Henry Miller Memorial Library, Big Sur

The Beat Museum on Wheels

Left to right: Steve Edington, President, Lowell Celebrates Kerouac; Jerry Cimino, The Beat Museum, George Sylvia & Cathy Cassady Sylvia; Michael Polish, Director of feature film Big Sur; Magnus Toren, Director of the Henry Miller Memorial Library.

Two weeks ago today, Estelle and I blew out of Big Sur, California for our 2022 Kerouac@100 Centennial Tour, with our ultimate destination being Jack Kerouac’s hometown of Lowell, MA. We said goodbye to our many friends at the Henry Miller Memorial Library and balled that jack up Highway One, made a hard right turn around Prunedale, and watched the Pacific Ocean glimmer and fade in our rear-view. We knew we had many miles before we could rest.

  • Steve Edington
  • Dana Carnazzo
  • “Alf the Sacred Burro”
  • Cathy Cassady Sylvia
  • Cathy Cassady Sylvia and Michael Polish
  • George Slyvia (right) photographs Cathy and Magnus Toren
  • Kerouac first editions on display at the Henry Miller Library
  • More Beat ephemera on display at the HMML

As expected, our time at the Henry Miller Library was a blast! Our host, Magnus Toren, and friend of many years, put together a fantastic program that included Steve Edington (President, Lowell Celebrates Kerouac) reading from his upcoming Kerouac book, The Gospel According to Jack. Cathy Cassady was on hand to relate stories of her parents and “Uncle Jack,” along with Dana Carnazzo, whose family owned Alf the Sacred Burro, a “character” in the novel Big Sur. Movie director Michael Polish hosted a special screening amidst the redwoods of his 2013 film Big Sur, based upon Kerouac’s novel.

It was a very fitting sendoff for a coast-to-coast tour in 2022. Our thanks to all!

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