San Francsico Skid Row Hotel
The Chronicle Hote, on Howard Street (I believe, am not 100% sure), Civic Center/South of Market – San Francisco’s Skid Row. Kerouac wrote about the ‘Mars Hotel on 4th and Howard’ in Big Sur – which I couldn’t find, but this Hotel was one of a few I saw that looked how I imagine The Mars Hotel must have looked liked in Kerouac’s time.
Retracing Jack Kerouac 
Nice photos! Another famous skidrow hotel in San Francisco where Jack stayed was the Cameo. As Kerouac wrote to Ginsberg in 1954: “My new book of poems, San Francisco Blues that I wrote when I left Neal’s in March and went to live in the Cameo Hotel on Third Street Frisco Skidrow — wrote it in a rockingchair at the window, looking down on winos and bebop winos and whores and cop cars …”
In “Good Blonde” Kerouac wrote: “The little old Cameo Hotel on the corner of Harrison and Third, where for 75 cents a night you could always get a clean room with no bedbugs and nice soft mattresses with soft old clean sheets … and quiet sleep: that’s the main thing.”
Kerouac also wrote about the Cameo Hotel in Desolation Angels, Lonesome Traveler, Book of Dreams, Some of the Dharma, and Pic.
Carolyn Cassady recalls meeting Jack secretly at the Cameo, after he had left her house in San Francisco in 1954, driven out by Neal’s jealousy.
Chronicle Hotel… Chronicle Books… The San Francisco Chronicle… What’s the connection between “chronicle” and San Fran?
Sorry, Stephanie, but I can’t shed any light on this question.
But I found two rather interesting articles (that doen’t really answer the question, but they are interesting anyway) you may want to read: http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=257
http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-07-17/bay-area/29783477_1_residential-hotels-mike-kepka-breaths
Take care
J
Hi — I’m a Kerouac fan, fan of the Beats, and wrote a book called BUKOWSKI’S LA (and other books — 2 with Chroncle Books – WEIRDO DELUXE… and WEIRDO NOIR) —— SO… I am a writer who likes PLACEs… (thus the book on Bukowski’s places)… Anyway — the Mars Hotel was on the cover of a Grateful Dead album — (from wiki : The album cover artwork is of the Mars Hotel, a rundown, skid row flophouse located at 192 Fourth Street in San Francisco.) — but I found a GREAT bunch of photos of the Mars hotel — (oh, I lived in SF in the 70s and a friend took my picture in front of the Mars Hotel in about 1976)… check this link out for many cool photos of the mars hotel — http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/11/mars-hotel-192-4th-at-howard-street-san.html……….
Hallo Matt,
that is very interesting and thanks for checking out my blog. Would really love to see this, unfortunately I get an empty page clicking on the link. What’s the story?
Hi Jay — yes, it comes up blank — but then you go to the menu at the side and click on the “M” listings and scroll down and there is a cool area of photos of the old Mars hotel…. you’ll enjoy those — it’s a place Kerouac stayed — as I said, I was photographed there… Do you live in SF? This is your blog, yes? You are right — that cool old hotel in your photos — the Chronicle (still there?) is like the Mars — No bedbugs is a huge benefit — a friend of mine from LA was in Paris recently and his hotel had bedbugs ! sounded like a nightmare — and a woman I know in LA– her apt. has them — very hard to get rid of….. and Kerouac wrote “and quiet sleep” — that is also big!!! — Kerouac also stayed in a small hotel on Broadway not far from City Lights… or so I read once… there are a few of those left (or were a few years ago — haven’t been to SF in 4 or more years) … Let me know what you think… best, matt