This is an archive of past discussions about Doctor Sax. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.
This could very probably need editing by other people; it was a constant struggle to not end up writing an essay about Doctor Sax instead of an encyclopedic article. Also, I guess the stub tag could probably be removed, but I wanted to check first to see if anyone was against such a move (there are still some things that the article could benefit from the mention of; for instance, the narrative includes an account of a flood of Lowell, Massachusetts that actually occurred, but I'm not sure of the date). I also couldn't remember what roles Ellis Paul and Bill Janovitz played in the radio drama, but the Gallery Six website lists them as part of the cast. Marksman4508:07, 1 April 2006 (UTC)
As a Lowell native not too familiar with Kerouac's work, I read Doctor Sax for the setting. I couldn't make sense of the book, so I'm afraid to work the history and the real locations in. The flood occured in March of 1936 and is the worst flood of the Merrimack River in recorded history. The Moody Street Bridge that the man throws the watermellon off of is the University Ave Bridge today (although it will be torn down in the next few years). The continuation of Moody St by the Textile Institute (with the crumpled sidewalk) is now University Ave and the North Campus of U-Mass Lowell in Pawtucketville. I believe the exact intersection he's sitting at was University and Riverside, the VFW Highway not yet existing. Across the University Ave Bridge from the college, Moody St used to continue into downtown, through the French part of the Acre neighborhood. I believe Kerouac mentions he had family there he'd visit, and pass through on his way to downtown (The other end of Moody St used to be City Hall). Moody St is now cut off from both ends, and the French have moved on - their neighborhood is now replaced with largely public housing, and the French church is closed. Centralville, where Kerouac mentions he was born, is on the same side of the Merrimack as Pawtucketville, the non-downtown side, but across Beaver Brook from Pawtucketville. Centerville is directly across the Merrimack from downtown and the mills, and is more urban. Continuing away from the Merrimack from either Pawtucketville or Centralville, you'll hit the town of Dracut, where I believe he says he sees Dr Sax (is the Castle in Dracut?) Back then, Dracut must've been very rural. Kerouac mentions the lights of Kearney Sq at one point (something about a Chinese Restaurant). Continuing past City Hall, where Moody St ends, merging onto Merrimack St, Kearney Sq is the intersection with Central, Bridge, Prescott, and the beginning of East Merrimack St. The Lowell Sun (newspaper) building is the big landmark here today, as it was then.
