Café 't Mandje

Café 't Mandje is one of the most significant bars in Dutch LGBTQ+ history, a tiny, quirky, unmissable Zeedijk landmark opened in 1927 by Bet van Beeren, a self-willed lesbian biker who became the uncrowned queen of the street and welcomed gays, lesbians, sailors, artists and intellectuals to mingle together at a time when homosexuality was still illegal in the Netherlands. After her death in 1967, her sister Greet kept it going until 1982, when it closed and was lovingly preserved, untouched, until Bet's niece Diana reopened it in 2008 with the entire original interior lovingly restored: cut-off men's ties and lingerie still hanging from the ceiling beams, decades of photographs on the walls, the jukebox and the old billiards table all exactly where they always were. Warm, welcoming, and genuinely diverse regardless of color, race, or sexuality, it fills with dancing and singing along to the jukebox on weekend afternoons and evenings — a small, dark, wonderfully atmospheric slice of queer history that's an essential stop for anyone exploring Amsterdam's LGBTQ+ heritage.