Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) was an American poet who vigorously opposed militarism, materialism, and sexual repression. in the late 1950’s here in San Francisco, he was a leading figure of the Beat Generation whose epic poem, “Howl”, excoriated the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity in the United States. San Francisco’s City Lights Bookstore published the poem after Ginsberg performed the epic work at a San Francisco art gallery in 1955, In 1957, the book’s publisher was arrested for obscenity. The resulting trial and court appearance raised Ginsberg’s profile. He and his lover, Peter Orlovsky, continued to influence and inspire rock musicians and counterculture figures such as Ken Kesey, the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, and Abbie Hoffman, as they participating in such seminal events of the 1960s. This includes Kesey’s Acid Test Festivals, the San Francisco’s 1967 Be-In, anti-war protests at the Chicago Democratic Convention in 1968, and numerous music tours with folk giant Bob Dylan in the 1960s and ’70s. SF Bay Times Article
Find his plaque on near the Muni station exit on Castro at 18th St