Better late than never! As I promised earlier, here is my other post about James Dean, on the sixtieth anniversary of his death. I’ve told you more than a few times about when I went to his hometown of Fairmount, Indiana. There was a visit to the local museum, where there is a special “James Dean Gallery” filled with everything “Jimmy” from his motorcycles and clothes to his drawings and high school yearbooks (and a Garfield section too because Jim Davis is also from Fairmount). I also paid my respects to his grave in Park Cemetery, literally down the road from his family’s farm. But I thought I’d share some photos of the other sights you can see can see in his hometown. There’s the “Welcome to Fairmount” sign and various statues outside the Fairmount Historical Museum (located in the historic J.W. Patterson House) as well as the houses he grew up in, including his uncle’s farm, which is still owned by a cousin. There’s the official James Dean memorial as well as the Friends Church where thousands of people attended his funeral, which are both in the downtown area. And let’s not forget the motorcycle shop where Dean bought his first motorcycle and the abandoned high school (which unfortunately was demolished last year) where Dean first became an actor. Luckily all of these places are captured in the music video for Morrissey’s “Suedehead” in case you can’t make it in person. So there’s always that.
James Dean Gallery, Indiana
