Flea market, no. But free concerts, absolutely! And for parents with young children: there's a pretty good wading pool, next to the open air stage area. The water is clean and on warm summer days it's a good place to be.

Here's a gig I helped organize

Wow- great. Never would have thunk of that.

VLIGENBOS CAMPING

Not sure if it is still there but I camped at this tiny campground just across the harbor - 15 minutes walk from free pedestrian/bike ferries. A Youth Camping where tent were pole to pole - many younger teens from all over Europe - seemngly spending much of time laying around camp toking without fear of anybody or anything. Just another weirdness for that ages that was tolerated.

ORIGINAL BULLDOG

Not sure if the original Bulldog at O Z VOORBURGWAL # 90 was the first coffeeshop to act like a pot dispensary but it was the first I encountered and it was a neat funky place run by some older white-haired buy whose fat English bulldog was a fixture in the small cafe - the upstairs was like a regular cafe with coffee and drinks, etc.

You had to go down some tiny stairs to get to the rather small place where a guy would sell the hash - only a few types available - Moroccan; Hindu Kush; Afghani #2, etc. Then you could take it up top and smoke it. A mellow place for sure and did a very brisk business. (I hear the Rusland's and Yellow Mellow were also amongst the first coffeeshop that were above board.

The original Bulldog is right in the heart of the Red-Light District and last I knew still is pretty much the same but now the Bulldog's other places do much more business, especially the Bulldog Palace, kind of a sports ba with lots of TV - very upscale and appealing to many American college kids - not seedy like some may consider the old Bulldog.

NEXT THE OTHER PLACE- Owned by the Hell's Angels in a prime location right in the heart of the red-light district and a most unqiue place to say the least.

With a link to that Youtube video. This thread is going the way of a political discussion. Are we meant to stay away from politics on this forum?

Anything goes in this thread of course as all is interesting.

About the "Dutch" = "the Dutch" I've seen scrawled on walls all over Europe - a pride in being Dutch is great but yes sometimes it may manifest in terms of superiority - like a guy I ran into in Ann Arbor who was visiting and started extolling how great Netherlands was and 'how an advanced social society they have' - this was several years ago before some of that Dutch tolerance has worn off. Ironically now in many U.S. states we have legal pot and legal dispensaires whereas in Netherlands they are technically illegal but tolerated by local authorities though still illegal.

When are the 'evolved Dutch' going to catch up?

I think most people underestimate how much Dutch politics has veered to the radical right. And how deeply ethno-nationalist our political discourse has become. Before people go on and on about "Dutch tolerance" and how Amsterdam is such a "liberal" city.

It's still there, and with a vengeance, because you can not only camp there now, but they have a couple of interesting, artsy, cottages that you can stay in, provided you bring your own sheets and towels. Really a good tip for people who want something different than a hotel or an AirBnB (lehavdil).
It's much more tightly controlled now, but of course people will still partake of "Dutch herbs"

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Location..._Province.html

........and in the mean time another shooting in a High school with 19 dead. No thanks.

Thanks for posting the info about The Bulldog, PalenQ! I have no idea of the address of the one we went to. It was 1989 and I'm pretty sure it was in the red light district - that's all I know. I don't think I even have a photo - but would have to check. I do still have a t-shirt I bought there, though.

This is a very interesting thread.

THE OTHER PLACE

Also on O ZVoorburgwal not far from old Bulldog - what a place -only in Amsterdamn! It was owned by the Hell's Angels and started as what seemed like a renegade bar - no taps just beers that looked like they came from Albert Heijn - and it attracted an eclectic crowd. - Hell's Angels types and casual young tourists. Service was with an attitude often. It was like the Flying Dutchman - a place folks knew sold acid and various hard drugs.

Once when I was sitting at the bar someone came in and asked about acid and the older straggly guy who seemed to run the place went nuts -bursting out "how many you want - a thousand?" They did not try to be discrete about it as at the Flying Dutchman.

But The Other Place was a great peaople-watching place and owned by the Hell's Angels always something interesting happening.

I hear that the place was finally closed in 2012 by the Mayor who vowed to keep the Hell's Angles out of opening another Other Place in central Amsterdam -part of the

cleanup of the red-light dfistrict I by city officials I guess.

Down below the cafe was a motgorcycle garage run by Hell's Angels.

Here it is, PalenQ. Now indeed closed in the big cleanup in 2012, part of the big clean up amongs Hells Angels.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dutchamsterdam/2551006336

And:

Early 1990s and talkshow host Jan Lenferink tries to deliver a cake to the Amsterdam Hell's Angels chapter. It doesn't go smoothly.


On the left, Daniel Uneputty, or "Unu", until 2012 president of the Amsterdam chapter, after ousting "big" Willem van Boxtel in 2004.

Precious! Thanks a lot.

Unforgettable thing I saw on Leidestraat - narrow pedestrian gaunlet - an Italian guy was smoking a spliff as he walked down the street and he purposefully blew out a huge cloud of smoke right into someone walking the other way's face - a middle-age lady and the Italian yelled "This is Amsterdam Baby!" I was appalled and never myself would smoke dope in public in site or within smell of anyone else. No wonder some Amsterdamers got sick and tired of such boorish behavior.

But in the 80s it was common to smell cannabis just about anywhere. Parks especially were full of folks laying around smoking sliffs (long handrolled paper rolled a mixture of hash and tobacco - at first there was only hash in coffeeshops and since Dutch and young Europeans who flocked here all smoked spliffs were the way of smoking hash.)

After all it was Amsterdam Baby!








I never saw anyone then use a hash pipe and even when marijuana appeared on the scene everyone in coffeeshops was mixing it with tobacco in a spliff.

THE 'HAPPY FAMILY'

The Happy Family was an unique coffeeshop/youth club whose motto was 'Let's Be Happy'. It was a bit south of the main tourist Amsterdam. I was always searching for such places in real neighborhoods to check out. It was a friendly place and they offered unique excursions. One such 'Let's Be Happy' tour was to go down the Harbor several miles east - not your typical tourist boat trip - seeeing a at times gritty aspects of Amsterdam's port area but was great just to be out in the flow of commercial barges and boats showed me how active a port Amsterdam was (or maybe still is).

And nicest of all everyone on the boat - about 30 people - sat outside and puffed pot - another only in Amsterdam (then) type of experience.

I'm not sure what happened to the Happy Family but it seemed to disappear shortly afterwards.

Well I speak as a tourist and from a tourists perspective only ( as that is of course all I could do )

My first visit was in 1975, I was a young teen with my grandmother and I liked it, I didn't consider it gritty or dirty. We visited Anne Franks house and there was almost no one else there.. you could be in her room alone , it was very moving. My most distinct memory was being in Centraal station and seeing a group of older teens/young adults all sitting around on the floor with their backpacks, and they were discussing " where should we go next" ... .and that impacted me greatly, I envied their freedom.. and I made up my mind right then and there to do a wander about Europe on my own when I was old enough.

In 1985 I was old enough.. so my friend and I did our 3 month trip.. and yes, we spent about a week in Amsterdam( in a seriously gross hotel with huge a fungus in the bathroom ) , and honestly I didn't find it much changed , except of course I was now a young adult and not a child with her grandmother , so we did different things of course, we visited coffee houses and saw a live sex show ( we were with a few other kids we had met , were all wrecked and got talked into it,, it was awful and we left after 5 minutes.. my feeling was one of sorrow that anyone had to do that for a living ) . We tried to learn how to roll joints.. and we got the best cough syrup off a pharmacist there that got us very stoned ( not on purpose , we were really very sick with horrid coughs ) . We also visited Anne Franks house.. no lines at all , but more folks inside for sure.


My hubby and I have been three times since 2011.

Our last visit was two years ago.. we had our oldest daughter with us and we were accosted by a very drunken man dressed as a condom, and then witnessed another man masturbate in front of one of the windows with a lady in it.. he was fully exposed, in broad daylight., my daughter ( actually my step ) and I laughed hysterically, but my hubby was a bit po'd.. he laughed it off later. We also visited a coffee shop and step daughter and hubby went to Vondel Park and smoked purchased product.. as did many people around them.. (I don't smoke ) . We took daughter to Anne Franks house.. lines and massive crowds.. we reserved tickets in advance this time and glad we did.. but even so the rooms were so crowded .

I have noticed is how expensive the city has become.. but thats par for the course for many touristy cities.

no where truly stays the same.. things change

It so depends where you go. If I don't have to be there, I tend to avoid the old part of the city, ie the RLD. And most locals do, it's very much a tourist thing to want to go there.

Red-light is a tourist place yes but who are the client's of the gals in windows - tourists?

I think yes. And it's not as if it's a roaring trade. Many sex workers need to resort to food banks in order to get by. Most money is earned from drugs and human trafficking. And from real estate transactions.

One of my all-time memorable weird things I've seen in Amsterdam was in the RLDistrict - suddenly out of nowhere two very obese youner men flew out of somewhere and were nearby naked and all slathered up with oil and were madly going after each other.

And I occasionally walked thru the area just to see what its current status was. It was a while before I discovered some tiny alleys by the original Bulldog that were lined by bosomly young gals - practically having to brush by their breasts to get thru - this led to a indoor area that was filled with tiny rooms and gals. That was the RLD up close and one that few tourists saw!

One would think that most of the prostitution in Amsterdam is now done online - escort services and I wonder why the old RLD doesn't just die away -and also wonder why there are not men for women to chose (or men) - I wonder if the RLD gals also serve women?

Anyway though in favor of legalizing prostitution the idea of commercialization of sex sickens me and is something that never attracted me and would hope tjat local authorities are tough on human trafficking and welfare of the women or men involved. This seems to not be the case in Amsterdam today and that is sad.