“On every corner in the city, you will find a beautiful anecdote,” says Peter-Paul de Baar, one of the authors of the book ‘Here it happened’.
Big and small stories
“Amsterdam is of course a city with very big stories, but also very small stories,” says Peter de Brock, co-author of the book. An example of a small story: a tram driver who stopped the tram in the Leidsestraat to get a croquette from the wall.
There is also a special story to be found at Nieuwendijk 103. On the spot where Aunt Leen and her husband used to run a café. The Amsterdam icon was asked in 1968 to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of the Netherlands. She declined the honor because she could not speak English well, but also preferred to continue performing in the café.
“This is just such an anecdote, which shows that at every address there is a nice story about an Amsterdammer or Amsterdam resident,” says Brock proudly.