Neal Cassady / Shaving At Ginsberg's

San Francisco 1965


Allen Ginsberg did not have a bathroom in his apartment, so Neal Cassady is shaving in Ginsberg's kitchen in this photograph. Cassady had a hard time trying to get some lather from the old bar soap. His face had gotten cut. When Cassady was introduced to people, he was always introduced with, "meet Neal Cassady who is Dean Moriarty from Kerouac's On the Road." I had been looking for a way to illustrate this dual role. While he was shaving, I suddenly realized, there they both were. The hair on the back of my neck stood straight out.