where we knew we would pass by a certain sign...
which proclaimed this stretch of the 46 as "James Dean Memorial Junction". While this was not the ACTUAL spot where he crashed his Spyder, a freeway sign marks the junction and along the wire fence are supposed to be mementos left by fans.
Here is a clearer and up close photo of the sign from another flickr user:
(Photo above courtesy of David Curry's flickr, taken August 7, 2009/he has some cool photos in his LA album)
Once you pass the sign, you will see a small lot with trees and a small roadhouse eatery. This is the site of the James Dean Memorial and the Jack Ranch Cafe.
The James Dean Memorial was made in Japan in 1977 by Seita Ohnishi, a James Dean fan. Below are several plaques (hard to read in my photos but you can see part of it in the video I linked).
Here's a short black and white video I found made by someone from the LA Times; they go into the restaurant and have footage of the memorial.
It was time to have a small snack. It wasn't really lunch. We were pacing ourselves for the day. The Jack Ranch Cafe used to be a post office but it is now a restaurant which serves typical American food, is decorated with James Dean memorabilia and offers a small gift shop (which we didn't really take a close look at during our stay).
We kept it simple with just a bowl of chili (Bert's choice) and a cheeseburger with fries for all to share. Bert did a great job later cutting it into EXACT thirds. He's precise like that.
While the meal wasn't gourmet, it still hit the spot. The burger was nice and juicy and it was good that we shared this. We would have been too full if we each ordered our own.
The ladies working here were really nice. There were a few regulars while we were there as well as travelers like ourselves. The poster below was found in the bathroom. The men's room. Yeah, I used it. When you have to go, you HAVE TO GO!
Here's a video someone made. At 1:16, you can see the corner table where we sat (with a poster of James Dean from "East of Eden").
James Dean Memorial Junction and Memorial Sites:
www.roadsideamerica.com
www.jamesdeanmemorialjunction.com
www.weirdca.com
Jack Ranch Cafe
19215 E. Highway 46
Cholame, CA 93461
(805) 238-35652
There is no website and the reviews list the city as Shandon instead of Cholame. Go figure...
This snack would hold us over until our next planned stop where we planned to check out the revitalized historical downtown area of Paso Robles...
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