During the last week of June, Carolyn made the trip from England to California to participate in the new documentary on Big Sur, Jack Kerouac’s tale of staying at Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s cabin in Big Sur which is just south of Carmel. This was very exciting for us because normally we only see Carolyn at Christmas. TangoPix, the production company that was filming the documentary, flew Carolyn here and back.
On June 29th, Jami and our daughter Becky (who acted as our photographer) and I drove to Carmel where we were picked up in a limo and taken to the cabin. If you know the story of the cabin, it is in Bixby Canyon underneath the Bixby Bridge. The Bixby Bridge is the famous bridge they show in pictures advertising Big Sur and in many TV and magazine commercials, especially car commercials.
After traveling down a dirt road for a couple of miles we reached the bottom of the canyon and 
came upon the site of the filming. Everyone had to be extremely quiet while the cameras were rolling.
When we arrived they were filming Mr. Ferlinghetti and Carolyn on the front steps of an old Western hotel. The hotel sits next to what many people think is the cabin that Jack stayed in. It isn’t. The original cabin is about 100 yards further down the road and vastly remodeled. After an hour or two, they cut for lunch. Lunch was served in the original cabin. Since Carolyn, Cathy, Jami and John were in the book Big Sur it was fun to learn the differences about the property, then and now.
First, the house has been changed and modernized. There are new owners. The original front door is now the back door. Jami and John remembered crossing the creek to enter the house. There is no road up to the creek now, the creek goes behind the house. The original "out house" is still standing, a real beauty! After a catered lunch, the director Curt Worden, wanted to film down at the beach, about 400 yards down the path. It is a narrow foot path that crosses over the creek several times as it flows out to the sea. The path takes you to a beautiful, small beach but not the one we visited in 1960.
The crew was amazing....it was our very special treat to see how they set up all the shots and expertly interviewed Jami and John with different "backdrops", 
Jami was filmed with the Pacific behind her, and John was filmed with Bixby Bridge. Then they had Carolyn walking along the beach, that was the best. All in all, a most memorable experience.
Thanks so much to Curt, Gloria, Jim Sampas (we missed you in Lowell!) And all the other wonderful people who made our Big Su experience such a joy.
This documentary seems like it will be very good from what we’ve heard and seen. It will have an original soundtrack that will include Dar Williams, the lead guitar player from Death Cab For Cutie and Sam Volt, among others. John Ventimigula from the T.V. show, The Sopranos does some narration. Tom Waites, the poet, singer-songwriter, was interviewed along with many others. It is being filmed in hi-def. Please visit www.tangopix.com.
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