Thoughts About Amsterdam.
My first podcast as the host, biking to the Ajax Stadium and discovering Amsterdam's sense of community.
April was a thrilling (and exhausting) month filled with international travel and a hectic work schedule reminiscent of those final moments in the game of Tetris when you are on the verge of losing but then, for some divine reason, you are able to place that last brick in the right position and don’t.
It started with a flight back to New York, followed by a quick stop in Budapest for an important meeting, then I flew over to London for Season Zine’s “Football’s Black Gaze” exhibition and community dinner at Rudie’s jerk shack (highly recommended Jamaican eatery in Brixton); eventually I ended up in Amsterdam.
The final stop of my world tour was mesmerizing; Amsterdam was better than I remembered.
The weather was almost perfect, sunny but chilly, with a few sprinkles of Spring rain drizzling down from time to time — nothing to deter me and the rest of its residents to jump on our bike and commute to our destinations.
People — locals and tourists alike — were flooding the streets, filling the bars and carelessly living life after the somber winter.
Almost routinely, around four PM, groups of friends of all ages swarmed the outdoor seating areas of the cute cafés lining the sides of the ubiquitous canals, their jubilant voices creating a loud buzz that bounced off the next business, rising in an unanimous indistinct chorus.
This was the first time in two years I felt like things were somewhat normal. I was surprised nobody was wearing a mask or social distancing, but I guess the Dutch were sick (no pun intended) of being secluded and just decided to forgo Covid procedures all together.
As cognitively dissonant as the atmosphere was — like being slung into a different dimension — it was nice to drop the surgical mask for a few days.
The only other time I had visited the capital known as the “Venice of the North”, I spent most of the 36h I was in town inside the Soho House as a speaker in an activation for the release of a collaboration between Under Armor and Olaf Hussein and, while meeting some superb souls, I had little to no interaction with the city itself, aside from a short walk around the neighborhood (my free time was mostly spent at the bar drinking bottomless picantes with my peers — great memories, bad hangover).
This time, Amsterdam turned into my playground; it was the merry backdrop to my bike escapades and curious exploration on the quest to find out what is the secret behind the city’s fertile creative entrepreneurship and innate talent for innovation.
Though exhilarating, my trip had a serious undertone.
I landed at the Schiphol airport to work on the new season of Prince.s Des Villes with my friend Margot.
Prince.s Des Villes is a small independent media platform co-founded by Margot herself with the aim to highlight some of the most incredible personalities of our generation. Those people who make something out of nothing, the shakers of the world.
I was a guest on season one, and now I found myself being the host of the upcoming chapter.
Wearing the hat of the host, I was tasked with interviewing a trifecta of incredibly talented people who — with Amsterdam as their sandbox — managed to successfully create and propel their businesses, keeping community at the center of it all.
In fact, one of the uncanny characteristics of local crews is the lack of rivalry; rather, the different young businesses have created a strong eco-system based on loyalty, support and family-like values which are respected and shared amongst all groups, OGs and newcomers alike.
Actually most stories overlapped in one way or another. The intern-to-brand founder pipeline appeared repeatedly across interviews, with the same names popping up as the patriarchs of the scene: Jefferson of Daily Paper, Guillaume of Filling Pieces, Gee & Edson of Patta.
Learning the rope of the game from the first-gen of creative entrepreneurs the same way students learn from university teachers, the newcomers graduated and went on to instill the same honorable qualities they absorbed as apprentices into projects of their own, perpetuating a cycle of positive growth — rinse and repeat.
It was four packed days of cycling over steep bridges, soaking up the light-hearted vibes oozing off the alley-ways, meeting people in their offices and surveying their trajectory to success while trying to understand what are the reasons why community is such a big part of living in this place.
I got to speak with Eben Badu of The New Originals, Gunifort Uwambaga and Giano, a longtime Patta Crew member — all in the form of my first podcast as a host.
It was interesting to be the narrating voice of the project, to set the pace of the conversation in spoken words instead of unraveling the recorded interview to set it on paper. I am looking forward to the release.
To crown the long weekend hustle, I got to attend an Ajax football game in authentic local fashion: by biking to the stadium.
It was my first time pedaling to a match and, as dystopian as that sounds, it was sustainably magical.
There are just so many things you get to see and take in by moving on a bike that you generally miss by sitting in a car.
By ditching the engine, you become truly engulfed in the environment.
Moreover, it was refreshing to see families speed towards the game as a fleet, red and white scarf floating elegantly like a flag in the sky.
Rightfully, advanced riders overtook me nonchalantly, hands off the handlebar. The whole transit was elating.
At destination, thick layers of bikes rested still against each other filling the grassy patches surrounding the arena, waiting silently for their owners to return like diligent horses latched outside of a barn.
Inside of the massive white structure, the energy was unmatched — the room was full.
To my right, a pack of ultras was choreographing celebratory chants, singing to the beat of loud drums, encouraging the rest of the present fans to jump and cheer.
The home team scored three goals, inspiring the audience to keep up with the gleeful spirit.
At the sound of the final whistle, me and my companions made our way to the “business lounge”. A rowdy dimly-lit salon outfitted with drink stations and walking waiters handing out finger food while a middle-aged DJ mixed folk and dance music from the top of a podium.
Soon, we were back on our bike making our way back to the city center for an appetizing late dinner at Cabrón — a Mexican restaurant in the lively De Pijp neighborhood which Margot described as the Marais of Amsterdam for the nightlife it offers.
Amsterdam was refreshing, a vivacious interlude during a frenetic period on and off airplanes. It reiterated my love for storytelling and my passion for connecting with diverse people, to unearth their tales and get inspired.
Truthfully, this trip reminded me of the reason why I got into writing to begin with — to bring the lives of remarkable people into the daily routines of curious minds.