Kerouac Alley*

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www.kerouacalley.com
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and the Beat Related on the World Wide Web

*Jack Kerouac Alley (formerly Adler Alley or Adler Place) is a one-way alleyway in Chinatown, San Francisco, California that connects Grant Avenue and Columbus Avenue, running between "Vesuvio Cafe" (255 Columbus Ave.) and Lawrence Ferlinghetti's "City Lights Books" (261 Columbus Ave.).

Carolyn Cassady
1923

Carolyn Cassady from Off the Road, 1990

Bill Tomson’s affected tough-guy drawl was unmistakable.

‘H´lo, doll, c´n I come up for a minute.’ […]

He confined his conversation to smart retorts, abstract bravado or stories of exploits designed to impress me, either on his own or those of a friend, one Neal Cassady. To Bill, Neal was a hero whose praises needed singing. Bill told me of daring escapades in cars, near-brushes with the law, deep intellectual and musical safaris.

Having been raised in fear and reverence of existing social codes, I was amazed to learn that there were men who actually dared live like those in books or movies…if, of course, Bill was not exaggerating. I n any case such a life was remote and unthreatening to me; I wasn't about to fall in love with Bill, and he told me Neal was in New York studying at Columbia University with two friends, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, the one a famous football player, the other a poet.

When I opened the door at his knock, I saw that he was not alone. Behind him stood another man, who now strode past me into the room, his eyes quickly categorizing the contents before he turned to acknowledge Bill's introduction.

'Cari, this is Neal Cassady.'

I could only stare, flustered by the myth made flesh. Neal nodded, and in that instant the sweep of his blue eyes made me feel I had been thoroughly appraised. I cursed Bill's failure to warn me.

The advance publicity on this man had already made him unique, but I was not prepared for his appearance - not so much the physical aspects - which were all pretty average - it was his suit. Though not the authentic 'zoot', it had the same aura, and I'd never been closer to one than the movie screen. It gave him a Runyonesque flavour, a dangerous glamor heightened by the white T-shirt and bare muscular neck.

Neal walked across the room to the phonograph and turned to me, a statue by the door.

' Bill tells me you have an unusually large collection of Lester Young records.' His eyebrows sloped upward and inward quizzically.

Bewildered, I stammered, 'Who? Lester who? I, uh…no…unusual, yes. I'm afraid I've never heard of him. All I have are leftovers from college … swing mostly … big bands.' And I glared at Bill for this additional embarrasment.

Neal too looked at Bill, but only for a second. The, cool and smiling, he sat in the rocker and began flipping through the albums.[…] Over and above my discomfort was a compelling desire to see more of this man.

Clearly, Neal Cassady was an intelligent person. That the talented and highly educated gathered around him and admired him in spite of his lack of formal education is evidence of this. That he married the highly intelligent and beautiful Caroline who to this day expresses her love and respect for him confirms it. Above all, Neal was a human being, and by all credible accounts, a gentle and caring one. He deserves our respect. -Kerouac Alley

Carolyn Cassady on Neal & Allen: American Legends	Carolyn Cassady: Beat Survivor: High Times	Carolyn Cassady: From Off the Road	Carolyn Cassady: On Poetry
John Allen Cassady: Metro Active: Carolyn & Neal's Son.	Carolyn Cassady : At Book Signing	Carolyn Cassady : @ Literary Kicks	Metro Active Books : Women of Wild Words
Carolyn & Neal's House in Los Gatos, California : Metro Active Books	Los Gatos California: Town Info	City Lights Bookseller & Publisher	Last Time I Commited Suicide: A Review of the Film
Heart Beat: Film Review	John Allen Cassady: Metro Active: Carolyn & Neal's Son.	Carolyn Cassady on Poetry : @ "Van Gogh's Ear"	"Off the Road: @ Chroniques (French Language)
Carolyn Cassady Photograph: @ The Kerouac Project	Carolyn Cassady: "The Myths of Hollyweird" : @ Nottingham Trent University (BBC)		Carolyn Cassady : @ Wikipedia
Carolyn Cassady : @ Literary Kicks	Larry Keenan Photos: : Carolyn Cassady, Hettie Jones and Janine Pommy Vega	News and Musings from Carolyn : From the Cassady Estate	John Allen Cassady - "11 THINGS WE DIDN'T ALREADY KNOW ABOUT NEAL CASSADY" : : From the Cassady Estate
Carolyn Cassady : @ Cosmic Baseball Association	For Beat's Sake : An Interview with Carolyn Cassady - by Jon Alan Carroll	Carolyn Cassady : Auction of Kerouac manuscript 'blasphemy' (Guardian - UK News)	Carolyn Cassady : "The Beatnik's Wife" - Time Magazine Article
Neal Cassady Letter To Allen Ginsberg	Beatfootprints.com - A Photographic Essay of Beat Generation Landmarks in New York City Just when I thought there was nothing new on the web!	Kerouac Alley Books, Etc. Beat Generation Books & Beat Era Jazz

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