Sammy Davis Jr., seen here in 1974, lost his left eye in a Nov. 19, 1954 car crash just outside San Bernardino. Celebrities flocked to visit him at Community Hospital. (Photo by Michael Fresco ...

In 1954, a crash on Route 66 changed Sammy Davis Jr.’s life forever. We visited the site where the music icon lost his left eye—and where Hollywood history took a dramatic turn.

Just outside San Bernardino on Route 66 lies the site of the 1954 accident that left Sammy Davis Jr. permanently injured. This visit retraces the location tied to a defining event in his life, one ...

3. Losing His Eye In 1954, at 29 years old, Davis lost his left eye in a car accident. The reality of living with one eye would be a source of humor and of self-consciousness for his entire life.

Davis Jr marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr numerous times during the Civil Rights movement and when a 1954 car crash in San Bernardino nearly killed him and took his left eye, Davis began ...