ReZoom

Jack Kerouac, who gave voice to our rebellious generation, went from a broke ''Dharma bum'' to a literary giant, not in Frisco, but in Orlando.

In our Landmark Series we pick places on the American map, sometimes obvious, sometimes surprising, that have been significant to boomer history. Often they will be places that will inspire visits.

A decade before Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters were celebrated by Tom Wolf in the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, the prototype for a generation seeking liberation from conformity and materialism was published. It was On the Road by Jack Kerouac.

Kerouac, the peripatetic. Kerouac, icon of the artist seeking universal connection uninhibited by cultural constraints. Born in Lowell, MA, haunting Manhattan, and traveling America, he is most identified with the Beats of San Francisco.

Yet, truth be told, San Francisco is only a base he tagged a few times as he made his rounds. If there was a home plate where he stayed long enough to reap the benefit of publishing his literary home run (On The Road), and write his next one (Dharma Bums), it was in a small house in the College Park section of, surprise – Orlando.

Kerouac lived in the house at 1418 ½ Clouser Avenue with his mother from July 1957 until the Spring of 1958 – one of his longer stays anywhere up until that time. But these facts were lost to history until local NBC reporter, Bob Kealing, dug them up again in 1996.

Bookstore owners Marty and Jan Cummins picked up on Kealing's story with the idea of anointing Orlando as a literary haven by saving the 1920's cottage from demolition and making it over, 1950s style, into a literary retreat. Thus was born The Kerouac Project of Orlando that, with the benefit of numerous boomer benefactors, now accepts applications from aspiring writers to live in-residence rent-free for three months.

The best way to visit this landmark is to come to the Saturday night readings by writer's in residence, not only to see where the master lived, but to imbibe (and support) the renewed literary excitement that his legacy here has generated. See The Kerouac Project News and Events for details.

Why Did We Pick This Landmark Now?
With the 50th anniversary of the publication of On the Road, we thought we might pinpoint where Kerouac was when he hit it big. And also let you know that you can still find his active legacy living here.

Editor, Jeff Stein (Jeffry John Stein), is the author of Life, Myth, and the American Family Unreeling.