Oldest and craziest memories of trips from 80s and 90s

[Weemanio]

orbital are outstanding!!

[grateful deb]

I was in the Dam for the first time for my honeymoon in 1990. We had just spent about 3 weeks in England, Wales & Scotland. We figured we would end up the trip with 3 days smoking alot. A good way to end a fab trip.

We stayed at the Victoria and it was pretty nice. I was waiting in the lobby for my husband and I must have reeked to high heaven. I know I was wearing a sleazy T-shirt and sweatshirt at the time. Probably tie-dye, too. One of the hotel staff thought I was a loiterer in the lobby and asked me to leave! I set him straight. He was mighty nice to me after that! (actually a bar mitzvah was taking place in the restaurant and I probably looked like such a slob sitting there!)

Well anyway, we ended up at the Bulldog for some reason. My husband was a little nervous about buying pot so openly. He went to the bud tender (we called them dealers then) and bought some columbian crappy stuff. I told him we could buy this shit at home, let me buy the pot! I went back to the dealer and asked for the (small) list and got something much better. Green, not brown! Man, pot has changed so much since then! I still tease my husband about that today. He lets me do the buying now.

I also remember smoking at the Hard Rock coffee shop. Does any one remember that one? Did they have a steep stairs down to the little buy booth? I know I got a gram of some hash. The dealer cut off a perfectly sized piece. I don't know why he even weighed it , it was spot on.

Then we sat around a gigantic ashtray and watched a star wars movie and didn't move for about 2 hours.

I'll try to unearth some other memories...

[bridget]

My main memory from my first trip in 1985 was how much more seedy the RLD was - bestiality and other weird shit in shop windows, glad that`s gone!

Has it? I remember looking in one of the sex shop windows and seeing various DVDs - I love my horse volumes - god, think there were 18 or something mad. Oh and Eels and Goats. Who buys this shit?

Think my first time was 97 - I can't even remember the name of the first coffeeshop I went to but it took us an age to get back on track to our hotel.. Junkies and bums everywhere but I never once felt threatened or intimidated. Love the place - can't wait to go back.

Love reading all the old stories.. cool

[Buzzyhead]

Can anybody remember the Transky cafe oppsite central station, the best sticky chocalate thai in Holland.

My mate was telling me about this place
He Managed to score the day it closed 50g of thai & 70g of Afghan skunk#1 it lasted my mate 3 weeks while he was there. Sounds like great times

[Dave near London]

1984 - drove from London via Ramsgate - Dunkirk ferry (Sally line) in a very old mini , - took ages. No accomodation booked , but stayed in a place somewhere near the outer rings. As we were late in , we went for a drink and called it a day.

Did usual tourist things next day , but I didnt want to go on the touristy boat trip , so while 2 mates did that - I dived in coffeeshop Fancy Free and tucked into a nice slice of space cake with nuggets of hash in. Met them off boat , went for a drink in the Bulldog and after an hour , mate 2 said "f**k it , lets have a smoke , was very keen of course - and coming up a bit. Dealer had an attache case - so for around £6 got a bag of reccomended Columbian Gold weed , not much he said , but good. Mate 1 turns out to be an accomplished roller , so the evening passed nicely - with me more stoned than them , but good times.

Wander back into hotel and consider a beer / sandwich so walk into the bar to find it full of uniformed police officers from all over Europe (turns out they were on some conference) , paranoia big time. (especially as I was holding the weed , skins etc - and we must have stunk of smoke etc)

Anyway - mates 1 an 2 bluff it out , so went upstairs and rolled a J - and we finished the lot off later on. To cap it all we missed our boat thanks to a Belgian carnival in Knocke , waited several hours and got on eventually (thanks to having a small mini) , and to finish off an imperfect day - got mega searched by Customs in Ramsgate.

