Jack Kerouac Alley is located off Columbus Avenue, between Broadway and Pacific Avenue in San Francisco.
The now-pedestrianized passageway was renamed in 1988 to recognize the area’s association with Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac who, during visits to San Francisco, had frequented the City Lights bookstore and Vesuvio Cafe bar that flank the alley entrance.
The short alley, connecting Columbus Avenue in North Beach with Grant Avenue in Chinatown, was previously known as Adler Way. A plaque embedded in the paving includes a quote from Kerouac’s novel On the Road:
The air was soft, the stars so fine, the promise of every cobbled alley so great…
