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Not everyone, however, is quite so happy with the way
that the dirty-mac brigade has made way, in small part,
for the Apple Mac brigade. For some, all of this is pure
vertrutting
, literally the ‘drearification’ of Amsterdam’s
neon nightlife. “A beautiful Dutch word,” notes
Amsterdam blogger Sander Korringa with unvarnished
sarcasm, “but it revolves around political forces working
against the landmarks that make Amsterdam unique. For
example, stricter rules for coffee shops, as well as not
being allowed to hold a beer outside of the pub.”
In general, though, there’s a sense that De Wallen’s
transformation is less heavy-handed than it might have
been. Anna Whitehouse, formerly the editor of
Time Out
Amsterdam
’s Vice section, thinks that the city
authorities have learned lessons
from other European
destinations: “Cities like Cologne
took the hard line – they shut
down entire red light districts in
the 1970s, there were angry
demonstrations and there’s still
a lot of resentment about the
way it was handled. On the other
hand, you’ve got areas like Soho
in London and Pigalle in Paris,
where there’s a sense that the
current booming property prices
will inevitably lead to those
neighbourhoods becoming a sort of sanitised
enclave for identikit yuppies.” Whitehouse points
to the proposed development that would see the
notorious Walker’s Court alley, in the heart of
London’s Soho, turned into a gleaming six-storey
office and shopping complex. “No one wants that
to happen here in De Wallen,” she says.
F ROM B E V E R LY H I L L S 9 0 2 1 0 TO E A S T 1 7…
The world’s most notorious postcodes explored
90210
Beverly Hills became
glamorous in the early
20th century when
Hollywood power couple Douglas
Fairbanks and Mary Pickford – the
Brangelina of their day – built a
spectacular mansion there. Then, in
1990, one of the city’s primary ZIP
codes catapulted into popular parlance
via glossy teen series
Beverly Hills,
90210,
charting the lives and loves of an
annoyingly privileged bunch of teens.
75016
The westerly 16th
arrondissement of
France’s capital has
long been home to those in possession
of fabulous wealth, great influence and
moral inscrutability. Imagine the
horreur
then, when in 1946 it became
clear that doctor Marcel Petiot, of Rue
le Sueur, had been incinerating the
remains of some 23 murder victims
there. However, even he did little to
dent the reputation of the postcode.
E17
Originally an ancient
parish in the English
county of Essex,
Walthamstow came to the fore in the
1990s, when a trio of working-class
lads named their rap/chart crossover
collective in its honour. East 17 (famous
for hits such as
House of Love
) weren’t
the only pop luminaries to find
inspiration there. Blur’s
Parklife
album
sleeve features band members at the
now-closed Walthamstow Stadium.
SOMETHING IN THE AIR
09
Adrian Moreno
and Marta Vega inside
the booth at Red
Light Radio
»
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X X X F A C T O R
A M S T E R D A M
