Happy Birthday Jack Kerouac: 3 Ways to Celebrate

Kerouac is perhaps best known for On the Road, a stream-of-consciousness novel written in 1951 that was finally published in 1957. The novel, about Kerouac's cross-country trip from New York to San Francisco, describes his adventures along the way and the real-life characters he met. British actor Sam Riley will star as Sal Paradise, the narrator Kerouac based on himself, later this year in the film version. Kerouac's friend and fellow beatnik Allen Ginsburg is known in the book as Carlo Marx, while Neal Cassady is known as Dean Moriarty.

Kerouac was born March 12, 1922 in Lowell, Mass., to French-Canadian parents. A heavy drinker, Kerouac died Oct. 21, 1969 in St. Petersburg, Fla., of a hemorrhage caused by cirrhosis of the liver.

Paying tribute to Kerouac on Monday is a great way to remember the Beat writer. Here are three ways to celebrate Jack Kerouac's birthday.

1.       Read On the Road

The novel is full of adventures and Kerouac's had the gift of being insightful about his generation.

2.        Have a Margarita

Being a writer, Kerouac was also a big drinker and the margarita was his drink of choice. When he lived in Ozone Park, Queens, he loved to sit at the corner stool at McNulty's Tavern at 110-10 Cross Bay Blvd. and sip margaritas. The bar is now known as Glen Patrick's Pub and has a story of Kerouac framed on its back wall. If you live outside the area, any bar will do as a celebration of Kerouac.

3.       Play baseball

One of Kerouac's favorite pastimes was to play baseball at Smokey Oval Park in Richmond Hill, Queens. The park still has a field and you can throw the baseball around at the same place Kerouac did. Of course, any baseball field in your area will do.