James Dean Crash Site — Cholame, California

On September 30, 1955, James Dean was killed at the intersection of U.S. Route 466 (now Highway 46) and State Route 41 near the tiny community of Cholame when his Porsche 550 Spyder — nicknamed "Little Bastard" — collided head-on with a Ford Tudor driven by Cal Poly student Donald Turnupseed. Dean was 24 years old. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital shortly after 6 p.m. The crash killed one of Hollywood's most mythologised figures just weeks before the release of Rebel Without a Cause.

Dean had purchased the Porsche only nine days earlier and was en route to a road race at Salinas. Actor Alec Guinness, who encountered Dean and the car outside a Hollywood restaurant the night before, reportedly told Dean the car looked sinister and that he would be dead within a week — an account Guinness later recounted in his memoirs. Dean's passenger, mechanic Rolf Wütherich, survived with serious injuries. The collision occurred at around 5:45 p.m. in fading late afternoon light.

A James Dean Memorial stands near the crash site today — a stainless steel monument erected in 1977 by Japanese businessman Seita Ohnishi, who was a devoted fan. The junction is marked with a plaque and the memorial draws visitors year-round from around the world. The surrounding landscape of rolling golden hills and two-lane highway looks much as it did in 1955. The nearby Jack Ranch Café in Cholame serves as an informal visitor centre.