rogueFALL/WINTER 2014 DESIGNEDsur FOR MEN AND WOMEN BY SEAVEES BIG SUR, 1961 A MYTHMAKERS PARADISE ESCAPING ON THE ROAD, KEROUAC'S BREAKDOWN SEAVEES GOES ROGUE: A PICTORIAL COLLECTION Myth, Legend or Outright Lies? LIFE ON PARTINGTON RIDGE, BIG SUR In the 1960s, Big Sur attracted many writers and artists who shaped the Beat Generation. People like Henry Miller, Edward Weston, Richard Brautigan, Hunter S. Thompson, Emile Norman and Jack Kerouac found this sleepy town, just two hours south of San Francisco, ideal to disconnect from the world. The terrain was wild (and incredibly isolated) where days could go by with only sightings of deer or mountain lions. Because of its famous residents, Big Sur’s reputation grew as a cultural force and destination. But in reality, the vast landscape was the perfect place to escape the dark side of fame. 3 DABBS AND ALEX ARE HOLDING IT TOGETHER IN THE 12/676 3 EYE CHUKKA DABBS AND ALEX ARE HOLDING IT TOGETHER IN THE 12/676 3 EYE CHUKKA "The Edge...there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over." HUNTER S. THOMPSON LEO IS WEARING THE 08/61 ARMY ISSUE SNEAKER By 1961, Henry Miller’s banned, smut-filled books from his Tropics series had found their way into the US and the free-spirited Bohemians descended on Big Sur looking for Miller and the sexual mecca they assumed he’d manufactured. Hundreds of people struggled up the steep dirt path to his small house on Partington Ridge seeking Miller’s orgies. Half of Greenwich Village camped out on his front lawn but Miller refused to deliver. Instead of fornication carnivals, the majority found the quiet to be insufferable (and dull). After living in hollowed trees and abandoned shacks; roaming the hills with sleeping bags and living on nuts and mustard greens, they gave up and continued to migrate south to LA. 6 7 In spite of the invasion, Miller found what he had been looking for. In his essay “Big Sur, This is My Answer” he wrote, “Mornings on Partington Ridge I would often go to the cabin door on rising, look out over the rolling velvety hills, filled with such contentment, such gratitude that instinctively my hand went up in a benediction.” He: XXX, see pg.28 Long before "Fear and Loathing", in 1960, Hunter S. Thompson hitchhiked across the United States along U.S. Hwy 40, ultimately ending in Big Sur, working as a caretaker and security guard at the Big Sur hot springs. He published his first magazine feature in Rogue magazine about Henry Miller and the artisan and bohemian culture. The unexpected publicity got him fired from his job and he ultimately wrote two novels "Prince Jellyfish" and "The Rum 8 9 "The one thing we can never get enough of is love. And the one thing Diary" with limited success. we never give enough Thompson cautioned those of is love." who dared to reside in Big Sur when he wrote in HENRY MILLER one of his short stories, “If you are coming here to look for support, you are in for a bad time.” Ultimately, Miller went back to Paris. Thompson moved to LA. Kerouac drove to SF. Leaving Big Sur’s legend of divine inspiration and spiritual awakening to live on in their short stories, articles and novels. 10 11 JESS DONS THE 07/60 SORRENTO SAND SHOE "My fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them." JACK KEROUAC Escaping on the Road, Kerouac's Breakdown Jack Kerouac’s book “On the Road” earned him the title “the king of the beat generation”, a term that he never felt comfortable with. The success of the book brought him instant fame and his other manuscripts that had been rejected by publishers before were immediately picked up. Over the course of the year, he became increasingly paranoid and no longer felt safe in public. Kerouac’s 1962 novel “Big Sur” offered a rare glimpse into his state of mind at the time. Isolated by fame, disappointed in how his life was playing out, the author fled to a cabin in Bixby Canyon, Big Sur owned by his friend and Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. “Big Sur” depicts Kerouac’s fictional alter ego Jack Duluoz’s mental and physical deterioration. Unable to deal with a demanding public and his own astounding success, Duluoz battles the advance stages of alcoholism in the tiny cabin. Although the picturesque coastline provides some respite and peace, loneliness drives Duluoz back to San Francisco where he continues on his destructive path. Not able to engage in the real world, he returns to Big Sur a few times where ultimately, his demons get the best of him and he has a nervous breakdown. 12 ALEX FEELS THE CHILL IN 03/66 SLOOP MOC 13 P.O. BOX 22235 SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA 93121 T: 805.770.2633 [email protected] 14 15 COLLEEN GETS A MOMENT ON THE ROCKS IN 10/60 BUCK.