Thirteen days after filming a public service announcement for the California Highway Patrol, actor James Dean was killed in a head-on collision near Cholame, California.

On the morning of Sept. 30, 1955, Dean set out from Los Angeles with his 29-year-old mechanic, Rolf Wütherich, in a brand-new 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder. Dean had entered the car in a weekend race in Salinas, with time trials scheduled for Saturday.

Dean picked up the Porsche from Competition Motors in Hollywood that Friday after a tune-up, then stopped with friends for coffee and donuts at the Hollywood Ranch Market across the street. Around 1:15 p.m., they headed north on U.S. Highway 99 (now Interstate 5), stopping for gas in Sherman Oaks before climbing the Grapevine toward Bakersfield.

Sometime that afternoon, Dean may have stopped at Tip’s Restaurant in Castaic Junction (Highway 99 and Highway 126). According to local lore, the 24-year-old actor had a last meal of pie and milk there before continuing north.

An article in The Signal newspaper in September 2005 also recalls a 1985 interview of former Tip’s manager Carmen Cummings, who told Signal publisher Tony Newhall, “Yes, he did stop there on his last day. He sat at the counter. We all recognized him.”

Additionally,  Althea McGuinness, a Tip’s waitress who died in the 1970s, also claimed to have served Dean, but his mechanic never mentioned a Santa Clarita stop in his detailed published account of the trip. The story remains disputed.

At 3:30 p.m., CHP Capt. Otie V. Hunter cited Dean for speeding on Highway 99 near Mettler Station, just south of Bakersfield.

Hunter recalled the young actor’s “typical Hollywood dress,” worn jeans held up with a rope and laceless shoes, though he had no idea of the significance of this interaction until much later.

“I didn’t know who he was at the time; he was just another guy that I stopped for speeding,” Hunter said.

Dean and Wütherich then stopped at Blackwells Corner on Highway 46, chatting with other drivers before continuing west toward Paso Robles.

Around 5:45 p.m., as they approached the junction of Highways 41 and 46, Dean’s Porsche collided almost head-on with a Ford Tudor driven by a 23-year-old Navy veteran and Cal Poly student, Donald Turnupseed, who was making a left turn to Tulare to head home for the weekend.

Rumor has it that Dean’s final words were, “That guy’s gotta stop. He’ll see us.”  In a 1960 interview, Wütherich could not recall if any conversation occurred just before the crash.

CHP officers Ernie Tripke and Ronald Nelson arrived at the scene of the crash about 30 minutes later.

Tripke recalled seeing Dean being removed from the wreckage in a 2009 interview with SCV Historical Society.

“He was still alive but didn’t look very promising, because I thought he had a broken neck,” Tripke said.

Turnupseed, the driver of the other vehicle, had minor injuries to his face and hitchhiked the rest of the way home that same night.

Dean’s passenger, Wütherich, had been thrown from the car but survived with a broken jaw and serious injuries to his hip and femur.

Dean, meanwhile, was pronounced dead on arrival at 6:20 p.m. at Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital.

While some have speculated Dean was speeding, investigators noted the wreckage was close to the point of impact, suggesting he was traveling near the 45 mph speed limit. Poor visibility at dusk, combined with cars not yet required to drive with headlights on, likely contributed to the accident, in Nelson’s opinion.

Did James Dean stop in Santa Clarita that afternoon? The testimony of Tip’s staff is the only evidence, and no contemporary accounts – including those of Dean’s companions – mention such a stop.

According to the SCV Historical Society, The Signal published nothing on his death in 1955, and Wütherich’s own narrative omitted it.

Adding to the confusion, Tip’s had two locations along Highway 99 in 1955: one at Castaic Junction (I-5/126) and another at the site of the former Marie Callender’s on The Old Road at Magic Mountain Parkway (Now the site of a McDonald’s and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf).

Whether or not Dean dined at Tip’s, the possibility links Santa Clarita, however briefly, to one of Hollywood’s most enduring legends.

At the time of his death, Dean had completed only three films in a career that lasted only 5 years. Yet, his impact was immediate and lasting. His roles embodied the restlessness and angst of youth in postwar America of the 1950s, defining counterculture and shaping Hollywood and wider society for generations.

To read yesterday’s Today in SCV History, click here.

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