The part around the old Bulldog coffeeshop is shut down day and night. Including all the legendary alleys like Dollebegijnensteeg and Trompettersteeg. Sint Annendwarsstraat had already been shut down last year. Not a single girl is working in that area now. I guess city council weren't telling fairy tales when they said that they wanted to concentrate everything around OZA...

Daytime: Some girls working in the smaller alleys like Stoofsteeg and Molensteeg. Practically nothing around OZA.

Nighttime: More girls in the smaller alleys and a lot more action on OZA. Although nothing compared to 5 years ago.

I was underwhelmed. People always used to say that it's just a tourist attraction, BUT NOW, it really is nothing more than a little tourist attraction. If you are specifically travelling to see De Wallen again, it's not worth the trip anymore.

sad but true.

however Boomsteeg will come back later this year . A new owner has got their lincens cleared. that doesn't help much of course, considering that the old and best area is now something else.


Like I wrote before in another thread. what other business fit in on Trompettersteeg? you cant really run a shop/café from there.....

Very sad news.

Hi.

Thanks for the info pw999, even though it is sad news.

Take care guys.

//Tom.

Is Singel being shut down as well, or just De Wallen?

I’m honestly curious how this all plays out. I feel like there’s a very good chance this becomes a cyclical thing. If they gut De Wallen, people will stop going there. You’ll start seeing reports on tripadvisor and all those sites about how the city is “played out”, and how the RLD isn’t worth visiting anymore, and tourism numbers will fall off a cliff. I know that’s what they ostensibly want, but man, Centrum is going to get hit HARD if that happens. All those bars, restaurants, hotels, shops selling touristy junk… all gonna have a really bad time. I imagine if that happens, there’s a good chance that next election cycle, someone gets elected who’s a little more libertarian and wants De Wallen back to rejuvenate the tourism economy. I imagine a lot of business owners in Amsterdam are having a rough enough time with covid, I’m not sure how much tolerance they’ll have for a government that wants to make things even harder for them.

I really kind of wonder if we get a new “golden age” for De Wallen a decade or so from now out of all this. Maybe not, but I just can’t see the city ultimately being ok with everything people came there for being shut down. Money talks.

Oude Nieuwstraat in mid-July around midnight. Singel was alive and well.

Coming from Damstraat and walking happily, in great anticipation, towards the Bulldog signs, and then seeing all those alleys closed down was such a kick in the balls lol. I had no idea.



Yeah, probably an organic lemonade stand or a similar brilliant idea. All those new little businesses have been huge success stories. ;)

Is that the covered area closed as well now? Last update I had seen a few months back said that was still open.
I'd imagine La Vie en Rose? the lapdancing bar will also feel the effects of that whole area being closed!

Sad times. I'm gutted reading this.

Someone said that the peak of deWallen was around 2000. I'll never forget the first time I arrived, which was in 2004, and the feeling I got while walking around Tromp and Dolleb. It felt as good as when I got my first radio controlled aeroplane for xmas. Every window was lit up and behind it there was a stunner... just wonderful.
In Tromp you almost broke your neck from looking right-left-right-left....
Only problem was which girl to choose :) The cool Sabrina in OZA 117 stood there smiling, wearing a t-shirt saying 'Try me' and I thought Why not?

Back in the day when sexyland was at its peak.Every window was a beautiful girl just had to learn who to visit.Back in them days great euro rates and cheap hotels could be found cheap returns on the ferry.There Long gone.

I just saw this post. I was planning on stopping in Amsterdam just to check out the action? But De Wallen empty? Is this a local political issue or related to Covid?

I’ve never been there before so I don’t know if the geography. Are there other RLDs open? Or are private houses the only option for right now?

Otherwise I may rethink going to Amsterdam.

Thanks

[quote="Anglofil"]Someone said that the peak of deWallen was around 2000

i have to disagree with this.
De Wallen in the 70/80"s was awesome, mostly Dutch/German/Scandanavian/ even a few English girls, were working. every window was taken, girls had mirrors outside to see who was coming !!! i even went 3 times in a month once lol
Bars were full to busting, the atmosphere in the evenings was electric !!
The area has been in a slow decline since the late 90"s im sad to say, to the state its in now. im not sure if i will ever go back, which hurts me a great deal, as i love the Dutch people and the city !!!
regards

I wonder if this reflects people's experiences or rather a lack of perspective over the older periods? I would've said around the late 90's to 2002 was peak time but I never got to experience RLD in the 70's/80's. Just from general knowledge I know New York and London tended to be at their sleaziest back than so can well imagine that's true, though perhaps the t-girl scene wasn't brilliant then. Not sure about the rest of the district but Bloedstraat and Koestraat had an explosion of fantastic looking t-girls post 1996 for a 4 year period. Some of them were still around a few years ago and, disappointingly, they were still the best t-girls around a few years ago.

I bet there was more than a hint of danger in those times too though and many many stories to tell.

I can't speak to the 70's.
My first trip was '79
I was there in '80, the week after the King's Day bombing.
the 80's were pretty seedy. Still lots of squatters, and heroin addicts were everywhere.
I loved the little mirrors mounted on the windows, so the girls could see who was in the alley.
Lots of Dutch girls, very few EE's
AIDS changed things in the mid-80's. Bleach sprayers and paper towels appeared overnight.
Thin girls were not popular.
My personal vote for the peak of fun would be the mid-90's, at the end of the Guilder.
It seems that the day the Euro arrived, prices doubled. Crowds doubled, Dutch girls faded away..

I'd still love to visit, if they would let me in.
It's still a great city...well it was 2 years ago.

Weasel

My first visit wasn't until the late 00's so I don't have personal experience of the periods before that. I know from people who went in both the 90's and 00's that they believed the 90's was better - more dutch girls as reported above and every window was full.

There has been a big decline in the general atmosphere and number of occupied windows since my first visit in the late 00's, but I still enjoyed visiting the place even last year! I know even more windows have closed this year, but I cant wait until they let us back in!

I remember in the early 90's seeing street walkers in the district and pimps. Didn't like that element a great deal, nor the drug dealers.

I did like the guy who was always singing a small part of Sittin on the dock of the bay over and over.

I remember a few things walking around de wallen.
The lady who dressed and painted herself like a statue and would jump out at tourist.

The lady who used to hit people with her whip as they walked by her window.

The guy who used to jump and swim around the canal for 50 euro.

Being followed by drug dealers down the damrak going in mcds and they even followed me in there he got a tissue and left just to hassle me.

In a way it sad the wallen will never be the same after the 2 years.

Are all windows around Tromp, Dolleb, Sint A, Betlehem etc closed now? Or is there at least one red 'candle in the wind' ?

I think its still too early to sum up 'how it's going to be'
yes there is huge a dip at moment with many factors. All countries are still losing tourists at the moment not just NL.
greece, spain, italy, portugal are struggling even more at the moment...


if NL vote for making weed illegal for tourists then its definitely goodbye. you might go to NL once to check out some art and stuff - but you wouldn't travel 3-4times/year like most tourist do today.

I came into the scene rather late and I cant compare. However the girls today are super according my opinion. Eastern european people are very nice in general I would say.


I really appreciate to read about all these crazy stories some of you have!

I think the weed is and will be less of a factor as time goes on. A lot of places are legalizing it already anyway (totally legal here in Canada for a few years now), so less and less people will be going to the Netherlands for weed.

All the more reason to keep De Wallen open, really. A city whose economy relies on tourism shouldn’t be eliminating reasons for tourists to come there, especially when they’re on the precipice of losing one of their major tourist draws (weed).