References in On the Road

On the Road  
Author(s) Jack Kerouac
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Beat
Publisher Viking Press
Publication date September 5, 1957
Media type print (hardback and paperback)
Pages 320 pages
ISBN 978-0-141-18267-4
OCLC Number 43419454
Preceded by The Town and the City
(1950)
Followed by The Subterraneans
(1958)

On the Road is a novel written by Jack Kerouac (1922–1969), during his early adulthood in the late 1940s, and published by Viking Press in 1957. The events in the novel are almost entirely drawn from Kerouac's life. His journals and notes were filled with detailed accounts of his travels across North America, including popular songs, books and products of the day. Even the characters in On the Road were given pseudonyms to conceal the identities of their real-life counterparts.

Page numbers given below refer to the 1997 Penguin reprint edition of On the Road, the most widely available version of the text.

Travelogue

Part One (1947)

New York City, NY → Chicago, IL → Davenport, IA → Cheyenne, WY → Denver, CO → Central City, CO → Cheyenne, WY → Salt Lake City, UT → San Francisco, CA → Marin City, CA (“Mill City, CA”) → Bakersfield, CA → Hollywood, CA → Los Angeles, CA → Selma, CA (“Sabinal, CA”) → Los Angeles, CA → St. Louis, MO → Harrisburg, PA → New York, NY.

Part Two (January, 1949)

→ New York, NY → Rocky Mount, NC (“Testament, VA”) → New York, NY → Washington, DC → Virginia, VA → New Orleans, LA → Algiers, LA → Houston, TX → El Paso, TX → Tucson, AZ → Bakersfield, CA → San Francisco, CA → New York, NY.

Part Three (Spring, 1949)

→ New York, NY → Denver, CO → San Francisco, CA → Sacramento, CA → Denver, CO → Chicago, IL → Detroit, MI → New York City, NY

Part Four (1950)

→ New York City, NY → Washington,DC → Cincinnati, OH → St. Louis, MO → Denver, CO → Amarillo,TX → San Antonio, TX → Laredo, TX → Nuevo Laredo, Tamps. → Monterrey, Nuevo Leon → Linares, Mexico, NL → Gregoria → Llera de Canales, Tamps. (“Límon, Tamps.”) → Mexico City, DF.

Character key

Sal Paradise Jack Kerouac New York, NY p. 3
Dean Moriarty Neal Cassady New York, NY p. 3
Chad King Haldon "Hal" Chase Denver, CO p. 3
Carlo Marx Allen Ginsberg Paterson, NJ p. 4
Marylou LuAnne Henderson New York, NY p. 4
Tim Gray Ed White Denver, CO p. 4
Ed Wall Ed Uhl Sterling, CO p. 5
Aunt Gabrielle Kerouac (Jack's Mother) New York, NY p. 5
Old Bull Lee William S. Burroughs Algiers, LA p. 8
Elmer Hassel Herbert Huncke New York, NY p. 8
Jane Lee Joan Vollmer Adams Burroughs Algiers, LA p. 8
Tommy Snark Jim Holmes Denver, CO p. 8
Roy Johnson Bill Tomson Denver, CO p. 8
Ed Dunkel Al Hinkle Denver, CO p. 8
Rocco Paul Blake (Jack’s brother-in-law) Rocky Mount, NC (“Testament, VA”)  p. 8
Remi Boncœur Henri Cru Sausalito, CA p. 11
Lee Ann Dianne Orin Sausalito, CA p. 11
Ray Rawlins Bob Burford Denver, CO p. 18
Babe Rawlins Beverly Burford Denver, CO p. 18
Mary Bettencourt Helen Gullion Denver, CO p. 18
Rita Bettencourt Ruth Gullion Denver, CO p. 18
Roland Major Allan Temko Denver, CO p. 18
William Holmes “Big Slim” Hazard   William Holmes “Big Slim” Hubbard Newport, RI p. 28
Betty Gray Joanie White (Ed White's sister) Denver, CO p. 41
Camille Carolyn Cassady (née Robinson) San Francisco, CA p. 42
Denver D. Doll Justin W. Brierly Denver, CO p. 52
Old Dean Moriarty Neal Cassady Sr. Denver, CO p. 58
Mr. Snow Marin City, CA p. 62
“The famous director” Gregory La Cava Hollywood, CA p. 73
Terry Bea Franco Selma, CA (“Sabinal, CA”) p. 81
Peaches Ginger Chase New York, NY p. 82
Dorie, “Tall redhead” Vicki Russell New York, NY p. 83
Amy Moriarty Catherine Cassady San Francisco, CA p. 110
Galatea Dunkel Helen Hinkle Denver, CO p. 111
Lucille Pauline New York, NY p. 116
Tom Saybrook Ed Stringham New York, NY p. 125
Ian MacArthur John Clellon Holmes New York, NY p. 125
Damion Lucien Carr New York, NY p. 126
Mona Rhoda New York, NY p. 126
Rollo Greb Alan Ansen New York, NY p. 127
Dodie Lee Julie Burroughs Algiers, LA p. 143
Ray Lee William S. Burroughs, Jr. Algiers, LA p. 143
Dale Kells Elvins Algiers, LA p. 145
Hal Hingham Alan Harrington Tucson, AZ p. 165
Marie Lorraine p. 193
Dorothy Johnson Helen Tomson (Bill Tomson's wife) Denver, CO p. 193
Sam Brady (Neal Cassady's cousin) p. 215
Inez Diana Hansen New York, NY p. 246
Angel Luz García Jose García Villa New York, NY p. 246
Walter Evans Walter Adams New York, NY p. 246
Victor Villanueva Victor Tejeira New York, NY p. 246
Jinny Jones Jinny Baker Lehrman New York, NY p. 246
Gene Dexter Gene Pippin New York, NY p. 246
Stan Shepard Frank Jeffries Denver, CO p. 257
Victor Gregorio Victoria, Mexico, ("Gregoria") p. 281
Laura Joan Kerouac (née Haverty) New York, NY p. 307
Joanie Moriarty Jami Cassady San Francisco, CA p. 308

