The Zeedijk already attracted gays and lesbians in the 1920s and there are still two cafés here with the traditional Amsterdam cosiness:

Cafés: 't Mandje · The Queen's Head

Street parties: King's Day · Pride · Hartjesdag

More: History · Links

of the gay & lesbian places at Zeedijk


As early as 1927, the lesbian Bet van Beeren opened café 't Mandje, which was visited by a very varied group of prostitutes, pimps, sailors and folk boys. Other tolerant establishments on the Zeedijk, such as dancing Casablanca and nightcafé San Francisco, also attracted gay people.

A similar mix of people as at 't Mandje could be found at café Monico, which was run by Saar Heshof a.k.a. Blonde Saar. This place was opened in 1941 in a nearby alley called Lange Niezel and existed for sixty years. In the early 1970s, there was also a mixed gay café at Lange Niezel 27 under the name Vraagteken ("Question mark"), which was briefly open again in 1991.




Closing of the old places

In the 1950s, two bars that also attracted a gay audience opened near 't Mandje: Groningen at Zeedijk 49 and Violetta at number 52. Since the 1970s, lesbian women also came to Violetta, just like they went to café Groningen. A little further south, at number 73, there was a similar mixed café called Xantippe that had opened in 1969.

All three of these bars closed in the mid-1980s, when drug dealing had made the Zeedijk a no-go area. 't Mandje had already closed its doors in 1983, but was reopened in 2008, making it the oldest surviving LGBT café in Amsterdam.




Emergence of new places

After the problems caused by drugs dealers and users had been contained, gay café The Queen's Head opened at Zeedijk 20 in 1998. Also revived was the old street festival of the Hartjesdagen, known for the parade in which women dress as men and men as women.

In 2001, a new gay café called De Barderij opened near The Queen's Head at Zeedijk 14 and in the same year ​​restaurant-café Cock & Feathers started at number 23-25. In 2007, De Engel van Amsterdam opened at number 21 and expanded in 2011 with De Engel Nextdoor in the adjacent building where previously Cock & Feathers was located.

With this, the northern part of the Zeedijk had become a new gay nightlife area, but after considerable popularity around 2010, it disappeared again almost as quickly as it had arisen: after De Engel closed in 2014 and De Barderij became a tourist café in 2016, nowadays only The Queen's Head remains.




> See also: The Amsterdam Gay Bar Culture 1930-1970

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Shop: Les Johns

Business association: Zeedijk Amsterdam

Memorabilia: Zeedijk @ Historypin


News and background articles:

GayNews.nl: New owner for Café The Queens Head, the bustling bar with colourful performing arts (2023)

GayNews.nl: Twentieth Anniversary Café the Queen’s Head (2018)

GayNews.nl: New Owners for Café The Queen’s Head (2015)