Upon The 50th Anniversary Of The Death Of "King OF The Beats" Jack KerouacAs Hometown Lowell Celebrates -On The 60th Anniversary Of Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" (1957)-"When The Beatniks Were Social Lions"- An Article By Hunter S. Thompson On A Slice Of Post World War II Americana

Click on title to link to 1964 (pre-Gonzo) "The Nation" article by Hunter Thompson on the beat scene in San Francisco, "When The Beatniks Were Social Lions". This and other earlier articles compiled in "The Great Shark Hunt", Volume One, demonstrate for the millionth time that great talents that head in new directions(in Thompson's case, as a 'gonzo' journalist in the early days, if not later)must pay their dues by learning the basics of their craft. This article shows that he knew how to work the newspaper human interest story beat, even if a little off-beat. He mined that milieu his whole working career with varying amounts of success. Hell, this is just a good story about an interesting slice of bohemian Americana. Period.