“The air was soft, the stars so fine, the promises of every cobbled alley so great”. ~
J.Kerouac
On a glorious weekend in March, Randy and I headed up the coast to San Francisco for the dedication of Jack Kerouac Alley in North Beach..
The alley had been called “Adler Alley” before and separated City Lights Bookstore and the Beat bar, Vesuvio Cafe. The alley runs east and west between Columbus Avenue in North Beach and Grant Avenue in China Town. The alley used to be a typical city alley with vehicle traffic and garbage, etc. It connected the great neighborhoods of China Town and North Beach. Now it is traffic free and was renovated and transformed into a beautiful new passageway, lined with inspired 
writings by Li Po, Confucius, Mya Angelou, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, John Steinbeck, as well as Jack Kerouac himself
We had been in contact with the owner of Vesuvio’s, Janet Clyde, and she extended a warm welcome to us to stop by and get acquainted. We stopped by after we had checked in to The Royal Pacific and she was a very gracious and generous hostess! We were all excited about the next day’s activities.
We then headed over to Cafe Trieste and met our great poetess friend, Jessica Loos and some of her friends and had a delightful late evening.
The next day we got up early to get to Vesuvio’s before the expected crowds. We grabbed a table by the window overlooking the alley and settled in.
We were soon joined by my brother, John Allen, and his good friends, Judith and Dan. The place began to get crowded, so we would take turns going out to the alley to check on the ceremony and meet more people.
One of our family’s great friends is Father Huerta, he did the Catholic blessing. He introduced me to Mayor Gavin Newsom... what a thrill!
Then the dedication began, with dragon dancers and firecrackers! There were Italian opera singers and salsa bands, Chinese folk dancers and jazz and the SF Poet Laureate, Jack Hirschman, and many other fabulous entertainers, celebrities and dignitaries.
Inside, Vesuvio Cafe was now very crowded! We met Amy Chung, David Sullivan, Ward Dunham, Daniel Macchiarini, and the beautiful daughter of one of John’s friends (and mine) in high school showed up, too! It was great to visit with Nancy Peters and Lawrence Ferlinghetti again.
What a wonderful experience and such great history. Jack would have been so proud.
A poem in the alley by Li Po reads “In the company of best friends, there is never enough wine”.
How true!
Please go and visit this historic alley and say hello to our good friends at City Lights Books and
Vesuvio Cafe.
Jami Cassady and Randy Ratto
Please email Randy with any questions, comments or media inquiries.