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Jack Kerouac Alley, formerly Adler Alley or Adler Place, is a one-way alleyway in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, that connects
Grant Avenue Grant Avenue in San Francisco, California, is one of the oldest streets in the city's Chinatown, San Francisco, Chinatown district. It runs in a north–south direction starting at Market Street in the heart of downtown and dead-ending past Fran ...
in
Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...
, and Columbus Avenue in North Beach. The alley is named after
Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian ...
, a
Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-World War II era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by members o ...
writer who used to frequent the pub and bookstore adjacent to the alley.


History

The alley had commonly been used for garbage dumping and a shortcut for trucks before poet
Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. An author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, and ...
, who was the co-founder of
City Lights Bookstore City Lights is an independent bookstore-publisher combination in San Francisco, California, that specializes in world literature, the arts, and progressive politics. It also houses the nonprofit City Lights Foundation, which publishes selected ...
, presented his idea in 1988 to the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the board of supervisors, legislative body within the government of San Francisco, government of the San Francisco, City and County of San Francisco in the U.S. state of California. Government and polit ...
to transform the alleyway. The project involved repaving the alley, making it a pedestrian walkway, and installing new street lights. The new look alley was reopened to the public in March 2007 and a ceremony was held in April 2007 to celebrate the reopening. The alley is now known for its engraved Western and
Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...
writing, by such writers as
John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...
,
Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credi ...
, Ferlinghetti, and Kerouac himself. File:2017 Jack Kerouac Alley street sign.jpg, Street sign in 2017 File:Ferlinghetti's plaque.JPG, Plaque with a quote from
Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. An author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, and ...
's poem in Jack Kerouac Alley File:The air was soft the stars so fine the promise of every cobbled alley so great by Jack Kerouac - Jack Kerouac Alley.jpg, Plaque with
Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian ...
's quote File:The free exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world by John Steinbeck - Jack Kerouac Alley.jpg, Plaque with
John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...
's quote


References


External links

* {{authority control Chinatown, San Francisco Jack Kerouac Landmarks in San Francisco North Beach, San Francisco Streets in San Francisco