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ACD Page: Fatal Flower

FATAL FLOWER!can anyone remember?

Any info on when this c.s closed or any info atall?I see the pic on directory and its soo sweet cos you can only see the path leading to the door cos it was a temporary cabin really which was quite big considering, with little chill out, separate bit at the end with bar and menu at front.No booze sold and wkd super nepal and lots of board games and great young vibe/hippy/student/local and it was very south near beggining of vondel park but a few yards away.I loved that place.it was always worth the walk in a great location to watch the world go by from all angles.

I remember this place, it was proper old school Amsterdam cool, great view and people-watching place, we had two unique and unforgettable 'Dam experiences during our visits here. I think it closed around 1998/99 as we tried to find it after that but were confounded by the whole building having vanished. It is hard enough to retrace your steps in Amsterdam without buildings/addresses actually disappearing! Took us two visits/three years to find Club Media and Outer Limits (they used to have the strongest spacecake in town) as they also moved to temporary addresses, this was of course using guides like Mellow Pages, years before the handy internet. It was one of the few coffeeshops we found next to a busy road, which provided different eye-candy than usual. I seem to remember it specialised in US import strains, this was the first (only?) time I tried California Orange and they had things like Maui Wowie and Oaxacan Gold.

We were sitting in the window one day quite early in the morning as a proper hugely-dreaded Rasta was pedalling his really rickety bike in the general direction of the shop. We thought, oh he might be coming in here, at which point he steers towards the front of the shop, aiming for in between two of those bollard things but realises his brakes have failed, so just steers towards, then crashes into one of the bollards, deliberately using it as a buffer!
This is on the kerb about two feet from where we are sitting in the window and we can't help pissing ourselves laughing! After nearly going over the handlebars he dusts himself down, gives us a little bow and comes in. He proceeded to sit with us and shoot the shit for a while (it was his daily hangout) and it felt like our first non-touristy experience, chatting with a local about everyday stuff and what it is actually like to live there.

At the end of our visit I proceed to repay him equally in entertainment value by getting locked in the toilet! It was a tiny stall next to the dealer counter with a dodgy little lock (for those who have only visited 'Dam in the last decade or so, coffeeshop toilets have improved immeasurably and were almost Glastonbury festival-like in their awfulness when we started coming in the mid-90's) which I naturally utilised on the way in, then am unable to get to move an inch upon attempting to leave. Now I am pretty stoned and convinced it is this which is preventing me opening the door and not some actual lock malfunction, so I spend a good two or three minutes trying every possible method of opening it, to no avail. The dealer counter is almost adjacent to the toilet door and I can hear buying and selling conversations going on inches away.
At this point I get the fear, convinced that everyone is talking in Dutch about how long the English guy has been in the toilet (there were lots more problems with junkies trying to use coffeeshop toilets as shooting galleries in those days) and realise I am going to have to reveal myself as the typical stoned tourist (which I am generally anything but) by asking to be let out of the toilet, no doubt to the amusement of the entire shop. So when conversation dies down I meekly say "Aloo, aloo, sorry I am locked in the toilet, dank u wel!" as this is the only Dutch I know. Nothing happens for a minute or so as he must have been away from the counter so after convincing myself that arrangements are going to have to be made for me to finish my university degree in this toilet which I am clearly going to have to spend the rest of my life in, I say it again, then hear a voice saying "Oh, do not worry, just lift this bit of the lock up, jiggle this bit across, then turn it really sharply and it will open." After a couple of attempts I eventually succeed and emerge, blinking, into the light to take my own bow and repay the amusement I had enjoyed earlier. I also ask the boss why he has a Krypton Factor logic puzzle for a toilet lock in a building full of stoners! Only in Amsterdam!

I often miss the days of cottage-industry, "mom and pop" coffeeshops like this, Lucky Mothers etc that are so few and far between now. Believe it or not the original Barney's Breakfast Bar was like this before they turned into McDonalds; a few strains at fair prices, wonderful service and no drink-buying pressure. The toilets might have been crap but everything else was top-notch!

Oh Yes!!Thanks man!

You are right about the location and view.I guess sitting there you could probably see more Amsterdam in one gaze than any other c.s in the area.I like your story and can vaguely picture the small place.I loved the fact it was away from the main areas but still you felt connected without that tourist vacuum thing which can be common.Like you said it was how c.s were and despite being a shack,was a vibe and normality not found in a lot of places.I first went in 94 and after my first visit (unlike you ) i found it easy to find!i found that funny when you said that.I had more probs finding the places nearer the centre as all the steets where tighter and looked the same.Thanks for your post.
I wonder when it closed?

Found these few words and pics, proper luvvable shanty shack
http://www.channels.nl/amsterdam/fflower.html
Cheers
RTnB

Sadly there's no trace of Fatal Flower left these days. It's just a patch of grass now. Thanks for the nostalgia trip, Tranquilised, I enjoyed that.

Wow THANKS FOR THE PICS OF IT!!
Soo good to see it again and it somehow looks smaller on the inside than i thought?This must be ten years plus now and 98-99 it closed.Shame.I defo remember it gone in 2002 so thanks to all for the info as that place was my favourite place years ago.

Nice One!!

Thanks guys! This little piece of history is really interesting.