Tragic film star James Dean was born in 1931 in Indiana. In 1935, James and his parents, Mildred and Winton, moved to Santa Monica; his father had transferred to a new job as a Dental Technician at the nearby Veteran's Hospital.
One book I read about Dean stated that the family first lived in an apartment near the southeast corner of 26th Street and Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica; today, there is no apartment building at that location.
Another book about Dean, "Rebel," states that the family lived at 1422 Twenty-Third Street, just south of Santa Monica Boulevard in Santa Monica; today that location is a parking lot (of course). On the other side of 23rd Street is a row of surviving bungalow homes, so you can get an idea of what their home probably looked like.
The 23rd Street house was a small, rented California Craftsman-style bungalow with two small bedrooms, a parlor, a lush front lawn with a palm tree, and a rear garden.
Little Jimmy Dean started 1st grade at the Brentwood School, on Gretna Green, just off San Vicente Boulevard; after one term in Brentwood, Jimmy transferred to McKinley Elementary School, which was just around the corner from where they lived on 23rd.
Jimmy's mother Mildred died in the house on 23rd at age 29 of cancer. Right after her death in July, 1940, Winton Dean sent his son back to Indiana to live with relatives.
James Dean returned to Santa Monica after graduating from high school in 1949. He lived with his father and stepmother in Santa Monica in a "squat little stone house." He attended Santa Monica City College and, later, UCLA, but dropped out to pursue acting in New York.
While he attended UCLA, James Dean took acting classes given by actor James Whitmore in a rehearsal hall at 26th and San Vicente in Santa Monica.
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