In the spotlight: NDSM wharf

People often forget about Amsterdam-North, even Amsterdam’s inhabitants. Every now and then a new location pops up from the underground, to dissolve into nothingness. But one place is booming. A place once used to assemble ships, then used by squatters as a sanctuary where they could master their arts, subsequently discovered by party people and just recently discovered by the creative upperclass.

We’re talking about the old and once abandoned NDSM wharf. You can spot it’s old rusty and nowadays unused cranes from Central Station, and unless you’re by car, the only reasonable way to get there is by using the ferry. Making the experience even more interesting.

Unlike other places we put in the spotlight, this is more an area than just one location. Hop on the ferry, enjoy the view for about 15 minutes, feel the wind pulling at your hair and massaging your cheeks and hop off into a completely different world. A world with could-be abandoned warehouses, tracks that haven’t been used for decades and roads with more potholes than straight stretches. And now look above your head. You’re surrounded by old cargo cranes, windmills and flocks of seagulls.

And it’s this place where the party crowd discovered different spots to hang out from dusk till dawn. And till dusk again, occasionally. There’s the Bunker – unfortunately we can’t specify the whereabouts, it’s actually not really legal – where legendary dj’s like Robert Hood played for only 250 people – the maximum capacity of the place, the ITW, which used to be a  workshop and nowadays is used as an atelier slash party location, and there is the huge NDSM warehouse. It hosts a skatepark, ateliers, stages and a theatre.

Outside of the warehouse there are two slopes that used to be the places where finished ships met with water for the first time in their floating lives. And of course there is restaurant Noorderlicht and the IJ-kantine. Noorderlicht breathes the sanctuary-like feel of the whole area, where IJ-kantine brings back memories of what it was like when oil- and dirt-stained men in jumpsuits where eating their meals there, whilst looking at ships they’ve just finished constructing. Oh yes, what a feeling.

During ADE there will be held some parties in this area, but we won’t give you the details, since some of them are more or less a secret. Only for those in the know, and for those who desperately want to know. But still, even if you don’t know, be sure to pick up your camera and have a little walk around this area. It’s a unique place, where squatters live next-door to the office of the creative masterminds of this world. Where old craftsmen still forge their steel in their old workshops. And where you have a sublime view over Amsterdam’s insanely beautiful little skyline.

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