Basically the original, almost forgotten incarnation of the modern day hipster.
People think that hipsters are a new thing, but in reality have been around for years, the only difference is that a modern hipster mixes the beatnik style with indie, scene or emo.
They were a subculture of (mostly wealthy) young people in the 1950's that drank coffee, enjoyed art and music, wrote poetry, did psychedelic drugs, and smoked cigarettes. Practiced minimalism, and were very, very political. Men wore berets with striped shirts and sandals, and the women wore berets, little black dresses and scarves.
Would say slang things like "That's beat" and "daddy-O".
People think that hipsters are a new thing, but in reality have been around for years, the only difference is that a modern hipster mixes the beatnik style with indie, scene or emo.
They were a subculture of (mostly wealthy) young people in the 1950's that drank coffee, enjoyed art and music, wrote poetry, did psychedelic drugs, and smoked cigarettes. Practiced minimalism, and were very, very political. Men wore berets with striped shirts and sandals, and the women wore berets, little black dresses and scarves.
Would say slang things like "That's beat" and "daddy-O".
by California Bae Area December 30, 2016
a 50's group of young men after the war looking for atction and excitement, created art and roamed around countries looking for truth, were taught by zen Buddhist, ate Bacon Egg and Cheese sandwhiches. they were, as Cassidy would say "It". Their poetry often resembles Rimbaud, Blake and Whitman.
Ginsberg, Kerouac, Burroughs, Huncke and Cassidy headed for San fransico with a napsack and a thumb.
by marcu$ July 26, 2004
A group of models dressed in black that possed for life magazine in the late 50's under the heading "Beatniks". It was the mainstreamization of the beat culture, and was the end of the genuine beat underground.
by madmadmad August 11, 2005
Contrary to popular belief, Beatniks were not black beret, black turtleneck, dark sunglasses, goatee wearing kids who hung-out in dark cafes reading poetry. Allegedly, the word was coined by a reporter who combined the words beat—tired, worn out—short for Beat Generation, and nik, short for Sputnik, the World’s first space satellite, implying members of the Beat Generation (my parents’ generation, who were children in the 1940s and in their twenties in the 1950s) were Communists—and some of them were. There were real Beatniks though—what we in the States called Hippies (little Hipsters), the British called Beatniks. In virtually every way, they were one in the same. Beginning in the late ‘50s, the stereotype “Beatnik” we think of today was created as a marketing ploy to create a new subculture in order to sell anything from berets and sunglasses to cheap bongos. Hollywood contributed to the stereotype, but also portrayed Beatniks for what they really were, at times. A very realistic TV “Beatnik” was Maynard, played by Bob Denver, in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959).
When someone of the Beat Generation was asked “How are you,” the reply was inevitably— “Ah, you know me. I’m just beat.”
When a Beatnik was asked the same, he might have replied—“Hey Dad, don’t put me on a bummer with all that phony L7 stuff! Have another Martini and just slide me some skin, unless you really wanna rap!”
When a Beatnik was asked the same, he might have replied—“Hey Dad, don’t put me on a bummer with all that phony L7 stuff! Have another Martini and just slide me some skin, unless you really wanna rap!”
by Oldfart January 28, 2018
A member of the Beat Generation (late 50's - early 60's), a nonconformist in dress and thought. Often reknowned for wearing black turtleneck sweaters, stove-pipe trousers, dark glasses and berets. They used to hang out at coffee shops where they would recite poetry (sometimes accompanied by bongo drums), and talk about jazz or the people/society/regimes that are oppressing them and trying to make them conform.
"Oh, man! Ned spilled ink all over my poems. He's a real flat tire, I mean a cube, man. He's putting us on the train to Squaresville" - Ned Flanders' beatnik father
"I'm really diggin' this jaaaazz, maaan! This cat is really hip! Far out daddy-o!" (clicks his fingers repeatedly)
"I'm really diggin' this jaaaazz, maaan! This cat is really hip! Far out daddy-o!" (clicks his fingers repeatedly)
by burnin4tor February 23, 2007
cool 50's youth culture. Wore berets and polo necks. Hung out in coffee shops playing bongos and reciting poetry and experimenting with marijuana.Pre-dates the hippie movement by about 10-15 years.
by loco weed April 24, 2003
vintage life-stylists who like the jazz poetry coffee shoppe scene and anything pertaining to the beatnik era
by $ally August 02, 2007