The entire town of Tarzana, California, is built on the former estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs. However, few people there know that, which is a sad commentary on the durability of literary fame, or perhaps any type of fame.
Consider the story about it told by David Morrell, creator of Rambo, from his book, Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing:
"John Whalen wrote an article for The Washington Times in which he described his visit to Tarzana, California. That town, 20 miles north of Los Angeles, got its name because Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan, owned a large ranch there. In the 1920s Burroughs began subdividing the property into residential lots until finally the community of Tarzana was created. In a bizarre odyssey, John wandered the streets of the town, trying to find someone who knew where Burroughs had lived. “Edgar who?” and “I don’t read books” were typical of the answers he received. Few people knew that Tarzana had been named after Tarzan, and some didn’t even know who Tarzan was. After repeated efforts, John came to a small low house concealed behind a big tree, crammed between a furniture store and a transmission shop. The house was where Burroughs had written his Tarzan stories. The urn containing the author’s ashes had been buried under the tree, but no one knew exactly where. After taking some photographs, John paused at the gate and peered back at the obscured house. “I felt very strange standing in the middle of a town named after the fictional creation of a man whose name was totally unknown to most of the people living there.”
Sic transit gloria.
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