In advance of Kerouac movie, Beat Museum gets a shout-out

The Beat Museum and founder Jerry Cimino get a shout-out in today’s New York Times ahead of the Dec. 21 release (in the United States) of “On the Road,” Walter Salles’ film that borrows the title of the Jack Kerouac book. The North Beach museum, around the corner from City Lights Bookstore and a short hop from Caffé Trieste, has no acquisition budget, but Cimino tells the NYT he has dreams of a bigger space, a curator and a staff.

In the meantime, people donate stuff, including a 1949 Hudson like the one that belonged to Neal Cassady and was used in the movie. It was a gift from Salles, driven off the street and into the open-front museum by Garrett Hedlund, the actor who played Cassady.