Hip Glossary – Beatniks

Beatniks: Derived from the term “beat”, beatniks were the precursors of the hippies. This tribe included authors Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs and others who believed the essence in life is to follow your desires and experience all life has to offer. The beat music scene included jazz, folk and the emerging rock music. Beatniks had hangouts like Greenwich Village in New York when they weren’t “On the Road”. Beatniks experimented with unusual living arrangements, drugs, and innovative art. Word attributed to Herb Caen, a San Francisco columnist describing the Beat Generation in 1958.