“I’m beat to the square, and square to the beat, and that’s my vocation.”
-William Everson aka Brother Antoninus

Painted Houses on Haight-Ashbury

So, I spent last weekend in San Francisco, another epicenter of arts and culture in America. From indie film houses buried deep in the Castro to painted heart sculptures adorning the parks of the Financial District, this city is full to bursting with amazing art, architecture, theater and literature that, like the houses that line Haight Street, are so mismatched they somehow look perfect together. A vibrant bohemian spirit permeates the streets and hearkens back to the days of free love and the beat generation.

I left my heart in San Francisco...

Who was the so-called “Beat Generation“? Short version: a bunch of young writers who revolutionized poetry with their stream of consciousness observations on life in Post-WWII America. They were the fathers and grandfathers of the hippies — the Jack Kerouacs and Allen Ginsbergs and Merry Pranksters who stormed the country on tie-dyed painted buses freeing minds with their liberal minded poetry and hypnotizing performances. (Don’t believe me? YouTube Kerouac’s readings –they’re like music.) What was born of the beat generation, besides the Anti-War movement and the flower children of  the ’60s, is some of the most incredible and under-rated literature of the modern era. On the Road and Howl and Dharma Bums are the stuff that revolutions are made of and  the literary landscape of America was forever changed when the beats burst onto the scene.

Half a century later, the spirit of the beats is still alive and well on the San Fran streets, and there is nowhere better to dive into the bohemian “beat” life than in North Beach’s Beat Museum. For a mere $5 (the cost of a High 5 ticket!) you can wander through a treasure trove of letters, artwork, original manuscripts and artifacts that immerse you in the era of the beatnik. (You can even see Jack Kerouac’s jacket!) The museum is run by a nonprofit, so your $5 goes directly to the upkeep of the museum. Of course, there’s a can’t-be-missed book store in the same building. And if you can’t get enough of that crazy beat vibe, keep it going by checkin’ out the original beat book store City Lights Books, opened by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (whose amazing book of poetry A Coney Island of the Mind has found a permanent home in my tote bag).

So, stop by your library and pick up some poetry by the beats. Or next time you’re in sunny San Francisco, take an hour to check out one of the city’s hidden gems, The Beat Museum so you can be beat to the sqaure, and square to the beat.

“What’s your road, man? -holyboy road, madman road, rainbow road, guppy road, any road. It’s an anywhere road for anybody anyhow.”
-Jack Kerouac, On The Road