This is the school that Neal reminisces so much about in "The First Third", his posthumously published book.

Or maybe he didn't here, saving his habits for later.

This is the Sonny Lawson Park and ballfield now. Neal Cassady played here, the Elbert school is three blocks away.

The Rossonian is the last remaining hotel/jazz club. It presently is under-utilized with offices above.

As you can see, the Rossonian fits one of the points of Five Points!

I know an old black woman who tended bar here for many years. She walks with a slight limp because she once fell off of a table when she was dancing on it. She also claims to have killed a woman outside once. Police are still called frequently, I hear.

The large brick building is Deep Rock Water, and to the left is the Cabaret Casino. The former is the area's largest commercial enterprise now, constantly expanding. The Cabaret is bad news, lots of police need there. The two sit on the site of old jazz clubs.

Denver went through a major urban renewal project starting in the 60's. Some important buildings met the wrecker's ball.

Neal Cassady was an altarboy here (my, how things change!) and took his first communion, too. He was baptized at a Catholic camp SW of Denver. I found out from a priest that the church we see was dedicated in 1943, well after Neal's religious upbringing. It turns out that the old church was right here, but below grade! The roof was at sidewalk level.

The D&F (Daniels & Fischer) tower was once the tallest structure between the Mississippi River and San Francisco! The store at the base once employed Allen Ginsburg!

6100 W. Center Avenue, Lakewood, CO
Jack bought this house in 1949 with the advance from "The Town and the City." He moved out with his mother (of course!) and his sister and brother-in-law Paul. Within a month all but Jack were headed back east. Mom was afraid of the mountains! Jack met with his publisher here in July and went hitchhiking with him to give him a feel for the road.

The hero of On The Road was Dean Moriarity, in real life, Neal Cassady. Did the name inspiration come from here, only a block away from his house? The school building is obviously much newer than late forties, probably less than ten years old as a guess. BUT, maybe the Deanes lived here on their farm in the late forties, or there was a now demolished older school, or...... Or maybe a heck of a coincidence!

The Snowden apartments, which also had the address of 910 26th Street, used to be here. The Cassadys lived here three times.

The Gertrude is mentioned by Neal. It was next door to the Snowden Apartments on Champa Street.

Neal and his family - ten in all at the time, lived in that little building between the larger ones! He was five at the time.

After being a house, 2558 Champa was a store. According to a man next door, it has been boarded up "as long as I can remember", he's lived here his whole life that I would guess to be about 35 years. 2558 and 2560 were built in 1901; we looked it up on online property records.

The Snowden Apartments were diagonally across the intersection of 26th and Champa from the Puritan Pie Company. Some of Neal's older brothers made moonshine in the apartment; they felt that the smell of the baking pies covered that of the mash!

Allegedly Neal lived at 2427 in 1940. No such house or missing space.

I recall a white single story apartment building here in the mid 90's.

Neal and family lived here when he was two and four years later a few doors to the right.

They told me that once up to six families lived in units behind each of these doors. The man has a nephew with the middle name of Cassady! Dad liked the Beats and the Dead!

The tallest building visible sits where an old hotel did on Broadway, across from the Brown Palace.

Pretty and intelligent, Carolyn Robinson was studying for a Master's degree at the University of Denver. One night a friend brought over a friend, Neal Cassady. Neal was actually married to a much younger girl, LuAnne. But eventually he got a divorce, married Carolyn, and took her on the ride of her life!

The Colburn is now a Section 8 housing facility (government subsidies to the renters.) Charlie Brown's Bar & Grill was already twenty years old when Jack, Neal, Allen, Carolyn, Ed White, Hal Chase, and others would come down for drinks or food. Probably drinks, primarily.

Doesn't he look right out of the forties? A history buff, he shared a lot with me.

Home to the Cassadys in 1933. One of the few homes outside of Curtis Park, north and east of Five Points.

The house here where Neal lived in 1937 has been replaced by public housing. Elbert School is to the right and "behind."

In 1939 the Cassady's lived here. By now, Neal's mom was dead three years. He had a sister and seven half-siblings. Dad was a very heavy drinker and a barber by trade. Unknown who was with Neal at this address. Some of the the "halfs" were already quite a bit older.