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Beat Generation in New York: A Walking Tour of Jack Kerouac's City
Set off on the eternal trail of the Beat experience in the city that inspired many of Jack Kerouac's best-loved novels including On the Road, Vanity of Duluoz, The Town and the City, and Desolation Angels. This is the ultimate guide to Kerouac's New York, packed with photos of the Beat Generation and filled with undercover information and little-known anecdotes.
Eight easy-to-follow walking tours guide you to:
Greenwich Village bars and cafés where Kerouac and his friends Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, William Burroughs, Diane di Prima, Gregory Corso, Hettie and LeRoi Jones, John Clellon Holmes, Joyce Johnson, and others read poetry, drank, turned-on, and talked all night long.
The Chelsea-district apartment where Jack wrote On the Road.
Midtown clubs where Beat poets mingled with artists Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning and listened to jazz and blues greats Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Billie Holiday.
Times Square, a magnet for Kerouac and the Beats.
Columbia University, where the original Beats first met and began a revolution in American literature and culture.
Each tour includes a map of the neighborhood, subway and bus information, and an insider's angle on Jack Kerouac's life in New York. A must for Beat enthusiasts and critics.
Bill Morgan is a painter and archival consultant working in New York City. His previous publications include The Works of Allen Ginsberg 1941-1994: A Descriptive Bibliography and Lawrence Ferlinghetti: A Comprehensive Bibliography. He has worked as an archivist for Allen Ginsberg, Abbie Hoffman, and Timothy Leary.
Eight easy-to-follow walking tours guide you to:
Greenwich Village bars and cafés where Kerouac and his friends Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, William Burroughs, Diane di Prima, Gregory Corso, Hettie and LeRoi Jones, John Clellon Holmes, Joyce Johnson, and others read poetry, drank, turned-on, and talked all night long.
The Chelsea-district apartment where Jack wrote On the Road.
Midtown clubs where Beat poets mingled with artists Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning and listened to jazz and blues greats Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Billie Holiday.
Times Square, a magnet for Kerouac and the Beats.
Columbia University, where the original Beats first met and began a revolution in American literature and culture.
Each tour includes a map of the neighborhood, subway and bus information, and an insider's angle on Jack Kerouac's life in New York. A must for Beat enthusiasts and critics.
Bill Morgan is a painter and archival consultant working in New York City. His previous publications include The Works of Allen Ginsberg 1941-1994: A Descriptive Bibliography and Lawrence Ferlinghetti: A Comprehensive Bibliography. He has worked as an archivist for Allen Ginsberg, Abbie Hoffman, and Timothy Leary.
- GenresTravelNonfiction
166 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1997
100 people want to read
About the author
Bill Morgan
71 books24 followersBill Morgan is a painter and archival consultant working in New York City. His previous publications include The Works of Allen Ginsberg 1941-1994: A Descriptive Bibliography and Lawrence Ferlinghetti: a Comprehensive Bibliography. He has worked as an archivist for Allen Ginsberg, Abbie Hoffman, and Timothy Leary.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 30, 2011
Well, i am in New York City at the moment(s), and its too hot outside to actually do a walking tour- but i think this is the book to bring with you when you are in NYC. Bill Morgan is the official historian of everything that's BEAT. And here he takes you to neighborhood-to-neighborhood to all the Beat haunts and lofts/apartments. As well as the bars, the jazz nightclubs, and various parks where one score Heroin or grass. In other words this is pretty essential travel guide to one of the great cities on this planet.
The shocking thing is also how much has changed since this book was written (in the 1990's). Buildings don't exist, so what you get is sort of a ghost tour - and Manhattan in many ways is a ghost - but with only respect to memory and history. Its a beautiful form of memory - not my own, but from history. And the Beats, without a doubt, made NYC a strong presence. Even if you don't plan to go to New York City, this book is pretty much an essential document of Beat life. In other words, I love it!
The shocking thing is also how much has changed since this book was written (in the 1990's). Buildings don't exist, so what you get is sort of a ghost tour - and Manhattan in many ways is a ghost - but with only respect to memory and history. Its a beautiful form of memory - not my own, but from history. And the Beats, without a doubt, made NYC a strong presence. Even if you don't plan to go to New York City, this book is pretty much an essential document of Beat life. In other words, I love it!
July 28, 2018
Absolutely perfect! It's as if Bill Morgan is right there with you giving you all the secrets for free that I'm quite confident 90% of the people in NYC at any given time are completely unaware of. A must have for any Beat fan while in New York.
May 23, 2007
My dog-eared copy of this little guidebook was my constant companion in New York during my first year there. It helped me chase Kerouac's ghost around Manhattan, especially Morningside Heights, where I was living.
March 17, 2020
I have yet to take the actual tours here, but in preparation I went through the book and marked sites I’m Most eager to see. I will probably revise my stars after my trip to NY. I thought the book very informative, as it even included some sites Edgar Allen Poe visited, among many others. Most of them around the 50’s and 60’s counter-culture, of course, but I found the wide ranging list helpful.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews