When the Spijker opened on Amsterdam’s Kerkstraat in 1978, the area was bursting with gay bars and hotels, and the Leidsestraat – cutting through it and book-ended with gay discos – was nicknamed the “Rue de Vaseline”. “Many gay people bring their sisters, their brothers and even their mothers! Even with the videos, they don’t mind – they see actually what it is to be gay.” Today, it is the open friendliness of the bar that makes it special. This was very safe, very private,” she says. “In the beginning, people came here and they did not tell the outside that they were gay. Ted Scheele, 67, and her husband Pim, 78, have been coming to the bar since the 70s, when Spijker catered mainly to the leather crowd. In the beginning, people came here and did not tell the outside they were gay. Since the late 90s, budget air travel has attracted stag parties and other young weekenders, drawn to the red light district and coffee shops, creating a lucrative market for property investors and squeezing the gay bars out. The city beyond the bar echoes this change, with mass tourism now engulfing Amsterdam’s gay scene, and gay and straight visitors partying side by side. Photograph: Courtesy: Deborah Nicholls-Lee The decor has not changed in years, although the bar’s primary function has shifted from cruising to a place to meet friends.
