Notable closings recently, some very old names are gone. Recession related, who knows? But there's alway someone else standing in the wings with money to take over.
Societe Anonyme---Oct 1, Fire, interior totally consumed. 1 death.
Mazzo---Closed now. The club observed its last Friday and Saturday nights last weekend, Sept 24, 25. Quite a few came to pay their final respects from the looks of the long lines Sat night.
Rum Runners---Near Anne Frank at the Toren. Now known as "Werck', Carribean specialities are gone, presumably the great selection of rum drinks as well. Our inquiring minds want to know: What happened to the parrots?
Nameless Dutch Cafe--On the Warmoestraat, facing Korte Niezel, this small typical Dutch lunchroom-resto, whose name we never did know, was the only 'normal' place in the area. Or perhaps it was actually the oddball in this neighbourhood. Pity it's gone. It's now another British Pub, which have notably spread in the town---like an infection. Dirt cheap fares on low cost UK airlines and a resulting heavy influx of no budget tourists over the last few years. More football pubs and piss drunk lads puking, screaming insults and baring their asses to the ladies, and other displays of clever British (t)wit. It doesn't get any better than that!
Virgin Megastore---Magna Plaza. Not exactly an old friend. The less "mega" anything here, as far as we're concerned, the better for local businesses. No idea when really, we just noticed it was gone. In the basement where it used to be, along with other smaller shops, there's a small cd-dvd movie place:
www.dvdvalley.nl
And of course the other news is the reconstruction of the OzA. Preparations are underway to drain the canal and rebuild the walls. Perhaps now a notable lady of our acquantance who now faces the canal will finally learn that the depth of the canals is a mere 2.5 meters (approx 8ft)---rather than her astounding belief that they were 15 meters! (50ft!) As far as pursuading her that they are not directly connected to the sewage pipes of all the buildings in Amsterdam, we'll leave that to others. Stoofsteeg also torn up. Oude Nieuwstraat in Singel also a mess.
In addition to renewing the canal structure, relaying the street is often part of the bargain as well---as being currently done on Stoofsteeg. Should be big messy fun for many, many months to come. As this takes a while, we'd guess that many ladies are going to be changing locations so as to be out of the mess. Or maybe not.