I rode past what was one of the most idiosyncratic coffeeshops in Amsterdam. Coffeeshop Sanementereng was the coffeeshop that hired your grandmother to design the interior decoration. Part-coffeeshop, part-flea market, part-antique shop; all of the old world ephemera contained within was for sale. Sadly, it’s no longer open. I’m glad I got a chance to capture its essence before it faded. It serves as a sign to me to enjoy places and people you enjoy, for nothing is forever…
OMG, I bought some records at this shop last year (when they were still open) and brought a few friends from out of town to taste the “local product” from them as well. It had to be one of the weirdest places I’ve ever been to in this town. Not only did they sell a mismatched cornucopia of flea market objects but the owners were sort of “living” there (perhaps not sleeping but definitely using it as a daytime home of sorts). So, you’d come in the middle of the day and they were cooking dinner right there in the open, chatting with friends, while people would come in and buy a bag of weed and smoke it in the tables while having a drink. It was definitely the strangest coffee shop in Amsterdam.
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