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The above is a screen capture from a 1999 DVD copy entitled: 'James Dean, Pink Floyd, Cholame, and Steve' (which you can view below). Sadly, the original, higher quality DV was lost and so I apologize for the degraded resolution.
The video marks the then forty fourth anniversary of actor James Dean's death and documents the road trip my brother-in-law, Steve Staley and I took on the occasion to Cholame, California to pay our respects.
In the capture, my in-law, Steve, his head lowered to adjust his camera, is facing east down California State Route 46 (466 back in 1955). Immediately beyond is the James Dean Memorial Junction, with its turnoff to State Route 41 to the left,. On that tragic day, Dean was traveling west on 466 when Cal Poly student, Donald Turnupseed, heading in the opposite direction, decided to execute a left turn onto 41.
Dean's doomed Porsche 550 Spyder, came to rest along the side of the road just past the end of the fence visible in the image.
Of the two occupants in the Spyder, only Rolf Wütherich survived. Turnupseed, in his Ford Tudor, escaped any serious injury.
Getting back to the freeze frame, I particularly appreciate how the little pictorial elements make Steve look in my imagination like a person of the cloth reading prayers over the scene. Our mode of transportation to the crash site was Steve's new, white Chevrolet Corvette (C5).
