Counterculture Museum

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Counterculture Museum

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TIME World's Greatest Places to Visit 2026

Dedicated to fostering a deeper understanding of counterculture movements that redefined society by pushing boundaries and promoting positive change.

08/30/2026

Join us for an evening with Phil Cousineau , award-winning writer, filmmaker, story consultant and editor, travel leader and inspirational speaker on myth in the modern world, as he discusses his latest book, The Wisdom of the Odyssey — which has spent seven weeks on the San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller List and reached #1 on the Los Angeles Times Paperback Non-Fiction list.

Throughout American literature and myth-making there's a thread that runs clear back to Homer's epic, weaving its way through the works of the many great writers to have adopted the tradition, from Mark Twain to Jack London, John Steinbeck, Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac, and many others who hit the road and recorded what they found out there. To traverse the vastness of this continent becomes indeed an odyssey of one's own—the kind of journey that changes you.

Purchase tickets at https://counterculturemuseum.org/events/phil-cousineau-the-wisdom-of-the-odyssey/ or at the door.

Get the full CCM experience: Arrive early and take in the museum exhibits, enjoy the event, and browse the bookshop on your way out.

08/28/2026

Sixty-three years ago today, on August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood before more than 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in a demand for civil and economic rights for Black Americans. His words that day — envisioning a nation that would judge people by the content of their character — became a defining voice of the civil rights movement, but the march itself was one moment in a much longer struggle.

Our racial justice exhibit follows that thread forward, from the march through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to the Selma marches that led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — tracing how a single day of collective action helped reshape the nation’s laws.

Among the artifacts on display is a vintage “I Have a Dream” pinback button, worn in the wake of the march. Some of the most powerful protest tools have fit in the palm of a hand — a small object that let ordinary people carry the movement with them.

Stop by CCM to see it in person.

08/27/2026

Celebrating the 100th birthday of Al Hinkle (Big Ed Dunkel in Kerouac's On the Road), Neal Cassady's lifelong friend

Al Hinkle knew Neal Cassady better than almost anyone. He met Neal in 1939 when they were 12 years old at the YMCA in Denver. Al's father was a detective with the Denver Police Department, and old Neal Cassady ("the father we never found") would often give Al and his father haircuts when he was incarcerated. Al was in the courtroom the day Neal was convicted, and two years later, he was the one who picked him up when he was released from San Quentin. Their friendship ran deep, forged in the streets of Denver in the 1930s and carried through decades. In 2017 our co-founder, Jerry Cimino, sat down with Al by phone to talk about Neal, San Quentin, and everything in between. Read the full conversation here: https://www.kerouac.com/wrastling-with-the-devil/

That same steady friendship later extended to Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and the Cassady family, making Al a central figure in the Beat Generation circle, immortalized as the character "Big Ed Dunkel" in On the Road.

In honor of Al, we're celebrating his centennial with an evening of stories, memories, and tributes from his daughter, Dawn, and son, Mark, along with video interviews with Al over the years.

Join us at the Counterculture Museum on Friday, September 4 at 6pm. This is a FREE event. More details here: https://counterculturemuseum.org/events/al-hinkle-centennial/

08/26/2026

Today we recognize Women’s Equality Day, marking 106 years since the 19th Amendment was ratified on August 26, 1920 — guaranteeing women the constitutional right to vote after decades of organizing, protest, and hard-won advocacy by suffragists across the country.

It’s a moment to reflect on what it took to get to that point and how much of it was carried by women who came before us.

That same spirit of persistence lives on in the women who shape CCM today. From the front desk to the archives to the bookshop to marketing, their passion and hard work bring this museum to life every single day. (Kira included.)

08/25/2026

Brandon, our Art Director, picked Ken Kesey’s Sometimes a Great Notion — and this isn’t just any copy. Watch to find out what makes it one of a kind.

08/22/2026

Save the date: Alta Journal is sponsoring a program this coming Tuesday (8/25) at Mill Valley Public Library featuring the photography of Ilka Hartmann, whose work captures the Black Panthers, the Occupation of Alcatraz, the Immigrants' Rights Movement, and Anti-War protests in Berkeley.

Jerry and Estelle Cimino, our co-founders, will both be attending, after a mutual connection told us that Ilka's photography belongs in the Counterculture Museum. We'd love to meet you if you're in Mill Valley too!

To register for this free event, visit: https://millvalleylibrary.libcal.com/event/17300346

Additionally, thank you to Blaise Zerega, editor of the Journal of Alta California, for not only speaking but tabling at our Lew Welch event this past weekend.

08/21/2026

Furthur is in SF, and so is Neal's daughter. Join us Sat, August 22 at 6pm for The Worlds of Jack & Neal.

Steve Edington, author and Unitarian Universalist minister, sits down with Cathy Cassady Sylvia, to discuss the unique friendship between Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady, and how their worlds collided, in effect a rebirth of one another.

Standard CCM admission applies. Members get free admission. Details and tickets: https://counterculturemuseum.org/events/steve-edington-cathy-cassady/

08/20/2026

At our Lew Welch Centennial celebration on August 16, musician Huey Lewis shared a personal tribute to his stepfather, Beat poet Lew Welch. Jack Kerouac named Lew’s character Dave Wain in his novel Big Sur.

“He was, in his day, a rockstar. That’s how I’m going to remember him today. He would have been 100, and he was a rockstar.” - Huey Lewis & The News

08/19/2026

Steve Edington, author and Unitarian Universalist minister, joins Cathy Cassady Sylvia, daughter of Neal and Carolyn Cassady, for a conversation on the friendship between Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady, and how their worlds collided.

Sat, August 22 at 6pm. Standard admission, members free. Tickets can be purchased at https://counterculturemuseum.org/events/steve-edington-cathy-cassady/ or at the door. See you there!

08/17/2026

Woodstock wasn’t just a festival, it was three days that came to define a generation. On this 57th anniversary, our co-founder Estelle Cimino reflects on why it still matters.

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1485 Haight Street
San Francisco, CA
94117

Website

https://counterculturemuseum.org/

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