|| -----Original Message-----
|| From: Doug Henwood
||
|| Ian Murray wrote:
||
|| >[Wonder how Doug's handling the space cakes...:->]
||
|| Didn't touch 'em. Fattening, you know. Besides, The Other Side was
|| sold out of them when we dropped by.
||
|| Doug
You mean De Overkant, which if I remember right is a modest, very laid back rasta hangout where the proprietor has rigged a "menu" that pops down and opens up when he pulls a string? Or do you mean the Other Place, near the red light district?
Did you try the hash shakes? Forget what they call em - space shakes, I guess. Also fattening, but worth it. Had a memorable one at Utrecht, in a joint (what else do you call it) called No Name? by the Oude Gracht canal in one of those converted cellars, sort of like a dead-end tunnel. IOW the invigorating health beverage was sold in a tube-shaped establishment, on the closed end of which vintage psychedelic footage was being projected, and out of the open end (the doors) of which a fragrant plume of smoke was wafting out. I was visiting said head cafe out of purely historical interest OC as townsfolk had sheltered there fearing they'd be next after Rotterdam (happily, the Dutch did the courageous thing and surrendered). The scene was being reenacted with reasonable accuracy by the mellowed-out townspeople on the cushions mattresses scattered around the cafe - just no crying kids and hanging laundry :-)
Sadly the No Name? now houses arcade machines, a pool table and has undergone a gothic makeover, complete with a suit of armor. Dope is big business in Holland, and it has been taken over by loaded dopes, who are progressively McDonaldizing the scene.
Hakki