Mellow Pages

[Lemming]

... and another one. Recognise it?



Bon Ami, now Coffeeshop 137

[Lemming]

Jumping to the 3rd edition



Barney's

[Lemming]

Jumping again, this time to the 6th edition



Barney's

[Comus]

i always found it odd that White Rabbit, Silo, Vankrijk and Tabakspanden etc never got a mention in the pages ..... maybe not 'mellow' enough

[Comus]

stil, it's great to reminisce the old places, especially the old 80's venues .... good work Lem

[Lemming]

i always found it odd that White Rabbit, Silo, Vankrijk and Tabakspanden etc never got a mention in the pages ..... maybe not 'mellow' enough

I don't think Kip ever tried to cover all of the shops. As I'm sure you know, there were hundreds of shops back then and constant changes. He just covered the ones he knew and liked I guess.

I think you mentioned White Rabbit before and I do remember the squats on Spuistraat but otherwise I don't remember those shops. Any reminiscences would be good to hear. If you have full details of any not in the ACD I'll happily add them.

[Comus]

a notable one was The Happy Family coffeeshops. i think there were two maybe three even. the main one was on the corner of rustenburgerstraat down in the pipe, another on overtoom which might have even become Blue Lagoon but i'm not certain. they wound up in 89/90 maybe after they had a protracted battle with the taxman. it was a good place to get free food and drinks if you were skint. i got a feeling that Dolphins coffeeshop may have been connected to The Happy Family but only because they used to have a logo of three dolphins on some of their posters and beer mats etc.

[Lemming]

a notable one was The Happy Family coffeeshops. i think there were two maybe three even. the main one was on the corner of rustenburgerstraat down in the pipe, another on overtoom which might have even become Blue Lagoon but i'm not certain. they wound up in 89/90 maybe after they had a protracted battle with the taxman. it was a good place to get free food and drinks if you were skint. i got a feeling that Dolphins coffeeshop may have been connected to The Happy Family but only because they used to have a logo of three dolphins on some of their posters and beer mats etc.

There seems to be an article about Happy Family here:

https://stevenbrownsblog.wordpress.com/ ... amsterdam/

[Comus]

ah yeah, that's the one. didn't know it started off as a 'youth club' mind pmsl . Back in the 80's, coffeeshops were a pretty skanky affair at the best of times. Often quite violent clientel, dodgy gangster types running them as a laundering operations and generally scarey places. Bulldog was another place like that, owing to henk de vries often turbulent association with the hells angels. Most coffeeshops in the RLD were sketchy back then as they could only trade by keeping on the good side of Zwarte Joop (who i think was actually Henks dad possibly) who pretty much ran the whole old side area back then. The places that are left now are pretty much all fronts for underworld organisations and i think it shows too. Us stoners have a lot to thank the gangsters for when you stop and think of it

[Comus]

it just occured to me too, after reading that article (the translation of which is pretty amusing) that Happy people coffeshop at the bottom end of Dapperstraat market might be one of the Happy Family venues. .... it's a good coffeeshop that one

[Lemming]

I've found the very first photo I took of a coffeeshop, back in 1989, nearly a decade before I started the ACD.

Anyone else remember this place: Fancy Free?

[Comus]

I've found the very first photo I took of a coffeeshop, back in 1989, nearly a decade before I started the ACD.

Anyone else remember this place: Fancy Free?

i've been pondering this picture .... i think i remember it being there but i certainly never went inside ... one thing i do know is that it looks like a 1950's american italian ice cream parlour innit

[Lemming]

Yes, that's exactly what it looked like!

Found my oldest photo of Ballonnetje too:

Ballonnetje 1992

[Ghost]

Yes, that's exactly what it looked like!

Found my oldest photo of Ballonnetje too:

Ballonnetje 1992

That's a really smart photo @Lemming especially with the sun beating down, so relaxed

[Comus]

it's the shonky old peugeot 205 that's doing it for me lol