Vesuvio Cafe Beat hangout

Vesuvio Café at 255 Columbus Avenue, adjacent to City Lights Bookstore in North Beach, has been a noted gathering place for Beat poets and writers since the late 1940s and 1950s. The bar displays Beat-era memorabilia and is frequently cited in accounts of the Beat Generation's San Francisco scene. Its association with figures such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg is a recurring element of local literary lore.