Amsterdam amusements

Boston Club

1 Kattengat. (B1).

One of the best discos for fashion-conscious grown ups is in the Renaissance hotel near the central railway station. You can even be seen there with a tie.

Melkweg

Lijnbaansgracht 234. Phone: 624 1777. (A2).

Behind Stadsschouwburg and Leidseplein is a disused milk factory behind a canal and a drawbridge. It is now an art center for young people. The door is locked so you must knock, but it is easy to buy a cheap 3-month membership card.

Inside there are exhibitions, plays, noise production, dancing and the technically best cinema outfit in town. Besides there are a few restaurants, for example one for vegetarians. Also a book market, a flea market, a bar and a tearoom.

People wander around until they find something to their liking. If everything is too far out, it is always possible to browse in the book market. The spot is open on full blast 21-01 and disco is after that.

Paradiso

Weteringschans 6. Phone: 623 7348. (A3).

A disused church, now a youth center, 100 meters from Leidseplein. It has for many years been a focus for modern popular music. At first there was pop, then punk, heavy rock and the newest waves. Sometimes the groups are unknown, sometimes world-known. It is not a spot for a quiet evening.

Shaffy

Keizersgracht 324. (A2).

A multi-culture center, avant-garde in theater, films, art, music and dance. You dont have to know what is going on, just arrive and have a look. Some of the happenings will probably be tempting enough for you to stay on.

Drie Fleschjes

Gravenstraat 16. (B1).

Behind Nieuwe Kerk, a few steps from Dam, a sympathetic jenever tasting pub from 1650, old and worn, popular with businessmen from the neighborhood. Some companies have their private jenever casks on these premises. An amusing private closet for two in a corner.

Hoppe

Spui 20. (A2).

The first and original Hoppe, on Spui square, well known for important guests effortlessly and democratically mingling with the lower classes. It still has sawdust on the floor, completely tasteless furnishings and is almost always full to the brim.

Pilsener Club

Begijnensteeg. (B2).

In an alley leading off Kalversstraat to the Begijnhof garden, catering to bridge players from all social classes. It has sand on its white floor. The bridge players surprisingly sometimes are more noisy than other guests.

Pilserij

Gravenstraat 10. (B1).

In an alley behind Nieuwe Kerk, a few steps off Dam and Damrak, a dark and romantic pub in Art Noveau style, with a high ceiling and a balcony with hanging greenery over the rear saloon.

Wijnlokaal Mulliners

Kleine Lijnbaansgracht 267. (A3).

There is more than coffee to the Leidseplein area. Also some wine bars where Amsterdammers have a sip after work and before going home or to some entertainment venue. One of the best ones is Wijnlokaal Mulliners, 100 meters from Leidseplein.

It specializes in port wine of all ages, up to a little over half a century old. The bar is in almost a full circle in the middle. Customers stand at the bar or sit at small tables in the corners.

Wynand Fockink

Pijlsteeg 31. (B2).

In a narrow alley leading from Dam past the Krasnapolsky, this is an interesting jenever tasting pub in Amsterdam, tendered by the talkative philosopher Gijsberti Hodenpijl. This local with shuttered windows has remained unchanged for more than three centuries. Old wine bottles grace the walls. The bar counter is looking very old.

There are no seats. You just stand at the bar, bend down with your hands behind your back and take the first sip from the almost overflowing glass. These places are not meant for lingering, you just step in, take your drink and get lost.

Cafes

Bakke Grond

Nes 43. (B2).

A comfortable Belgian café on an alley leading off Dam, 200 meters from the square, connected with a Flemish cultural center, popular with theater spectators. It specializes in Belgian beer.

Blincker

St. Barbarenstraat 7. Hours: Opens 17:00. (B2).

In a maze of alleys south of Dam and east of Rokin, on two levels, with lots of glass and greenery, decorated with masks. It is convenient for theater spectators.

Café Americain

Leidsekade 97. (A3).

An important café in the city, at the main square of sidewalk cafés, Leidseplein. It is on the ground floor of the American hotel and is the best known part of its Art Noveau style. The decorations have official protection, including the strange chandeliers, beams and arches, velvet fabrics and stained windows.