[cornish pixie]

On my first visit to Amsterdam back in 96 i was 17 and we stayed on a campsite outside the city which we would reached by train. On our first night there I picked up some hash in the jolly joker and decided to make a mull in the metal ashtray provided. I grabbed the bong from the bar and decided to have a couple of cones with a trusty pin I had handy. I asked my mate if he wanted one and he accepted though being with his mrs only had one. I finished the mix turn around and feel the whole place is staring i feel completely wankered i have no idea whats going on !!!at me go back to the table pick up my coat and say right I'm going something bars gunna happen I then proceed to grab any train I can which goes completely the wrong way and we end up in schiphol airport which I find a pizza counter and whoof down about 4 slices in doing this I smashed 4 ashtrays due to the tables being the shape of pizza slices. Everytime i smashed one the girl on the counter would clean it up and I would apologise after the second time she was well pissed off by the forth i thought she was going to murder me. In the end we left with the look of daggers. I was completely cained and never been in a mess like that since. To be young again. Though like everyone says I returned to Amsterdam this year and it's definitely less rough than it was back then. Seems less dodgy

[craig bell]

WOW, just read through the lot of the 6 pages. Amazing stories and most of them told with such infuseaism. Had me hooked from page 1 through. And 1 or 2 had me in stitches. Hope theres other people who have memories to still share. This is definetly the best thread ive came across. And most of the stories had me there walking with them. The one in the casa rossa with the wife encouraging her hubby up had me and the mrs in tears of laughter. And also the one with the husband coming back early and him having to run the whole way back non stop. Still finding it funny as i think of it now. Also did'nt like the thought of the lads getting jumped from ones from there own country and the other mates getting there money took from them by some morracan dudes scary thought. But id still say this is easy the best thread. There was more stories in there that was funny but these ones really stick out in my head.

[Kingdoc]

Yea guys! awsome stories & times,Gota take my hat of to dave thou! ie early 80`s/a ferry crossing/no room booked & a clapped out old mini for the journey ,KD = raises a bong to you buddy ,Anyways my 1st ever visit to the dam was january 2000! we stayed in the "amstel botel" for 5 nights & it was situated just over from centraal station back then,All you could ask for in a hotel really! easy to reach/lift/bar/24 hour staff/lounge/pool table/jukebox/luggage storage/wall safe/free parking & free satelite tv (hardcore porn on all night i noticed lol),Yea it was not long after new year time! we got offered a deal on the DFDS ferry crossing one day (newcastle/ijmuiden) route & jumped right on it ,The 1st thing i couldnt help but notice after arriving in the city centre was all the bikes! not forgeting the older style yellow trams & double deck trains! the money was gilden back then as well & things WERE for me anyways cheaper ,& Then came the coffeeshop on our 1st morning/afternoon! off to bluebird for some fine nepalese polm for me & my mate got a fat bag of skunk,Great memories there as we had been looking to go for like a year! & when you are sitting in bluebird smoking some quaity dope while the chimes of the church clock are playing outside in the backgroud & gives the place an "ambience" thats when you know you have made it ,There were 4 of us that trip & 2 had been to turkey/spain etc tons of times but me & my mate were the only ones to have never been overseas as it were,Talk about an assault on the sences! whooo windows/coffeeshops/headhops/grow shops & not forgeting such a wonderfull city to be in & walk around looking at! yea i remember my 1st day in amsterdam very well ,But back then it was also full of pan handlers/junkies & dealers! even the odd "street lady" asking you for "business" ,Insane 1st couple of days indeed with all the piiiisssttt guys & charlie charile! coke,Nearly everywhere you went (at night mainly)
you got acosted by some wafer thin guy who you wouldnt want to see down an ally asking in broken english! "can i help you find somewhere?" & normaly ending with "can you spare a couple of gilden/gilders" & bla bla bla,We just keep walking! as stopping would be the worst thing to do! yea tons of drug dealers back then,Hash acid speed! sometimes by dealers on bikes ringing there bells while saying it ,Yea it was a mad 1st couple of days for a guy who used to holiday in the lake district or take the tent somewhere ,Sex shops with big dildos in the windows & a porn video/magazine collection like you have never seen before in you life ,The places we ate at were mainly italian/kebab houses & man ken piss while snacking,Yea good ole MKP! the 1st time we seen that we all let out a burst of laughter,Crazy days indeed! thanks again for the memories & stories guys.

[Marco]

Oh it was a lot rougher, I assure you.

You ain't kiddin, and the law took no prisoners either, did they?

