literature
vesuvio cafe
from jack kerouac, allen ginsberg, the beats posted in literature by pete_nice
Founded in 1948 by Henri Lenoir, the Vesuvio Cafe became a popular hangout for Beat writers like Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassidy.
From the Vesuvio website:
"On October 17, 1955, Neal Cassady, the real life Dean Moriarty of the quintessential Beat classic On the Road, stopped at Vesuvio on the way to the now legendary Six Gallery for a poetry reading, and the place has never been the same. It became a regular hangout of Jack Kerouac and other famous Beat poets and has become ground zero for pilgrims on the Beat trail ever since."
view full location details...jack kerouac alley
from jack kerouac, the beats posted in literature by pete_nice
Located between the City Lights Bookstore and the Vesuvio Café in San Francisco, Alder Alley became Jack Kerouac Alley thanks to the efforts of poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 1998.
view full location details...jack & stella kerouac center for american studies
from jack kerouac, the beats posted in literature by pete_nice
Founded in 2005 with financial support from Kerouac Estate Executor John Sampas, the Jack & Stella Kerouac Center for American Studies has the stated purpose of strengthening "the interdisciplinary study of American culture by facilitating ties between the fields of English, history, philosophy, cultural studies, art, music, sociology, and economics."
The center serves as the home for the Kerouac Writer-in-Residence program, the Kerouac Conference on Beat Literature, Kerouac Scholarships and the New England Poetry Conference.
city lights bookstore
from allen ginsberg, jack kerouac, the beats posted in literature by pete_nice
Founded as an all-paperback bookstore by Peter D. Martin in 1952, the name City Lights is an homage to the Charlie Chaplin film of the same name. Martin also used the name for a magazine he was publishing in San Francisco at the same time.
In 1953, the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti was walking by the storefront and noticed Martin hanging up a sign. Ferlinghetti told Martin he had written for his magazine, and that he had always wanted to own a bookstore. They both invested $500 and became partners in the store.
In 1955, Ferlinghetti heard Allen Ginsberg reciting Howl at the Six Gallery and offered to publish it. The poem was published in 1956, and the resulting obscenity trial was not entirely unexpected given the prevailing attitude towards drug use and homosexuality at the time.
The presiding judge at the obscenity trial declared that Howl was not obscene and that a book with “the slightest redeeming social importance” was guaranteed First Amendment protection.
view full location details...the beat museum
from jack kerouac, allen ginsberg, the beats posted in literature by pete_nice
In 2003, the Ciminios transformed their bookstore into the Beat Museum. Three years later, they moved to this two-story location in North Beach.
The Beat Museum now features several donated artifacts of the Beat era and its characters: Jack Kerouac's jacket, Neal Cassidy's referee shirt from his Ken Kesey bus-driving days, the 1949 Hudson- the same make and model that was driven in On the Road- used in the film version of that book and donated by creators of the film.
In addition, the museum features more than 1,000 photos, rare books, paintings, records, and posters to show the Beats rejection of conformity, resistance to cold war mentality, and love of personal freedom.
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