Boulder Dam to Hoover Dam, it was finally decided that the dam would be named after Herbert Hoover. 

There were 112 official deaths associated with the construction of Hoover Dam. The first death was that of a surveyor called J G Tierney, who drowned while searching for the best spot to place the dam. He died on December 20th 1922.  Exactly thirteen years later to the day, the last death associated with the construction of Hoover Dam was that of Patrick W Tierney, J G Tierney's son.  Not recorded as official deaths, many people died of pneumonia.  It's believed that these deaths were actually caused by carbon monoxide in the tunnels below the dam, a rumour further supported by the fact that all those who died of pneumonia were workers at the dam, not their families.  The torrid heat conditions also resulted in the deaths of people living in the shanty town.  Officially, 12 people are recorded as having died from heat prostration.

With so much having occurred during the construction of Hoover Dam, it is not surprising that it's believed to be haunted.  Many people that work at the dam have allegedly seen a man in old working gear wandering in places he shouldn't be.  When confronted, he is said to vanish. There are stories of echoing footsteps coming from deserted corridors.  Closer to the canyon wall, it is said that people have heard weeping and yelling with no-one in sight. Workers and visitors have reported hearing disembodied voices.  There have also been tourist photographs with strange anomalies in them. 

I visited Hoover Dam in a Plymouth Prowler hired in Vegas.  It was quite an experience seeing this beautiful architectural construction, with its Art Deco design and sculptured embellishments. The sheer size of it is breathtaking and, I must admit, there is a sort of interesting vibe there...

New Norcia

In 1846 two Spanish monks, Rosendo Salvado and Joseph Serra, established a Benedictine Monastery 132km north of Perth. Within a year it was moved 8kms to where the mission stands today. In honour of the birthplace of St Benedict, Nursia in Italy, the mission was called New Norcia. 

Assigned to the first Bishop of Perth, RT Rev John Brady, the two Spanish monks were sent to create a mission in the central area of the diocese. Joined by a French Benedictine novice, Dom Leander Fonteinne, and an Irish Catechist, John Gorman, they set off to create a mission that would help bring Christianity to the indigenous population of the Victoria Plains. The initial months were harrowing, and Fonteinne returned to France after accidently shooting John Gorman to death.

The first fifty years of the mission were overseen by Bishop Rosendo Salvado.  His mission was based around the notion of creating a Christian, self-sufficient village for the indigenous population based on agriculture. This, however, did not happen after the decimation of the indigenous population through the accidental introduction of diseases to the local population in 1860.  Following this devastating blow to the parish community, Bishop Salvado decided to focus on the education of indigenous children.  These children were brought from all over the state to New Norcia to be taught. 

Bishop Salvado did much to enhance the success of the mission, including several fundraising tours to Europe.  Through these tours he was able to purchase land, construct new buildings and buy livestock and much needed equipment for the mission.  In his 83rd year, on one of his tours to Rome in 1900, Bishop Salvado died.  His beloved community brought his body back to New Norcia, where he was buried. 

After Bishop Salvado passed he was replaced by Fulgentius Torres.  The mission took on a more European feel.  Although education and community care for the indigenous population was continued, the mission started to place emphasis on the rural community.  Torres built two colleges, St Ildephonsus for boys and St Gertrude's for girls.  Torres brought in Josephite Sisters to staff the girls school. During Torres' period, Rome sanctioned that New Norcia Abbey would extend its parish administration to cover 30,000 square miles.

When Torres died, Dom Anselm Catalan became the Bishop.  He led the mission through two world wars and maintained a stable town.  He built a hostel to house visiting parents of children from the schools. Dom Catalan also supported the talent of religious music composer Dom Stephen Moreno.

From the 1980s New Norcia has found itself having to cater to tourists, visiting groups and those wanting to spend a little time in a monastic retreat. New Norcia is the only monastic town in Australia.

The buildings of New Norcia are primarily in the old Spanish style, though some of the architecture is Edwardian, Gothic and even Art Deco. In the mission there are the mission buildings, St Gertrude's and St Ildephonsus, the Abbey Church, an old mill, a wine press, hotel, a museum and art gallery. The old boarding schools of St Gertrude and St Ildephonsus are now used as accomodation for large groups of visitors. The New Norcia Hotel, which was once a hostel, has rooms for people visiting the town. 

In order to keep the mission self-sufficient, the monks still produce many products.  The olive press established in the 1850s is still used to produce olive oil.  Using the original wood-fire oven, the New Norcia Bakery produces artisan breads, New Norcia nutcake, pan chocolatti and almond biscotti. They bake seven days a week.  Since 1917 New Norcia has produced its own wines, and now helps in the creation of an ale.

Astonishingly, an art gallery in New Norcia has a one-of-a-kind painting in Australia.  The gallery houses mostly Italian and Spanish post-Renaissance art reflecting the history of the mission. In 1986 the community also purchased one hundred modern artworks, all with a religious theme.  The most significant piece in the gallery was purchased in 1999, and is housed in The Raphael Room.  The picture is entitled "Head of an Apostle" and was commissioned by Pope Leo X in the 16th century.  The work was completed in the workshop of Raphael. 

There are many strange stories about New Norcia.  In December 1947, a huge bushfire swept towards the mission.  The prevailing southwest winds drove the fire relentlessly, and attempts by the monks and indigenous Australians to stop it failed.  In desperation, the monks took the painting of  "Our Lady of Good Counsel" from the church and placed it facing the oncoming fire.  They knelt and prayed and, as they did, the wind changed just in time to save the mission. It was later discovered that a local man called Moonangka had lit the fire deliberately, hoping it would engulf the mission.  Bishop Salvado forgave him and, when Moonangka heard about the painting and prayers, he became a convert. 

The graveyard of New Norcia is literally in the centre of town, and it is here that reports have been made of a ghostly monk walking around.  A pale-faced girl has been seen in one of the windows of St Gertrude's when no-one should be in the building.  The girl is said to be one of the school students  who died at the school when she was ten. There have been reports of strange poltergeist-like behaviour in the New Norcia Hotel. One of the most persistent and often sighted phenomena is that of a nun in blue who is said to fly around the clocktower of the mission just as the clock strikes midnight. 

I have visited New Norcia many times. The first thing that strikes me is how isolated it is, and I can only wonder in awe at the thought of heavily-clad monks making their way through the harsh bush terrain of Western Australia.  New Norcia is still an oasis in a very remote part of the state.  It's quite magnificent to just come upon this mission with its amazing architecture and products.  When you go into the art gallery, which is housed in a humble building, and stand in front of a painting created by Raphael's workshop, you feel astonished.  I would recommend any visitor to Western Australia travels to New Norcia.