From A Self-Guided Tour of Saroyan’s San Francisco by Dori Myer "San Francisco is full of small alleyways, like any city. This was once called Adler Place, but in 1988, San Francisco literary icon Lawrence Ferlinghetti successfully convinced the city to rename this alleyway near his bookstore, City Lights. Ferlinghetti was a friend to Saroyan and was also part of the Beat Generation with his buddy and Saroyan aficionado, Jack Kerouac. Kerouac wrote about Saroyan’s influence on his own writing. At the same dedication event, Ferlinghetti announced the renaming of the alley across the street to Jack Kerouac Alley."