REBEL REMEMBERED: He awoke 40 years ago...

REBEL REMEMBERED: He awoke 40 years ago today at his cabin in Sherman Oaks. After picking up his Porsche Spyder he drove north, heading for a race in Salinas. . . . He never made it. Actor James Dean was 24 when he died in a collision near Cholame. . . . A memorial car rally will retrace Dean’s final drive beginning at 8 a.m. in Van Nuys’ Woodley Park.

MODERN HOMES: For much of its history as the world’s biggest suburb, the San Fernando Valley has been a sort of architectural laboratory. Modernist architect Richard Neutra’s stilt houses along Oakfield Drive in Sherman Oaks are world famous, for example. A tour Sunday explores L.A.’s modern homes (B1). . . . Another Neutra design, Kester Avenue Elementary School in Van Nuys, became a standard for other classrooms all over the state--with buildings one room deep, covered walkways and lots of windows.

NORTHERN FLANK: Colin Powell has come, he has signed, he has left town. But it must be asked: Why did he snub the Valley? Sure, he signed his memoirs, “My American Journey,” in Orange County, San Bernardino and Century City. He’s even going to Cleveland. But what about us? We read. We salute. We vote. Brigette Marmion of Random House said Powell’s absence was not meant as a slight. “Regrettably we had to make choices,” she said. “What I tried to do in Southern California was to select a geographically varied group of stores, but that meant the general couldn’t go everywhere.”