The Beat Museum

Just as Bo Diddley and Elvis laid the groundwork in the Fifties for the rock ‘n’ roll success of the Beatles and Stones in the Sixties, the literature and counterculture lifestyles of the Beatniks in the Fifties made possible the social and political revolution of the Hippies and Radicals in the Sixties. The Beat Museum pays tribute to these counterculture pioneers in North Beach, the neighborhood where they flourished.

Housed in a funky, century-old building next to a strip club, the museum oozes with as much character as the Beats themselves. Compensating for its small size (three rooms and a store) are walls and display cases overflowing with books, paintings, posters and the relics of the micro-culture.

The Beats’ history is told in multimedia. There’s an eight-seat theater where a 90-minute Kerouac documentary is shown and paintings by poet-painter-activist Lawrence Ferlinghetti, best known for operating City Lights Books around the corner—which he still owns at age 91. Many first-edition books by the Beats, especially Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, are displayed.

The museum explores episodes in Beat history in depth. For example, in the display on “Howl”—the Ginsberg poem that triggered a free-speech trial ultimately won by Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti (who published it)—is a copy of the poem in Ginsberg’s handwriting, a first edition of the book, photos of the famous duo and newsclippings about the trial.

Even if the Beats don’t appeal to you, artifacts of the era on display are a treat: an RCA Victor black-and-white TV, Underwood typewriters, old license plates, vintage beer cans, a mimeograph machine, and the wool jacket Kerouac wore on hikes with fellow Beat writer Gary Snyder, which inspired his tale of finding Buddhism in The Dharma Bums.

The store out front sells Beatnik books and posters, and hosts author readings, but it’s inside the museum in back and upstairs where you’ll pick up the beat of the Beats. The museum is well worth a visit if you have any interest in the roots of the sociopolitical upheaval of the mid-Twentieth Century, which still reverberates today.

HelloSanFrancisco tip: “On the Road: Around the World” (July 1-Dec. 31) is a special exhibition of 100 covers (in 25 languages) of the Kerouac classic.

- by Bob Cooper, San Francisco Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Bob Cooper

Bob Cooper is a full-time freelance writer (www.bob-cooper.com) who writes about travel, outdoor sports and health. He is a monthly contributor to Runner's World and has written recent articles for other national magazines such as Continental, Ladies' Home Journal and Inc.