The last time Jami Cassady Ratto saw her father alive was in Scotts Valley, at the legendary old performance venue called The Barn. She was only 18 and her boyfriend was playing in a band called Bubble that often played at The Barn, which at the time was also hosting such then-young and exciting bands such as the Grateful Dead and Big Brother & Holding Company.

“We went down underneath where they had beds in these kind of cubbyholes,” she remembered. “And there he was. I just laid with him and hugged him. What bothered me was that he was suffering so much.”

The man in that bunk was Neal Cassady, famously restless spirit, muse of the Beat Generation, the central figure in Jack Kerouac”s immortal novel “On the Road.” He was no less an icon years later as part of Tom Wolfe”s 1968 account of the infamous Merry Pranksters, “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.” He was, in fact, perhaps the most iconic figure in American literature who was not himself a writer.

Since its first publication in 1957, “On the Road” has remained secure in American literary consciousness and has served as a rite of passage for young adults for generations. A new film version of the novel has been released, and with it, Cassady again emerges as the romantic figure of youthful exhilaration in the nation”s mythic imagination.

Santa Cruz County, it turns out, assumes an enormous role in the story of Neal Cassady. Two of this three children make their home locally — middle daughter Jami, in Capitola, and the youngest child (and only son) John Allen Cassady, in Davenport. Both will be on hand Friday at the Del Mar during a Q&A period following the opening night screening of “On the Road.”

The Cassady children obviously had childhood experiences that are now the stuff of American counterculture history. Jami told the story of how she and John, as teens, traveled from the family home in Los Gatos up to San Francisco toward the end of their father”s life in the late 1960s, looking for their father who was, at the time, the driver of Ken Kesey”s archetypal hippie bus “Further.”

“We went up to the city to find the bus. My dad and mom had separated by then and we found the bus and went inside looking for Neal. They said he was in a church right near the bus and we went in there and saw Kesey and all these guys in the kitchen, laying in the church pews. John and I loved it, but Dad wouldn”t let us get near anything. Then, he calls my mother and he”s yelling, ”What are these kids doing up here?” We had a dual upbringing to be sure.”

John Cassady was 16 when his father died in the winter of 1968. He said that Neal was not the absentee father that fans of “On the Road” assume he was. “He was around a lot more than people think,” he said. “He had a real gift of being everywhere at once. We”ve heard all these stories all our life about how he was here and there, but for me, I thought he was home all the time.”

Cassady is one quarter of the Beat Generation”s holy quartet, along with Kerouac, the great poet Allen Ginsberg and the novelist William S. Burroughs. But for the Cassady children, they were just guys who hung around the house.

“I didn”t know who Dad was,” said Jami Cassady. “He was just Dad. And they were just Uncle Jack and Uncle Allen and Uncle Billy. They were just friends of my parents. I had no clue beyond that.”

The Cassady siblings” mother, Carolyn Cassady, turns 90 in April and today lives in the U.K. She was an accomplished writer and artist in her own right. And as a mother, she provided a stable hand against Neal”s wandering.

Many of the Cassadys” most vivid memories of their father date back to the later part of his life when he had become a quasi-celebrity from his association with Kerouac. Both John and Jami have memories of seeing their father at the Hip Pocket bookstore in downtown Santa Cruz in the mid 1960s where he commonly would command the attention of an audience with stories, anecdotes or long discourses on life, literature and philosophy, often strung out on speed.

“He could charm the socks off you,” said John of his father, “a lot of times that was for selfish motives.”

John Cassady said that his father was, in many ways, a great dad for a young boy, teaching him how to play chess and taking him to auto races around the Bay Area. “I remember so vividly him taking me and my buddies to the races at San Jose Speedway with Chuck Berry on the AM radio playing ”Maybelline,” and Dad was jerking the steering wheel back and forth weaving around. It was very exciting.”

Both Cassadys, however, concede that many of the stories of Neal”s womanizing and drug use were rooted in fact.

Since his death, Jami and her husband Randy Ratto have cultivated Neal Cassady”s legacy with the website nealcassadyestate.com — now administered by Carolyn. They also keep a comprehensive cache of Neal memorabilia in their Capitola home. They also run an annual Neal Cassady Birthday Bash in Cassady”s home town of Denver.

John has traveled on speaking tours in colleges and universities talking about his dad.

“I can feel him in me all the time,” said John who, at 61, is almost 20 years older than his father was when he died. “The apple didn”t far fall from the tree in this case. A lot of my life has been a mirror image of his.”

“All I have to do,” said Jami, “is to mention ”On the Road,” and who my dad is, and people freak out. We”ve gotten a lot of attention for it. A teensy bit of fame is a whole lot of fun.”

“I”ve gotten to meet and get to know,” said John, “many of the great artists that I”ve always admired — Jerry Garcia, Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary. And, without that last name, it would have never happened. So, I”ll always look up and say, ”Thanks, Dad.””