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In March of 2007, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors dedicated an unused thoroughfare to the author of On the Road and Dharma Blues, Jack Kerouac, (1922-1969). These works were instrumental in ushering in a movement known as the Beat Generation, a 1950s coalition of likeminded artists, musicians, and writers who rejected American culture built on materialism and commercialism.
A fellow contributor to this literary and artistic trend was Lawrence Ferlinghetti, (1919-2021). Not only was he the founder of the nearby City Lights Bookstore, but he was also the person responsible for presenting the idea of the street name change two decades earlier. The former Adler Alley was chosen as a place to honor Kerouac, as two businesses, the aforementioned bookshop and the Vesuvio’s Cafe, each flanking the eastern entrance, were places that the author frequented.
Kerouac was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1922. He would be joined by Ferlinghetti and other literary luminaries, such as: William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsburg. Kerouac’s 1957 novel On the Road, an overnight sensation at the time, helped spearhead the movement. Kerouac would pass away in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1969 due to complications brought on by excessive drinking.
Once a former dumping ground for adjacent businesses, the newly christened alley is now a cleanly lit pedestrian walkway. Colorful murals align both sides of the street and there are several engraved cement panels carved with both Chinese and Western writing. They include poems by Maya Angelou, Lawerence Ferlinghetti, John Steinbeck, Elle Wheeler Wilcox, as well as Jack Kerouac.