Customer Reviews

James Dean Died Here: The Locations of America's Pop Culture Landmarks

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a lot of fun and one that you might want to take with you if you ever visit Sunset Blvd. (many events happened there!). It lists the locations of cultural landmarks and many entries have a photograph, but not all. Chapters are divided by "History and Tragedy," "Crime, Murder & Assassination," "Celebrity Deaths," "Movies," "Music," "Sports," etc. Landmarks such as the subway grating where Marilyn Monroe posed, Manson Family murder sites, the spot where Zsa Zsa slapped the policeman and Hugh Grant picked up a prostitute are all here. Some entries leave you yearning for more information - for example, it would be interesting to know what became of some of the famous celebrity houses and who lives there now. This information is sometimes noted but often it is not. Photos for ALL of the sites would have been nice too but many do not have photos. Lots of fun though and hopefully this will be a book that will be updated.

A must for anyone who is even slightly interested in American pop culture. This book is loaded with facts about all kinds of events all over the country.

One of the cool things for me (when I first read this book) was realizing how many spots I've drivin past over the last few years without realizing that some historical event took place there. For instance: there is a Hollywood Video in LA that I've actually rented from that used to be the bank that Patty Hearst and her posse ripped off.

It is a very easy-to-read-guide to all those cool events we've witnessed on TV over the last few years. And, no matter where you live in the country, you are bound to find an event that took place near you.
GET IT!

This book is great from start to finish -- provides locations and history for all kinds of disparate pop culture stuff. The one major problem with the book is that the writer desperately needs a copy editor. He mixes up some details and spells names, places and titles wrong all over the place. There are points where he spells the same person's name two or three different ways on one page. Considering all the research he seems to have done, this is kind of bonehead stuff. Still, if you can look past that, this book is a lot of fun.

Ever notice when you're telling a joke and people just aren't getting it you say, "well, i guess you just had to be there." looks like this author was, literally. and thanks to this book, you can be, too.

the where is practically every pop culture landmark you can think of in the u.s. (and some you may have forgotten). area 51, the brady bunch house, the manson ranch, all places that you can actually go and see for yourself (of course, some places have less access than others).

each listing comes with a street address, some even provide phone numbers and driving directions.

but the beauty of this book is in the details, the bits of info that accompany the listings. like the fact that the lizzie borden death house has been turned into a bed and breakfast where guests can view the murder scene and sleep in lizzie's room, her parent's bedroom, or the guest room where her mother was killed.

it's sad to note that some of the places that are part of our collective history are no longer there. it makes you realize the transitory nature of our culture.

whether you visit the places in the book or not, i think you feel richer for having taken the journey with the author. his love of pop culture is infectious.

This is an excellent book if you love all sorts of american history, pop culture, tv, movies, rock and roll, travel, trivia, etc. (Like we do.) It's coming on our road trip this summer--in fact it's guiding our road trip this summer because it tells you exactly where these things happened. (Like our nearby Woodstock and Watkins Glen concerts.) It's laid out very clearly, it includes tons of photos, weird little tidbits of info we never knew and it's a load of fun to browse through. I got it for my husband but now it's mine--he can get his own.

This book reminds me of the Book of Lists that were popular in the 70s. I could always pick those books up and find some tidbit I had missed in previous readings.

This book highlights events you know happened, but may not know where they happened. I particulary liked items such as the fact that there is now a Virgin Megastore where the old Schwab's drug store was in Los Angeles. (Where, in fact, the author tells us that Lana Turner was NOT discovered!)

A great summertime read. (Or any other time of year, for that matter!)

This book brought back many memories of pop culture events from the past that I recall reading about at the time. The information about the locations is interesting as are the extra little details provided.

However, I was put off my the very large number of typos (Raiders of the Los (sic) Ark; the Louis/Schmeling fight was in 1938, not 1948 to name just 2). It makes you wonder how accurate the book is if simple details like this are wrong.

Still, it is a fun read.

Chris Epting is a genius. What he's done is put together a listing of places where historical markers will be standing 100 years from now. (Well, maybe not - some of these are a lot more fun than historical). Here's a sampling:

- The garage where Apple began
- Max's Kansas City, of New York art world fame
- Where the Black Dahlia was found
- Morrison Hotel, from the Doors' album
- The Leave it to Beaver house
- Hotel where Janis Joplin overdosed
- Site of the Cocoanut Grove fire
- Where Bigfoot was sited in that famous video
- Schwab's drugstore, where Lana Turner was discovered

There's typically a little blurb, some notes on getting there, and maybe something about what's there today (plaque, parking lot, corn field, whatever). I think the real strength is in the number of sites. There's about 2.5 per page, over 300 pages. Major topics areas are:

- Weird and wonderful
- History and tragedy
- Crime, murder and assassination
- Deaths
- Movies
- Music
- TV
- Sports

So, why 4 stars? Well, first, I wish I could give it 4.5. Second, there were a couple of things:

- An awful lot of these are in Southern California. Yes, a lot of our pop culture occurred there, but still. As an example, the one reference to Annie Hall is a café in West Hollywood. Wasn't the whole rest of the movie set in NY?

- The sports stuff tends to be stadiums where famous events occurred - Aaron's 715th (Fulton County Stadium) the Immaculate Reception (Three Rivers Stadium), Maris's 61st (Yankee Stadium), Ruth's called shot (Wrigley Field). He does have some more interesting ones (where Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points, where the first game of professional football was played, the airport where Thurman Munson died). Epting's Roadside Baseball: The Locations of America's Baseball Landmarks does a much better job of this.

- The history stuff tends to be rather obvious - Gettysburg, the Old North Bridge, the Golden Spike, Plymouth Rock ... Though once again, there are some much more interesting places - the Hindenburg crash, Manzanar, Chappaquidick, the last remnant of the Camino Real.

- Lots and lots of typos. I wish some other publishing house would pick up this guy. He deserves much better editing. Heck, I'd offer to do it. Chris, are you out there?

Fun fun book!! Also recommend his other books Marilyn Monroe Dyed Here: More Locations of America's Pop Culture Landmarks and Led Zeppelin Crashed Here: The Rock and Roll Landmarks of North America. My family members ages 15-70 LOVED all his books!!!

This book is awesome, I'm excited to take a road trip with some friends and try to explore as much of these landmarks as I can. The author was able to keep his personal preferences aside to cater to everyone with different points of interest, and he does a good job. But I think it would have been even more better if he put a little bit more history about the places and the people. But I enjoyed it nonettheless and will be getting the rest of them.