James Dean In Santa Monica

By JL Jacobson

Indiana claims James Dean as its native son, but he spent nearly half his life in California and returned there as soon as he graduated from high school. He lived at four different locations in Santa Monica and attended Santa Monica College for a semester before he transfered to UCLA. None of the locations where he lived still have buildings from that era so I have not bothered taking photos. However, for the record, beginning in 1937 he lived with his mother and father at 1215-A Twenty-Sixth Street, and they moved two years later to 1422 Twenty-Third Street. He attended Kindergarten through the third grade at McKinley Elementary school. 

James Dean returned to Fairmount, Indiana during the summer of 1940 after his mother died and he lived with his aunt and uncle until he graduated from high school in 1948. He then moved back to California and lived in his father's apartment at 814 B Sixth Street, which is at that location until he moved to a UCLA fraternity house in the fall of 1950.

In June 1949, he joined the Santa Monica Theater Guild, which was performing one act plays at the Miles Playhouse. He joined too late to be a regular performing member, but was the stage manager under the name Byron James. Here are the images of the Miles Playhouse which is doing the same thing now as then.

Just seven short blocks to the west of his father's home on Montana Avenue stands the Aero Theater, which was built by Donald Douglas in 1940 and was open 24 hours every day so that aircraft workers could see movies no matter what shift they worked. It remained a 24-hour theater through the Korean War, which ended in 1953. Given that it was the neighborhood theater and was opened all hours, it was a natural place for a "night owl" aspiring actor like James Dean to be.

The Aero is still in business although it was closed for extensive renovations between 2003 and 2005 (the photo of the ticket booth was taken before they redecorated it). Problem is that the Aero has no on-site parking, but there is street parking on Montana Avenue right next to the entrance. Therefore, there will be a car in any image taken, so it might as well be mine, taken September 2005.

In the late Spring of 1951, James Dean and Bill Bast rented a "Penthouse" apartment at an unknown address on 10th Street in Santa Monica. In 2006 I asked Bill Bast about the address of the 10th Street apartment and showed him a photo of the Aero. He did not recall the address, but said the building was gone. He also said that the Aero was close by that location. That was all I could get out of him.

So far as I know, nobody has the exact address. I am speculating that the odd little building with the penthouse on the top that was 100 yards from where I live was also the location of the penthouse apartment, based on what Bill Bast said.

In the Spring of 1951, James Dean and Bill Bast attended acting classes taught by James Whitmore on the second floor of the Brentwood County Mart. Here are some photos of how it looks today.

Another Santa Monica location is "Dawson High" from Rebel Without A Cause. it is and was actually part of Santa Monica High School. You can still see where the clock was and High School coat of Arms that James Dean stepped on during his first day of school. All the railings have been added since that movie was made, a sign of the litigious society we live in today.

In addition to the Santa Monica locations, I have included a few photos from Cholame I took on September 30, 1987 and 2005. In 2005, I drove my 1955 Studebaker Commander and it was 103 degrees in Taft when I last made the trip using the alternate "racer's route" instead of going through Bakersfield. When and if I make the trip again, it will be when September 30th falls on a cool Friday. I could make the trip in a more modern vehicle, but it just wouldn't be the same.