1 Emmett Oldfield’s letter to the New York Times appeared in the June 10, 1942, issue.
2 Henry A. Wallace (1888-1965). U.S. vice president under Franklin Roosevelt.
3 Hastings Hall. Ginsberg’s dorm at Columbia.
4 Naomi Ginsberg (1896-1956). Allen Ginsberg’s mother.
5 Louis Ginsberg (1895-1976). Allen Ginsberg’s father.
6 Draft Act. Law passed that made men between the ages of 18 and 45 eligible for conscription into the military.
7 Abramson, Canfield, Rankin, and Hoffman. New Jersey politicians at the time.
8 Arthur Krock (1886-1974). Washington (DC) columnist for the New York Times.
9 Reference to Ginsberg’s poem, “The Last Voyage.”
10 Reference to Ginsberg’s poem, “Ode to Decadence.”
11 Herbert Huncke (1915-1996). Friend and author of The Evening Sun Turned Crimson.
12 Dr. Alexander Lowen (b. 1910). Student of the Reich method and author of Love and Orgasm.
13 John Crowe Ransom (1888-1974). Editor of the Kenyon Review. 14 Meyer Shapiro (1904-1996). Art historian and Columbia professor.
14 Alfred Kazin (1915-1998). Writer and literary critic.
15 Elbert Lenrow (1903-1993). New School instructor and friend.
16 Mustapha Nightsoil. A bit of sophomoric humor.
17 Harry Carman (1884-1964). History professor and dean of Columbia College.
18 John Hollander (b. 1929). Columbia classmate of Ginsberg, later literary critic and poet.
19 Diana Hansen. Cassady’s third wife.
20 Dusty Moreland. Ginsberg’s girlfriend at the time.
21 Dick Davalos (b. 1935). Actor with whom Ginsberg had a brief relationship.
22 Ignu. The group’s name for a kindred spirit.
23 Bernabé Jurado. William S. Burroughs’ lawyer in the case involving the death of Joan.
24 Lewis Marker (1930-1998). Friend of William S. Burroughs.
25 Al and Helen Hinkle. Friends and neighbors of the Cassady family.
26 Arhat. A Buddhist monk who has attained Nirvana.
27 Jordan Belson (b. 1926). Friend and avant-garde filmmaker.
28 Sebastian Sampas. Jack Kerouac’s childhood friend who was killed in action during W WII.
30 John Allen Ryan. Bartender from The Place in San Francisco.
31 Naomi Ginsberg died in Pilgrim State Hospital on June 9, 1956.
32 James Laughlin (1914-1997). Owner and publisher of New Directions Books.
33 Chester MacPhee. San Francisco Collector of Customs.
34 The Cellar. Ferlinghetti and Rexroth did a series of poetry readings to jazz at this North Beach nightclub.
35 Iris Brody. Painter and friend from New York City who died of a drug overdose in 1961.
36 Diana Trilling. “The Other Night At Columbia.”
37 Kennett Love (b. 1924). New York Times columnist.
38 Harry J. Anslinger (1892-1975). From 1930 until 1962, the Commissioner of the Treasury Department’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics.
39 Alfred R. Lindesmith (1905-1991). Professor of sociology and drug reform advocate.
40 Ahmed Yacoubi (1931-1985). Moroccan artist and storyteller, friend of Paul Bowles.
41 Red Cats became the title for this book in the City Lights Pocket Poets series.
42 After trying for a while to have a baby without any luck, the Ferlinghettis adopted a baby, and within a short period of time his wife became pregnant.
43 Harry (Henry) Phipps. Wealthy young friend from Paris who died of a drug overdose in 1962.
44 Ted Wilentz (1915-2001). Co-owner of the 8th Street Bookstore in Greenwich Village.
45 Hope Savage. Gregory’s first real love.
46 Wang. Meditation initiation mantra.
47 These were suggested titles for Ginsberg’s next book, which was published as Reality Sandwiches.
48 Fernanda Pivano (b. 1917). Ginsberg’s Italian translator.
49 Years earlier Kerouac had told Ginsberg that he was “nothing but a hairy loss.” That phrase haunted Ginsberg for decades.
50 Abhya mudra. Ginsberg defined this as “a mudra of reassurance, fearlessness.”
51 Sebastian Sampas. See page 113.
52 A.G. Note—Destroyed Works by Philip Lamantia (Auerhahn Press, S.F. 1963) was thus bugged by Richard Howard—an excellent friendly fellow otherwise—in his review, Poetry July 1963 review of it.
53 Someone had told Ginsberg that a major earthquake would hit California, and he repeated the prediction to his friends on the West Coast, but the date passed without incident.
54 Leslie Fiedler (1917-2003). Writer and literary critic.
55 Casa De Las Americas. Ginsberg had been invited to Cuba as their guest, by the director, Haydee Santamaria.
56 Leo Cherne (1912-1999). Presidential advisor on economics.
57 Richard Helms (1913-2002). Director of the CIA.
58 Grass Valley. The location of Gary Snyder’s house in the Sierra Mountains.
59 Irgun. Militant Zionist group operating in Palestine from 1931-1948, credited with bombing the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.
60 Moshe Dayan (1915-1981). Israeli military leader.
61 Reference is to several editors of academic anthologies that were published at the time.
62 Ginsberg had suffered an attack of Bell’s palsy.
63 The actual epitaph reads, “He honored life.”
64 Allen’s father was dying of cancer at this time.
65 Max Orfeo Corso. Gregory’s son.
66 R. D. Laing (1927-1989). Author and psychologist who was teaching at Naropa at the time.
67 Jacqueline Gens. Ginsberg’s housekeeper and assistant.
68 Marianne Faithfull (b. 1946). Singer, songwriter.
69 Beverly Isis. Peter Orlovsky’s girlfriend.
70 Rani Singh. Ginsberg hired Singh to act as Harry’s “Gal Friday” while he was in Boulder.
71 Jack Shuai Shu. A young man Ginsberg met on his trip to China, and Allen sponsored him to study in New York.
72 James Grauerholz. Close friend and companion of William S. Burroughs.
73 Villa Muniria. The hotel where Ginsberg, Orlovsky, Burroughs, Kerouac, and Ansen stayed on their 1957 visit.
74 Mondadori. Ginsberg’s Italian publisher.
75 Rick Fields (1942-1999). Fellow Buddhist and author of How the Swans Came to the Lake.
76 Newt Gingrich (b. 1943). Conservative Republican, Speaker of the House.