Allen Ginsberg

East Village

New York City

Art & Culture | History

A Poet, An Icon of Counterculture & A Leader of The Beat Generation

Allen Ginsberg east village apartment exterior

About Allen Ginsberg

& why it made the Carpe City list

Allen Ginsberg was one of the big Daddy-o’s (yes…that was a hip Beatnik term) of the 1950’s Beat Generation.
Ginsberg met fellow Beatniks Lucien Carr, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs while studying at Columbia University and together they started a literary and social movement.
Famous for their open exploration of sexuality, psychedelics, and Eastern spirituality, the Beats were a stark contrast to the “squares” in 1950’s America.
Ginsberg’s most influential poem, Howl, quickly became the subject of an obscenity trial for its open references to both heterosexual and homosexual sex at a time when sodomy laws were the norm.
It was here that Ginsberg wrote the poem Kaddish and where he lived with lifelong partner Peter Orlovsky.
FYI – they paid $60 a month for their 4 rooms. Similar apartments in the building are now selling for $1.9 mil.
Before living at 170 he spent a brief time with lover William Burroughs over at 206 E. 7th St.
Ginsberg’s legend still lives on in the East Village with the Howl Arts organization “dedicated to preserving the past and celebrating the contemporary culture of the East Village and Lower East Side.”
If you are interested, here is a link to a collection of Ginsberg’s poems (which gives Carpe City a little love too)

Carpe City Trivia

Where did the Beats get their name?

The Beats were heavily influenced by the improvisational and spontaneous nature of jazz, which they applied to spoken word. Thus, “Beat” was a throwback to the bite-sized measurement of music. The term also extended in its meaning to the ideas both of being “beaten” and worn down, as well as “beatific,” or holy.

Who is this person to whom Ginsburg dedicated Howl?

Ginsberg dedicated Howl to friend Carl Solomon, whom he met while in a mental institution. To avoid jail time after being involved in a robbery, Ginsberg plead insanity. He later revealed that Solomon served as a less direct connection to the guilt Ginsberg felt over his own mother’s battle with schizophrenia.

Was Ginsberg openly gay?

Sure was. And don’t forget, this was the Leave It To Beaver 50’s. He became a prominent figure in the LGBT community not only for his openness about his homosexuality, which often found its way into the subject matter of his work, but also as a vocal champion of gay rights later in his life.