Ghosts & Footprints:

I’ve been chasing ghosts my entire life. I am fascinated with history about as much as I am with literature. My personal and intellectual endeavors are particularly peaked when the two overlap. The Beat Generation is one of the fields which interests me the most. As a result, I have spent a considerable amount of time researching and tracking footprints from the era. While this website is concerned with New York City, I have done several road-trips a-la Kerouac & Cassady, which I intend to document here in good time.

Special Note:

Though I have spent considerable time independently researching important locations to photograph in NYC, I’m greatly in debt to Bill Morgan’s book: The Beat Generation in New York: A Walking Tour of Jack Kerouac’s City, without which it would have been impossible to have known about or to have found so many of the footprints that I represent on this site. I only wish I had discovered this book sooner! Bill Morgan was a friend to Allen Ginsberg from the 1980’s to Ginsberg’s death in 1997, during which time he also acted as Ginsberg’s archivist and bibliographer.

My Beat Collection:

I have an extensive collection of Beat resource material, including biographies, photography books, periodical pieces and out of print articles obtained through days/weeks/months of sifting through library microfilm. I hope to provide a complete bibliography of my collection in the future.

I am currently working on a book of photographs and reflective essays on the Beat Generation in NYC from today’s perspective, and my own quest to trace their footsteps.

My Thesis:

I wrote my graduate thesis on Neal Cassady and his role in the genesis and intellectual structure of the Beat Generation as a counter-culture movement.

I don’t know many other Beat Generation enthusiasts, therefore, feel free to email me to say hello, offer insight, trade ideas or even criticism. I’m especially interested in hearing from other fellow Cassady-an’s.