Birdland was popular with many of the writers of the Beat generation. Reference to Birdland is made in Jack Kerouac's novel "On the Road": "I saw him wish a well-to-do man Merry Christmas so volubly a five-spot in change for twenty was never missed. We went out and spent it in Birdland, the bop joint. Lester Young was on the stand, eternity on his huge eyelids." Birdland is also referenced in Emmett Grogan's novel "Ringolevio." "From the get-go, Birdland became one of his favourite haunts."