Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
City Lights
'Abandon all despair, all ye who enter,' reads a sign by poet/founder Lawrence Fer-
linghetti at
City Lights
(
Click here
)
. This commandment is easy to follow upstairs in the
sunny Poetry Room, with its piles of freshly published verse - since winning a landmark
free-speech ruling over Allen Ginsberg's
Howl
in 1957, City Lights has published William
S Burroughs, Frank O'Hara and Jack Kerouac, among others. Pause in the Poet's Chair,
and read a poem to inspire your journey into literary North Beach.
Beat Museum
Don't be surprised to hear a Dylan jam session by the front door, or glimpse Allen Gins-
berg naked in documentary footage screened inside the
Beat Museum
(
Click here
)
.
Specs Museum Cafe
Begin your literary bar crawl at
Specs
(
Click here
)
amid merchant-marine memorabilia,
tall tales and a glass of Anchor Steam.
Jack Kerouac Alley
On the Road
author Jack Kerouac once blew off Henry Miller to go on a bender, until
Ve-
suvio
(
Click here
)
bartenders ejected him into the street now named for him:
Jack Ker-
ouac Alley
(
Click here
)
. Note the words of Chinese poet Li Po embedded in the alley:
'In the company of friends, there is never enough wine.'
Li Po Cocktails
Follow the literary lead of Kerouac and Ginsberg and end your night under the laughing
Buddha at
Li Po
(
Click here
)
- there may not be enough wine, but there's plenty of beer.
