Beat Memories : The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg

The exhibit included snapshots and then some of the same photos blown up and captioned in Ginsberg’s inky script, some of which was difficult to read. My mom said that some of them should be postcards. Knowing, I was like, The naked ones? She laughed and walked away. The captions were helpful in figuring out who’s who in Kerouac’s books as Ginsberg explained in which literary tales they appeared and their code names.
I loved the letters. There were hand-​written letters between writers. There were typed letters between writers a la a typewriter. I was surprised to read a quick letter from Carl Solomon to some rich woman apologizing for Ginsberg’s «Howl.» Hmm, didn’t know he wasn’t a fan.
One of my favorite photos was of Neal Cassady and a car salesman on the car lot. It’s so telling of everything that’s to come for him and the rest of them.
I was not allowed to take pictures. No cameras, food, drink, smoking, and I think maybe one more thing that I can’t remember but was listed on the door. And so, I had to break some sort of rule in honor of the Beats: I took a picture of a photo.