Arts & Culture

Music

Overture from Fidelio Ludwig van Beethoven p. 52
Sweet Adeline (barbershop quartet) p. 54
Central Avenue Breakdown   Lionel Hampton p. 88
Lover Man Billie Holiday p. 98
Mañana Peggy Lee p. 99
Blue Skies Ella Fitzgerald p. 100
The Hunt Dexter Gordon & Wardell Gray pp. 113,127
A Fine Romance (music box) p. 119
Cement Mixer Slim Gaillard p. 176
C-jam Blues Slim Gaillard p. 176
Close Your Eyes (male singer) p. 198
Congo Blues Red Norvo Sextet w/ Dizzy Gillespie p. 219
Gator Tail The Cootie Williams band w/ Willis Jackson   p. 250
Lester Jumps In Lester Young p. 251
Baby's Pudding Wynonie Blues Harris p. 273
Chattanooga de Mambo Perez Prado p. 287
More Mambo Jambo Perez Prado p. 287
Mambo Numero Ocho Perez Prado p. 287
Mambo Jambo Perez Prado p. 287

Books

The Town and the City (“The book”) Jack Kerouac (“John Kerouac”)  pp. 6
The New Yorker p. 10
The Oregon Trail Francis Parkman p. 19
Life in the Far West George F. Ruxton p. 38
Green Hills of Africa Ernest Hemingway p. 57
Blue Book adventures of Oregon p. 64
Le grand meaulnes Alain-Fournier p. 102
New Orleans Times-Picayune want-ads p. 147
Les Mystères de Paris (en: “Mysteries of Paris”)   Eugène Sue pp. 188,192
Mayan codices p. 144

Movies

The Mark of Zorro Dir. Rouben Mamoulian  1940  p. 64
Sullivan's Travels Dir. Preston Sturges 1941 p. 82
Of Mice and Men Dir. Lewis Milestone 1939 p. 90
(“Hollywood prèmiere 10/26/47”)  p. 101
Background to Danger Dir. Raoul Walsh 1943 p. 244
(“Singing Cowboy Eddie Dean”) p. 244

Radio shows

1948 Midnight New Year's Eve broadcast from Times Square p. 124
Chicken Jazz'n Gumbo Disc-jockey Show from New Orleans p. 140
Mystery programme p. 156
(“Radio Show from Clint, TX”) p. 162
The Lone Ranger Show p. 214
The Symphony Sid Show p. 246
Marty Glickman commentating New York Knicks basketball games  p. 250

Consumer goods

Cars

“Truck with a flatboard at the back”  p. 24
“old Ford coupe” p. 38
1938 Chevy p. 91
Plymouth p. 106
1949 Hudson p. 110
“Texas Chevy” p. 142
“old ratty coupe” p. 216
1947 black Cadillac limousine   pp. 224–5
“twenty-dollar Buick” p. 230
1949 or 1950 Chrysler p. 245
1937 Ford Sedan p. 265

Clothing & paraphernalia

Zoot Suits

Restaurants & clubs

Ritz's Club

Jamson's Nook Club

Birdland

Hector's Cafeteria

Recreational drugs

Cannabis (also referred to as "tea")

Benzedrine (referred to as "benny")

Barbituates (referred to as "goofballs")

Morphine (Referred to as "M")

External links

Works by Jack Kerouac
Fiction
The Town and the City (1950) · On the Road (1957) · The Subterraneans (1958) · The Dharma Bums (1958) · Doctor Sax (1959) · Maggie Cassidy (1959) · Book of Dreams (1960) · Tristessa (1960) · Visions of Cody (1960) · Lonesome Traveler (1960) · Big Sur (1962) · Visions of Gerard (1963) · Desolation Angels (1965) · Satori in Paris (1966) · Vanity of Duluoz (1968) · Pic (1971) · Orpheus Emerged (2002) · And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2008; with William S. Burroughs)
Poetry
Other books
Audio
Poetry for the Beat Generation (1959) · Blues and Haikus (1960) · Readings by Jack Kerouac on the Beat Generation (1960) · The Jack Kerouac Collection (1990) · Jack Kerouac Reads On the Road (1999)