29.5.2024, Counterculture incl. Beat poetry in NYC and SF Bay Area
(1) Beat generation, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_Generation: … a literary subculture movement … explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-World War II era … The central elements … are the rejection of standard narrative values, making a spiritual quest, the exploration of … Eastern religions, the rejection of economic materialism, explicit portrayals of the human condition, experimentation with psychedelic drugs, and sexual liberation and exploration … Allen Ginsberg’s Howl (1956), William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch (1959), and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road (1957) are among the best-known examples … developed a reputation as new bohemian hedonists, who celebrated non-conformity and spontaneous creativity … The core group … met in 1944 in and around the Columbia University campus … in the mid-1950s, the central figures … ended up together in San Francisco … In the 1950s, a Beatnik subculture formed around the literary movement, although this was often viewed critically by major authors of the Beat movement. In the 1960s, elements of the expanding Beat movement were incorporated into the hippie and larger counterculture movements. Neal Cassady, as the driver for Ken Kesey’s bus Furthur, was the primary bridge between these two generations …
Selected Beat poets & family: Joan Vollmer Adams, William Burroughs, Neal Cassady (= Dean Moriarity in „On the Road“), Bob Dylan, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, LeRoi & Hetti Jones, David Kammerer, Lucien Karr, Jack Kerouac (= Sal Paradise in „On the Road“), Peter Orlovsky, Diane di Prima, Kenneth Rexroth, Carl Solomon, Anne Waldman.
City Lights Books, edited by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Nancy Peters; published at the City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Av., San Francisco, CA 94133:
- Bill Morgan (1997): The Beat generation in New York. A walking tour of Jack Kerouac’s city. Preface by Hettie Jones. Book chapters: (p.1) Columbia University, incl. Morningside Park, Riverside Park, West End Bar, (p.17) Times Square, incl. New York Public Library, Bryant Park, Times Square area, McGraw-Hill building, Birdland, (p.31) Rockefeller Center, Midtown, incl. Saint Patrick’s cathedral, Time Magazine, film „Pull My Daisy, (p.41) Chelsea, incl. Partisan Review, Warhol’s factory, Chelsea Hotel, (p.55 & 73) Greenwich Village, Tour 1 & 2, incl. Cherry Lane Theatre, Village Vanguard, Washington Square/NYU, New Directions Publishing Co., Bob Dylan’s double townhouse, Bleeker Street Music Strip/Bitter End, café Wha? Café Figaro, Mills House (Allen Ginsberg), (p.95 & 119) East Village, Tour 1 & 2, (p.139) Far-flung Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Yonkers, incl. Brooklyn Bridge.
- Bill Morgan (2003): The Beat generation in San Francisco. A literary tour. Introduction by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. (p.213) North Bay tour / Sausalito … Alan Watts’s houseboat The Vallejo, Richardson Bay, Sausalito harbor, Gate 5. Alan Watts lived on a houseboat moored here, and commuted to San Francisco by ferry or his lectures and radio programmes. Watts’s The Way of Zen, [and] Beat Zen, Square Zen and Zen were on the shelves of virtually everyone in the counterculture during the 1960s and 1970s …
NYC, Greenwich:
NYC, Morning Heights:
(2) Counterculture of the 1960s, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterculture_of_the_1960s: … an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon and political movement that … began in the early 1960s … and continued through the early 1970s … The effects … have been ongoing to the present day … As the movement progressed, widespread social tensions also developed concerning other issues, and tended to flow along generational lines regarding respect for the individual, human sexuality, women’s rights … end of racial segregation, experimentation with psychoactive drugs, and differing interpretations of the American Dream … embrace of experimentation is particularly notable in the works of popular musical acts such as the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, … Janis Joplin and Bob Dylan, … Everyday fashion experienced a decline of the suit … Styles based around jeans … became an important fashion movement … Post-war geopolitics … Changing lifestyles … Vietnam War … Free Speech movement … New Left … counterculture-oriented publications like the Whole Earth Catalog … Psychedelic research and experimentation … Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters … Alternative media … Alternative disc sports (Frisbee) … Technology … Cultural historians – such as … John Markoff in his book What the Dormouse Said … have pointed out that many of the early pioneers of personal computing emerged from within the West Coast counterculture … Criticism and legacy … Key figures … Stewart Brand … Rachel Carson … Angela Davis … Jane Fonda … Mick Jagger … Gary Snyder … Alan Watts …
(3) Summer of Love [1967], https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_Love: … a major social phenomenon that occurred in San Francisco during the summer of 1967. As many as 100,000 people, mostly young people, hippies, beatniks, and 1960s counterculture figures, converged in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district and Golden Gate Park … More broadly, the Summer of Love encompassed hippie culture, spiritual awakening, hallucinogenic drugs, anti-war sentiment, and free love throughout the West Coast … and as far away as New York City … An episode of the … documentary series American Experience referred to the Summer of Love as “the largest migration of young people in the history of America” …
Cf. 5.5.23 Subcultural anchorage, incl. earlier website posts
(4) Hippie [culture], https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie: … someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s … moved into New York City’s Greenwich Village, San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district, and Chicago’s Old Town community … early hippies adopted the language and countercultural values of the Beat Generation. Hippies created their own communities, listened to psychedelic music, embraced the sexual revolution, and many used drugs such as marijuana and LSD to explore altered states of consciousness … In 1967, the Human Be-In in Golden Gate Park … and the Monterey International Pop Festival … popularized hippie culture, leading to the Summer of Love on the West Coast …, and the 1969 Woodstock Festival on the East Coast … Hippie fashion and values had a major effect on culture, influencing popular music, television, film, literature … Since the 1960s, mainstream society has assimilated many aspects of hippie culture …