Spioness Mata Hari celebrated her wedding here. For years this has been the place where local and foreign artists sit and talk for hours. In addition to coffee and cakes there are available inexpensive courses of the day, some snacks and a tourist menu.

The outdoor chairs are popular with tourists who meet here after shopping, but the real atmosphere is inside.

Café de Jaren

Nieuwe Doelenstraat. (B2).

Newspaper reading cafés are numerous and popular with the locals. This is beside hotel Doelen in the university area. It is a big room with a high ceiling, full of university students, some reading text books or magazines and others talking at full blast. A big balcony is on the Amstel river side. Many newspapers and magazines are in the English language.

Eijlders

Korte Leidsedwarstraat 47. (A2).

Two steps off Leidseplein, a café that doubles as a modern art gallery, still patronized by local artists. The tables are worn after the elbows of generations. It is happily more patronized by locals than by tourists.

Engelbewaarder

Kloveniersburgwal 59. Phone: 625 3772. (B2).

A simple and comfortably run-down café with wood floors, one of the main literary cafés in Amsterdam, with scheduled readings and Sunday afternoon jazz. It is a nice reading room on a rainy day.

Het Hok

Leidsekruisstraat. (A3).

Two chess cafés are side by side on the corner of Lange Leidsdwarsstraat, just 100 meters from Leidseplein. This is on the corner and the other is Domino. This one has more atmosphere. It is spacious and well patronized by regulars. Such chess cafés have for decades been a hallmark of Amsterdam.

Land van Walem

Keizersgracht 449. Phone: 625 3544. (A2).

Very popular and busy reading café on a canal a few steps from Leidsestraat. Its choice of foreign newspapers is unusually great, attracting travelers.

Morlang

Keizersgraacht 451. Phone: 625 2681. (A2).

A quiet and relaxing reading café just a few steps off Leidsestraat.

Pieper

Prinsengracht 424. (A2).

A typical pub near Leidsegracht, rustic and dark, accidentally furnished and comfortable, with a long history of fame.

Reijnders

Leidseplein 6. (A2).

One of the best known cafés in town, at Leidseplein, for a long time an artists hangout, but now just a place where local people meet over coffee while waiting to go somewhere else. There are some sidewalk tables. Inside there are lots of old wooden tables and chairs, rather unorganized. A billiard table is at the rear.

This is a folksy, dingy place with lots of good local atmosphere. Few tourist are seen there in spite of the location.

Scheltema

Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 242. (B2).

Almost immediately behind the Koninklijk Paleis, this cellar pub with creaking floors in former days attracted neighboring journalists with its fireplace and a big reading table in the center. It still is charming.

Upstairs

Grimburgwal 2. (B2).

Pannekoekenhuis, or pancake houses are typically Dutch cafés, offering big pancakes in endless variants. Ginger pancakes are the traditional ones. This pancake house is on the first floor of an extremely narrow house a few steps from Rokin. It can take only twelve guests at a time and they have to brave the almost vertical staircase. Picturesque, this one.

Albert Cuypstraat

(B3).

The main victuals market in the city, extending a few blocks to the east from the corner of Ferdinand Bolstraat. It has grown in later years because of the influx of Surinamese coming from the former colony of Dutch Guyana and of other people from afar, who have settled down in the Pijp quarter around the market.

Here you can get the most strange and exotic spices, fish and vegetables, fruit and flowers. The colors are brilliant, the choices are immense and inexpensive. The redolence is both exotic and charming. For example the flavor of pancakes, filled with meat and vegetables. Or of Barras, which is a type of pea dumplings.

The market is closed Sundays.

Artis Zoo

Plantage Kerklaan 40. Phone: 523 3400. (C3).

Founded in 1838 this spacious zoo has more than 900 animal species, in addition to plants in three spacious greenhouses. It also incorporates an excellent Aquarium, containing almost 500 species; a Planetarium; and a Geological Museum.

1996

© Jónas Kristjánsson