Postcard: Paris

A new book alleges that Jim Morrison died in sordid circumstances, but the fans who have long made a shrine of his tomb are unfazed. The endless vigil at an American icon's grave

Peter Turnley / Corbis

Jim Morrison's grave in Paris, France.

Even on a gray day in Paris last week, there was one place you could find a crowd of tourists from places as varied as Rome, Siberia and Orlando, Fla.--Jim Morrison's grave in Père-Lachaise cemetery. Forget Frédéric Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf and the hundreds of other luminaries interred among its chestnut trees. The frontman of the Doors has been the cemetery's headline draw ever since the rock star's untimely death in Paris at the age of 27 in July 1971.

Thirty-six years later, the anniversary of his passing is still one of the cemetery's main events, as fans gather around...

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