Fairmount, Indiana: James Dean Gallery

The world's largest collection of James Dean collectibles, not to be confused with the James Dean Museum four blocks south.

The James Dean Gallery is a museum exhibit and gift shop housed in a beautifully restored 1903 Victorian home on tree-lined North Main Street in the legendary actor's hometown of Fairmount, Indiana.

The museum exhibit fills several rooms and chronicles the Dean's boyhood days growing up in Fairmount, right through the Hollywood Years and the tragic car accident that claimed his life at age 24. There is also a screening room continuously showing rare James Dean film clips.

A free map is available to visitors showing other points of interest in Fairmount, including James Dean's gravesite and boyhood home.

Fifty-six years after his accidental death in his Porsche Spyder, James Dean remains the personification of cool. With intense, penetrating blue eyes, pouting lips and bad boy image, there were few women (some say men) who could escape his charm. This twice posthumously Academy Award-nominated actor, with only three films in two years, was able to change movies and our definition of cool forever.

As we traveled through Indiana, we had no choice but to stop and honor the legend in his hometown of Fairmount.