The handsome young man stares out at Highway 46: jacket collar popped, hair slicked back, blue eyes and parted lips frozen in a come-hither stare.
He points to a sign for a gas station — and the East of Eden Fudge Factory.
He’s the late actor James Dean. Or, rather, an enormous wooden cutout of him. The gas station, Blackwell’s Corner , is where the 24-year-old star of “Rebel Without a Cause” made his final stop before dying in a car crash in 1955.
It was such hallowed ground for movie buffs, even after the original building burned long ago, that fans were repeatedly caught trying to steal pieces of the old foundation.
But 68 years have passed. Memories are fading. People still ask the cashiers about Jimmy Dean — just not quite as much as they used to.
These days, signs plead for people to buy something. Anything.
“YOUR PURCHASES ARE THE ONLY REASON WE CAN STAY OPEN IN THESE TRYING TIMES,” reads the red-lettered sign by the front door.