We’d like to honor the passing of the legendary Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who died this past Monday, February 22, 2021, at the age of 101. Without Ferlinghetti, the “San Francisco Scene“ of the late ’60s would likely never have happened, and thus, we wouldn’t be doing the work we do here at PAE today.

Ferlinghetti was essential to the Beat generation. He co-founded the iconic City Lights bookstore in San Francisco’s North Beach and was responsible for publishing some of the work of his fellow Beat poets, including Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems, for which he and Ginsberg faced obscenity charges in a famed trial. He was also an accomplished poet himself. The Beat movement directly impacted the onset of the hippie movement with works such as Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, which was almost required reading for the early psychedelic hipsters in the 1960s. Ferlinghetti and other fellow Beats spoke at the Human Be-In, the event that ushered in the Summer of Love in 1967. Ferlinghetti’s name appears on numerous event ads, most notably Rick Griffin’s incredible poster promoting the event.

Thank you to Lawrence Ferlinghetti for inspiring a movement that made it possible for us to do this work that is so important to so many. To us here at PAE, the culture and stories behind the poster we sell are just as important as the art itself. Keep collecting posters!

“Constantly Risking Absurdity (15)” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52319/constantly-risking-absurdity-15