Actually the early beatniks got their start in the 40s, very close to the end of WW2. Although the “nik” part of their name is attributed to Sputnik, the “beat” portion of it was introduced prior to the launch of Sputnik.
Notice that the Beatniks hung out in very specific coffee houses in SOHO and in Frisco. These were gathering places where they exchanged ideas, wrote or read their “poetry”; mostly to people who weren’t listening to them.
Overall, the Beatniks were a largely laughable movement that only enthralled some of the media and Hollyweird. Bits and pieces of some of the more “acceptable” philosophies of the Beatniks can be found in a number of different entertainment items of the day including “West Side Story” and “Dobie Gillis” with the character Maynard G. Krebs (played by Bob Denver of Gilligan fame!).
It wasn’t until the influence of the Beatniks was picked up by the hippies that the movement got more traction than it should. The rest is truly history.
And in Berkeley (or Bezerkeley, as it is fondly known.) Throughout the era preceding the influx of the hippie movement (starting around 1964), the Bohemians and the Beats hung out on the north side of campus at a couple of coffee houses. The rest of the students had Telegraph Avenue all to themselves. But, after the hippies poured in, every business was inundated, and there was no place left for "normal" students.
There was a Perry Mason episode, The Case of the Jaded Joker, that had a beat theme. Even Tragg got into the act.
Tragg: “Well, I’m glad this one’s over; I’m beat.”
Della (laughing): “Dig the hipster.”
Tragg: “Don’t bug me, granny. I’m one of the cool ones. I don’t dig slickchicks trying to goof me up . . . daddy-o.”