Cholame, California | |
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 Jack Ranch Cafe, Cholame, California | |
  Cholame, California Location within the state of California Show map of California Cholame, California Cholame, California (the United States) Show map of the United States | |
| Coordinates:35°43′26″N120°17′44″W / 35.72389°N 120.29556°W /35.72389; -120.29556 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | San Luis Obispo |
| Elevation | 1,157 ft (353 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
| ZIP codes | 93461 |
| Area code | 805 |
| GNIS feature ID | 252871[1] |
Cholame (/ʃəˈlæm/;[2]Salinan:Tco'alam) is anunincorporated community inSan Luis Obispo County, California, United States. It sits within a mile of theSan Andreas Fault at an elevation of 1,157 feet (353 m)above sea level.
Cholame is reached viaState Route 41, just southwest of the junction ofRoute 46. Rainfall data from a nearby ranch shows that the area around Cholame only receives about eight to nine inches (200–230 mm) of rain in a normal year.
Cholame was originally arancheria of the Salinian Indians.[2]
Rancho Cholame was an 1844 Mexican land grant. In 1867,William Welles Hollister (1818–1886) purchased Rancho Cholame. Hollister sold a half-interest in the rancho to Robert Edgar Jack in 1869.[2][3]
Jack studied atMaine Wesleyan Seminary, and he later was an accountant at ashipping house in New York City. In the Civil War he enlisted in the56th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and he served inHarrisburg, Pennsylvania, during theBattle of Gettysburg and then in New York to quell "anti-Negro riots" there. Near the end of the war, he moved to California and became Hollister's accountant and secretary on the latter's San Justo Ranch surrounding the present city ofHollister. When that property wassubdivided, the two bought the Cholame land.
Jack married Hollister's daughter, Lucy Ellen (Nellie) in 1870 and became the largestwool grower inCentral California, later switching to cattle and agriculture. Jack organized the County Bank of San Luis Obispo.[3]
The land was sold to the Hearst Corporation in 1966 and is still a working cattle ranch.[2]
On September 30, 1955, actorJames Deandied in a car crash whenCal Poly student Donald Turnupseed made a left turn without seeing Dean'sPorsche 550 Spyder approaching at the junction of State Highways 41 and 46. Dean was the driver of the car that slammed into the car driven by Turnupseed. His passenger, namedRolf Wutherich, was thrown from the vehicle but survived. Dean was pronounceddead on arrival at the hospital.
On the same date in 2005, the State of California observed the 50th anniversary of Dean's death by naming the intersection as theJames Dean Memorial Junction.[4] A few hundred people, including state officials, a Dean family member, several Dean archivists and fans gathered at the junction and in Cholame to pay tribute to the actor.[5]
A memorial to Dean was erected in 1977 near the Jack Ranch Cafe (then Stella's Country Kitchen) by a retired Japanese businessman fromKobe, Seita Ohnishi, costing $13,000 at the time.[6] The monument is made of stainless steel and surrounds atree of heaven.[7] In particular, Ohnishi was fond of Dean's movieEast of Eden, inspiring him to fund the memorial, which was designed in such a way to reflect both the beautiful and unfinished nature of the actor's life.[8][9][10]
Municipalities and communities ofSan Luis Obispo County, California,United States | ||
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| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Ghost towns | ||