Just to illustrate...
One september, about 10/11 years back, four of us were sat canalside at ricks or suzy's having a beer in the evening sun when we noticed a cop car pull up in front of city hall and another, unmarked car with one uniformed polis pulled up behind. Two law got out of the first car and started frisking up two lads while the cop in the unmarked car sat reading a paper. This was going on for a few minutes, everyone sat on our side watching the little slice of street drama, when the cop folded up his read, stepped out of his car and walked past his two colleagues without a word and wandered up to a lone bloke standing by the canal in front of greenhouse. He pulled out his cosh/stick and battered this bloke to the floor, giving him a good 4-5 cracks for luck while he lay there. On our side, all the jaws had hit the floor. It looked like a random attack on a random target (who knows), but it was fucking brutal. Then to top it all, PC Headcase calmly put his stick away, walked back to the car, again ignoring the two plod from the squad car. He got in, pulled the paper out again, and read til the other cops were done. Then they casually drove off, randomer still curled up on the canalside, alone.
Vowed at that point to never annoy a dutch copper, and i'd recommend any noobs to follow that stance.
Dutch police seem sound enough, it's whats bubbling under the surface i'd worry about. Be lucky

That sounds like some shit straight outta The Wire...I am sure there was more to that than meets the eye! Maybe one of his snitches or something like that.

Not sure how much that happens today, I think the coppers should be putting a beatdown on a few more of the bridge trolls who prey on tourists, imho.

This is a cool thread.

[Lord Average]

Took out a mate for his first time to the Dam in 1987. It was about my 6th visit and I had spent the last couple of years boring the arse off him about how weird and wonderful a place it was.

It was the Easter holiday weekend and we got there late. We soon found that all the hostels were full to the gunnels, and there was not a single cheap bed to be had in the whole city - FUCK!

What to do? We were travelling very light and didnt even have sleeping bags, just a change of clothes.

Decided that the only logical solution was to get stoned. Very stoned. So I led the way to the Bulldog which really was the best place to get weed in those days. They used to sell it in the basement out of a courier pouch. As we didnt have to spend any money on accomodation we invested in a few bags of their prime "Sensimelia"

Rolled up a fat joint of neat Sensi and just went with the flow. When we got there, the place was empty, by the time we had finished the joint the room was absolutely rammed with people, and we were beginning to trip out. Deciding we couldnt cope with the crowd, we made it up the stairs and onto the streets.

Amsterdam RLD in the mid 80s was a mad, bad place, and there were gangs on just about every corner who would stare, mutter and hiss at you as you passed. By this time we were really tripping hard on the Sensi. With nowhere to go, very little money left and totally disorienated, we just walked. It was like walking into a very, very weird dream.

It was truly one of the craziest nights of our lives. As we were both getting a lot of audible hallucinations we both started answering each other and people around us, and then found out no one had actually said anything in the first place

Getting the munchies we found our way into some cafe where the guy behind the counter just stood there and took the piss out of us. He just kept laughing at us, and that was all he did whilst we strived to keep a grip on reality. It took us a while to realise that we simply wouldnt get served there and so logic dictated that a safer bet would be MacDonalds.

Eventually we found the place and managed to get it together enough to order a couple of burgers. As we sat down to eat them, their milkshake machine blew up! A plume of bright pink milkshake rocketed up to the ceiling and then spread out across the floor. As the staff were really busy and didnt actually get round to cleaing it up, we then spent the next half hour totally entranced, watching the staff behind the counter slipping, sliding and skating across the floor behind the counter as they continued to serve people.

Coming up to midnight it was getting COLD And so we headed for the cover of Central Station. When we got there we found that we were not alone as there must have been two hundred blokes there, also bemused and bedless. Finding a spot under a stairway we were just settling down, and coming back down to normality, when the guards threw everyone out as the station was shutting.

There was a race to the old phoneboxes outside, and my mate and I were lucky to get the last one. Over the next hour it turned into our little piece of heaven, as it quickly warmed up and allowed us to smoke another fat Sensi joint in comfort. Our neighbours in the next box were a couple of long-haired American guys who were going hardcore and smoking smack.

They were good entertainment and having a real party in their box, until a couple of passing police spotted them and dragged them out by their hair. Forced to turn out their pockets, the police scattered all their drugs into the wind before pressing trunchions up to their throats and explaining in very direct terms that taking heroin in phone boxes was not welcome.

Fearing for our Sensi, we decided that we didnt want the two police to come barging into our phonebox, and so we slipped out into the night once more. Man it was COLD. And finding some free newspapers we used the old tramp's trick, and lined our clothes with them for extra insulation. Then we just walked. We walked all night, walking south, right out of the city, and then back again, Smoking, joking, sightseeing.

By dawn we were fucked! Our feet were killing us, no sleep for 24 hours and coming down from a major weed trip. Just enough money left for breakfast, before getting back on the train and heading back early to catch the ferry back at Ostend. A memorable trip.

[Glas]

A couple of funny things that have happened to me on our sojourns to the Dam.

