When I searched for Kerouac + Thrashing (as indicated in the studysheet) I found this little gem. It seems to be speaking of an authentic Chinatown general store.
The imagery is intense, sights flow into each other, among ungoogleable slang, in a way that reminds me of how this world must have been seen in the moment. Especially, considering the stoned haze, a likely contributor. This was the King beatnik, the head honcho talkin'.
Jack's "On the Road" contains this same rhythmic flow throughout much of its faster-paced passages. The ability to observe, witness, and participate in your surroundings without letting mere thought and conscious judgments get in the way, is what seems to be the catalyst for this style of writing. Of course aided by copious amounts of grass and speed...of course.
The jazzy influences are apparent not only in the style and tone of the writing (it flows like skat-singing) but even in the words themselves, if you know where to look. The phrase 'round about midnight' appears right at the end of one stanza, not even seemingly connected to any other thought. But it's a Miles Davis album, from 1957, just two years before this poem was written. "Round Midnight" is also a tune by Thelonious Monk, covered by Miles as well.
It doesn't make much sense...if you think about it. But then again, were talking about near-mythical, neurotic beatnik explorers. Kerouac, Ginsberg, Neal Cassidy: these cats were doers. They wreaked havoc with their curiosity, second-guessed nothing, and this is what their minds were like in action.
Right about the jazz connection--don't get to caught up in the whole drug stereotype RE the Beats--but the jazz influence on the imagery, rhythm and structure, can certainly be a productive path to follow. Yes, it is the real thing--everyday reality--a Chinese store in Chinatown (NY or SF), perceived--closely and with sensitivity--thorough a "jazzed" (rather than dazed) consciousness
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