The Poetry Garden
THE POETRY GARDEN
This garden honors Berkeley’s many innovative poets, poetry presses and
publications, and their creative legacy. It was dedicated in 1999 on the
second anniversary of "Beat" poet Allen Ginsberg’s death. Through their
writings, the nonconformist "Beat" poets sought liberation from traditional
social, political, artistic, and personal conventions. Ginsberg lived across
the street in a now demolished house at 1624 Milvia Street while writing,
among other poems, parts of his once-banned work Howl!. Poet Gary
Snyder also stayed there. "Beat Generation" writer Jack Kerouac lived for
a time in a "rose-covered cottage" on Berkeley Way, and Poet Robert
Duncan also lived in this neighborhood during the 1950s.
The creation of the garden was a joint effort of students, teachers, and
parents from the Berkeley Arts Magnet at Whittier School together with
neighbors and the City of Berkeley.
Berkeley Historical Plaque Project
2000