Beatnik identity had become a rentable commodity by 1960

Evidence

“Rent Genuine Beatniks” (ad), VV (3/2/60) 6; letter, VV (6/8/60); “one of the foulest collections” in Ted Morgan, Literary Outlaw: The Life and Times of William Burroughs (New York: Avon Books, 1988), 296. — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 1702

Categorization

• CANDY: The ad literally renting out ‘genuine beatniks’ is a perfect light anecdote about the commodification of the subculture.
• SEED: This is direct evidence for the reader’s two-part thesis: a scene becoming a market. An ad renting beatniks for hire in the Village Voice demonstrates the subculture entered the market economy as spectacle/commercial product.