Death and legacy[edit]
Gardner died on March 11, 1970, at his ranch in Temecula.[2][16] He was cremated and his ashes scattered over his beloved Baja California peninsula.[5]:305 The ranch, known as Rancho del Paisano at the time, was sold after his death, then resold in 2001 to the Pechanga Indians, renamed Great Oak Ranch, and eventually absorbed into the Pechanga reservation.
Gardner was the best-selling American writer of the 20th century at the time of his death.[2] The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center houses his manuscripts, along with a miniaturized reproduction of his study room.[17]In 2003 a new school in the Temecula Valley Unified School District was named Erle Stanley Gardner Middle School.[18][19]
Cultural references[edit]
Erle Stanley Gardner is referenced in William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch (1959, page 72). He is mentioned in relation to a psychotic disorder known as Bang-utot and thought related to Koto.
Gardner's name is well-known among avid crossword puzzle solvers, due to his first name's containing an unusual pattern of common letters, and few other famous people have the name Erle. As of January 2012, he is noted for having the highest ratio (5.31) of mentions in the The New York Times crossword puzzle to mentions in the rest of the newspaper among all other people since 1993.[20]
In 2001 Huell Howser Productions, in association with KCET/Los Angeles, featured Gardner's Temecula Rancho del Paisano in California's Gold. The 30-minute program is available as a VHS videorecording.[21]
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