Very first time we went, around 1994, it was me, my brother and a mate. We drove to Hull for the ferry to Rotterdam and on up to Amsterdam, me doing all the driving. None of us had ever been before, but since I was the only one who could organise anything amongst us, I had pored over maps and stuff that I got from a friend before we left. Eventually we reach Amsterdam and Stadhouderskade, which I had recognised from the maps and knew we were near the centre. It was a Sunday morning, about half 9 or so in October and VERY misty. We parked the car up and walked along to Vijzelstraat (I think) and while waiting at the lights, out of the mist came some guy wearing nothing but a gold leotard and a pair of silver roller boots It was absolutely fuckin surreal, but once we got over our initial shock we all just burst out laughing. The guy, seeing he had amused it, proceeded to pirhouette around the traffic light pole, and went back the way he came (with the leotard stuck right up his bum ). We just looked at each other and said "WTF have we got ourselves in for"

Around the 3rd or 4th time I went, in 1997, it was with the girl I was with at the time, and she was 8 months pregnant with my now 13yo kid. And believe me, she really looked pregnant as she was fairly slim but had a massive bump. One night I convinced her to take a walk through the RLD, as it is something that just has to be experienced imo. So there we are, walking along the canal hand in hand, taking our time and just generally having a laugh when we walks past this particular window with a beautiful, leggy blonde behind it. She caught my eye, and beckoned on me to come in, at which I started laughing and pointed at my gf's obvious bump. She then motioned "yeah, the two of you come in!". Me and the girlfriend were in fuckin knots

During that same trip, we also took a walk through the AC Market. By gf decided she really needed to wee so we found the nearest bar, and I approached the barman and had a conversation that went something like this;

Me: Hi, can my gf use your toilet please.

Barman: Sure!

I look over at her and motion her towards where the toilets are, at which point the barman exclaims;

"WAIT!!! She wants to have baby in the toilet?????"



She almost did cos we were laughing so hard

[Roccy Tittzenbeer]

some guy wearing nothing but a gold leotard and a pair of silver roller boots

Hey I've seen him too
I've also seen him riding a bike down Damstraat at the break of dawn wearing the gold leotard, neckerchief, silver boots and a long tailed jacket. Was stumbling back to the hotel after a big night out and he was cycling towards us with a big crazy smile on his face and ringing the bell
I have though about putting some of my wacky stories on here but thought people might not believe them - after this I will have a rethink - cheers Glas.

[Glas]

Hehe no probs Roccy, i'm glad someone can back that up as it was just too surreal to seem true. What an introduction to the Dam that was lol.

One more I remember, from that first visit. We were planning on camping over there cos we were short of cash, and had the tents and sleeping bags, etc stashed in the boot of my Nissan Micra (it was pretty cramped with all our gear as you can imagine). Anyway, we blew almost all of our money in the casino on the ferry over and got off at the other side with £100 between us to last 3 nights Camping was out, so we just tried to find free places to park the car at night and we all slept in it. One of those nights we slept outside the Heineken brewery and when I woke about 9 in the morning, I lit up a joint and opened one of the windows as they were all steamed up. Just our luck that there was a whole queue of tourists waiting for a tour of the brewery who looked absolutely aghast at the state of the 3 of us sleeping in the car

I got the engine on, put the blowers on to clear the mist from the windscreen and got out of their sharpish

P.S Of that £100, we spent £70 on weed, £10 on fuel and the rest on food lol. Lucky we had bought 3 crates of Stella and a carton of cigs on the boat before blowing the rest And even tho we were so skint, that first time was absolutely amazing and had me hooked for life

[cantona7]

i only went to the dam once in the 90's. was 1993 i believe and i was 8 years old.was on a trip with my parents to the scandanavian area(we hit sweden,norway,finland, st petersburg russia, etc on that trip) and we stopped in amsterdam for a day. i remember seeing the hookers when we walked by the outskirts of the rld. i remember buying things in gilders and going to the anne frank huis. i have pics from this trip that i can scan if anyone wants to see.

[Kingdoc]

i only went to the dam once in the 90's. was 1993 i believe and i was 8 years old.was on a trip with my parents to the scandanavian area(we hit sweden,norway,finland, st petersburg russia, etc on that trip) and we stopped in amsterdam for a day. i remember seeing the hookers when we walked by the outskirts of the rld. i remember buying things in gilders and going to the anne frank huis. i have pics from this trip that i can scan if anyone wants to see.

Post them.