Christy Does Southern California, Pt. 1

Over 20 years ago, I was making plans to visit Fairmount, Indiana for the very first time for their annual James Dean Festival. Knowing very little about it, I contacted the Convention and Visitor's Bureau. After a very enthusiastic phone conversation with the young girl who worked there, my fax machine started humming (anyone remember fax machines?). About 30-some pages later, I had just about everything I needed to know about Fairmount and the Festival!

About 6 months later, I finally met that girl in person, and it was BFF's at first sight. Christy is always ready for a good time; whenever we get together, we pack as much fun as possible into the little time that we have. Whether it was the vintage vinyl dance parties in my Indiana living room or dancing at the James Dean Festivals…it was always memorable!



It was the icing on my 50th birthday cake to find out that she was coming out to Southern California to celebrate the occasion with me. With the temperatures beginning to cool, an afternoon at the Hotel del Coronado seemed like a good choice.



A lunch on the patio of the Sheerwater Restaurant at the hotel was the perfect choice; we'll both take Monte Cristos, please! Screw the training for my upcoming half marathon…Christy's in town!



After lunch, I took Christy on a tour of the Hotel del, showing off the rich Victorian-style interior...



followed by an impromptu portrait session on the beach.



Lunch had barely digested before we were on the way to a Mexican dinner at Barrio Star near Balboa Park. Best chips in town!



Lots of Dia de los Muertos decor to creep you out while eating. Don't let it get to you…just have one of their Jalapeño Blackberry Margaritas and you'll be fine!



A trip down Fifth Avenue to Hillcrest…



brought us to our final feeding frenzy destination of the evening, D Bar.



We both devoured our dessert samplers. Yum!



After a restful night, we packed up the car, gathered up little Willis, and headed up north. More to come from our adventures in L.A.!



In the meantime, enjoy this video that Christy was a part of, created by the Community School of the Arts in Grant County, Indiana. And yes…they were really dancing in front of a burning building!



See more Daveland San Diego photos on my main website.

Back Home Again in Indiana: Grant County and James Dean, Pt. 2

A few more from Grant County today, beginning with a Covered Bridge in Upland, a neighboring community of Fairmount.



There's something reassuring about a Covered Bridge; it's like a link to the past. A place to pull your horse and buggy (should you have one!) into for cover during a rainstorm. I love hearing the boards of the bridge interior clip-clop under the weight of the horse's hooves as you cross through.



Our destination that evening was Ivanhoe's, a hotspot for locals and students at Taylor University. And visitors from Southern California!



It had been about 7 years since my last tasty frozen concoction here. They have the best sundaes and shakes. I feel my waistline expanding just thinking about it. We could barely wait to get inside.



Being together with great friends is the best; nothing like a little laughter to make a fantastic evening.





If you're wondering what else is in Grant County, here's a quick rundown. The birthplace of James Dean in Marion:



A Frank Lloyd Wright designed home, Woodside:





And a cool cemetery, The Indiana Order of Odd Fellows:











And best of all, cool signage!





More Indiana Adventures to come!

If you like these shots, there are even more on my main website.

Back Home Again in Indiana: Grant County and James Dean

After Indianapolis, the next stop on my Indiana itinerary was Fairmount, located in Grant County. Other than the cars and the stoplights, downtown Fairmount looks as if it's stuck in a time warp. You could easily feel as if you were on Main Street of any small city back in the day.

A vintage wall ad for Gold Medal Flour:



The former Carter's Motors Indian Motorcycle shop where James Dean got his first motorcycle at the age of 15.





Here Dean is shown at his Uncle Marcus' farm in the neighboring town of Jonesboro. He had returned one last time to Indiana, just before he exploded on the silver screen in his debut starring role in "East of Eden."



The photo caption for the next photo says:

Jimmy returns briefly to visit his family in Fairmount again. He particularly enjoys playing with his little cousin "Markie."



The farm can be seen in the odd documentary, "The James Dean Story," which was created by Robert Altman after Dean's tragic death. The farm still looks very much like it did back in 1955, and his little cousin "Markie" (now Mark/Marcus!) lives there with his family:



The brown grass shows the drought that the area has been suffering:



Down the street is the Quaker church where Dean and his family worshipped:



and where he is buried:





Back in the middle of the town is a recently dedicated little park with a replica of the Kenneth Kendall bust that can also be found at Griffith Park in Hollywood:





This cool piece of outdoor wall art was made out of denim jeans:



In the Fairmount Historical Museum, you can find a number of Dean items:



like this shirt that you can see him wearing in the Sanford Roth photo on the left-hand side of this shot:



The museum also has one of my paintings, based on a scene from "Rebel Without a Cause."



One of my very favorite moments in Fairmount was to hear actor Frank Mazzola (who played a gang member, Crunch, in the movie) discuss Dean's inspiration for this scene where he yelled, "I've got the bullets!" Here's Mazzola at the 1996 dedication of the James Dean bust, with artist/sculptor Kenneth Kendall seated at left:



See more vintage and current Grant County and James Dean photos on my James Dean web page.