Essay proposal

Pick any one essay from Relocating San Francisco or San Francisco Stories, and use this as a critical starting point to discuss or reflect a movement, work, art form, neighbourhood, or some SF social, art, or literary movement you are interested in. For example, create your own “meta-tourist” narrative for a tour of San Francisco.

I’m going to use the essay ‘The Beat Generation and San Francisco’s Culture of Dissent’ by Nancy J. Peters as my starting point in this essay, in an attempt to explore and discuss North Beach as a literary and cultural inspiration. After visiting North Beach recently, I feel this is an appropriate topic as I feel quite passionately about this part of the city, and it continually arises and is very apparent in the works by various beats. I’m also very interested in the beats, and have found there to be a lot of relevant sources and material to use in an essay about this topic.

In particular, I will focus on Ferlinghetti, as his writing on North Beach captures the essence of the area and supports he idea of it being poetically inspiring. Gary Snyder’s ‘North Beach’ from ‘ Place in Space’, also seems relevant to the essay and seems another good introducing piece when discussing North Beach.

Peter’s essay seems a good starting point as she talks through the history of the beats, as well as the importance of the city to their work. One particular passage I wish to focus on, is the reference to Philip Lamantia, in which he states ‘San Francisco was terribly straight laced and provincial, but at the same time there were these islands of freedom – in North Beach’. This statement will be, to an extent, the root of my argument.

In the essay I may diverge to discuss the possibility of other inspirations, contrasting parts of the city, and contemporary life in North Beach ion order to evaluate any changes with regards to this part of the city and if it now is able to inspire and reflect a counter culture as well as it did decades ago.

I hope to do a great deal more research and find other contrasting theories about North Beach, perhaps critics of the Beats, and sources who possibly regard North Beach as not such a literary inspiration. This may be difficult, as it is highly regarded as a poetic and ‘beat’ space, but I feel a counter argument and conflicting source will add another dimension to my essay rather than simply discussing the positive aspects of North Beach, the city and the Beats.

I find the island of Alcatraz an interesting yet somewhat creepy place. Its history as a prison is probably at the root of this, promoting images of escaping convicts and murderers. Due to its isolation from the outside by the cold, strong, hazardous currents of the waters of San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz was used to house Civil War prisoners as early as 1861. After the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, civilian prisoners were transferred to Alcatraz for safe confinement. By 1912 there was a large cellhouse, and in the 1920s a large 3-story structure was nearly at full capacity.
Whilst the prison was in use, it housed prisoners such as the notorious Al Capone.
In its 29 years of operation, the prison claimed to have no successful escapes, although seven prisoners were shot and 2 drowned whilst attempting to get out.
The prison was closed in 1963 as it was far more expensive than other prisons to operate. It also polluted the bay area and suffered from bad erosion.

It was then in 1969 that the Native Americans from different tribes occupied the island, propsing various changes to the treatment on native americans. It has been debated as to how successful the takover of Alcatraz was for native americans, as their initial demands were not met.On the PBS website there is a passage written by Russell Means. In it, he argues how vital the takeover of the island was, stating how the event changed the way native americans dressed, danced and spoke. He believes they recliamed their sovereignty and self-determination. With this in mind it seems aspects and results of the occupation far outweighed the somewhat smaller amounts of legislative changes by the government.

It seems there are various ways of looking at the island therefore; an abandoned creepy prison, a site of protest and mark of Indian identification, or historic and national heritage which has stood through time in the bay watching over the city.


Question: Do you think the island stands as a positive symbol of Native American achievements and protest? Or is it a reminder of their history of oppression and the governments neglect?

San Francisco Landmark - Coit Tower

Coit Tower and Telegraph Hill, in my opinion, are very important landmarks in San Francisco as they stand high above the city. Lighting up at night, the Tower is impossible to miss and prominent within the cities skyline. Coit Tower was built on Telegraph Hill in 1933.The art deco tower is 250 feet tall and was designed by architects Arthur Brown Jr. and Henry Howard with murals by 26 different artists and numerous assistants. It offers fantastic views of San Francisco, the bridge, ocean and city itself. When I visited the tower the views and beautiful setting of it amazed me. It really captures the essence of San Francisco.
The murals inside the tower also seem to reflect the spirit of the city, with very "leftist" political and social themes related to the Great Depression and socialist political movements. Amongst the scenes painted are a banck robbery, a scene from the harbor and a look inside a department store. They are bright and powerful, painted in a Diego Riviera style they give a brief history of the Calfornian experience of the Great Depression.

Brautigan Response - October 16th

I’ve chosen to look at the poem ‘San Francisco’, which although was only found by Brautigan in a Laundromat in San Francisco, I think, reflects Brautigans style and portrayal of the city very well. When I first read ‘San Francisco’, the repetitive style and rhythm made me want it to continue and go on. The tone is almost cheeky, flirty and is more upbeat than Brautigan’s poetry, that is until the final line ‘it was lonely’. Of course this depends on how we read the poem, as this may not be a stark, jolting depressive line intended to leave the reader pondering and reflecting perhaps the isolation and loneliness one can feel in a city such as San Francisco. Instead we could read this line as a jovial take on San Francisco life and everyday details so important to the inhabitants of the city, such as laundry.

This suits the black comedy and satirical touch always present in Brautigan’s poetry.This all fits well with beat image of counter culture, straying from the mainstream and finding humour in darker places. The Laundromat seems to work so well in this poem as it symbolises the working people, the everyday lives of those in the city, and the underlying meanings of these everyday occurrences. This is what Brautigan seems to do much of his poetry; taking something small and reading between the lines, whether it is sleeping, eating or sex.

Ferlinghetti response

The idea of 'contado' seems very apparent in the poems by ferlinghetti. The images he creates of San Francisco at times contrast but also compliment one another. One of my favourite poems is 'Yachts in the Sun', in which we see his paradoxical portrayal of the city with the beautiful 'white sails in sunlight', set against images of Alcatraz, bones and imprisonment. He brings up the idea of San Franciscos long history, suggesting it has been somewhat forgotten being buried deep down under the 'glass of the sea'. Glass however, implies we can see this history and crime of the city and it remains a part of San Francisco, the people simply choose to ignore it perhaps, as indicated when he says 'as the so skillful yachts so freely pass over'.

To me, contado embodies the idea of contrasting images, the country and the city, an influx of wealth from poorer places. 'In Golden Gate Park That Day' we see this again, an almost strange but calm scene is created by Ferlinghetti. The poem is relaxed, with the birds, meadow and fruit. There is also a flute, and although it's beaten up and not played in the poem, it suggests a light hearted, upbeat rhythm is being portrayed by this couple. This is all joulted at the end line however, 'except a certain awful look of terrible depression'. Again a very contrasting image to the sunny, breezy image of san francisco Ferlinghetti puts forward earlier in the poem.

These contrasts and joulting lines of negativity set amongst positive imagery serves to, in a way, give an accurate reflection of the city itself. It's so diverse with such different people and surroundings throughout the city, Ferlinghetti highlights this in his poetry.