Bed-Stuy is the new Williamsburg and Amsterdam is the new Bed-Stuy. A Dutch couple has opened up a coffee shop named Bedford-Stuyvesant in the ethnically diverse eastern part of the capital of The Netherlands, paying a curious homage to the controversial process of gentrification that's happening more than 3,000 miles away.
There is a mural of Brooklyn brownstones, a large, rustic wooden table for working and some comfortable second hand couches and chairs to hang out and read. More Park Slope than Bed-Stuy is the large play corner in the back, where tots can choose from a wide selection of toy cars and children's books.
The café is the only one in Europe to sell Brooklyn Roasting Company coffee, and the menu features a house-made pastrami sandwich, organic wine, a kale smoothie, and a "Detox soup of the day." Transactions are conducted with iPads. Bedford-Stuyvesant serves it all with complimentary Wi-Fi to keep their laptop and smartphone-hungry customers satisfied.
"What is happening in our neighborhood has a lot in common with what is currently happening in Bedford-Stuyvesant in New York," explains co-owner Caroline Bakker. Bakker, 31, runs the restaurant with her partner, 39-year-old Eugene van Dijk. Their shop is located in the Indische Buurt ("Indies Neighborhood"), where the streets are named after islands in the former Dutch colony of the Dutch East Indies, and the population is a melting pot of over 100 nationalities.
(Mari Meyer / Gothamist)
The couple visited New York several times and were inspired by the rapidly changing city and what Bakker described as "the friendly atmosphere and service with a smile we encountered in Brooklyn and Bedford-Stuyvesant in particular."
In their eyes, the Indies Neighborhood is an ideal place for a new business, especially after witnessing the change in certain parts of New York. "For about three years we've thought of this location as absolutely perfect, because so much is happening here," Bakker says.
With rents in the innermost part of Amsterdam at an all-time high, more and more people have started to venture out into neighborhoods like Indies Neighborhood. These smaller boroughs are often served by their own small train station, which will get you to Amsterdam Central station in under 10 minutes, though most people just ride their bicycles into the center of town.
New Yorkers know how one fancy coffee shop can change the face of a street full of dollar stores, and that's pretty much what's happening on Javastraat, the busiest street in the Indies Neighborhood. Ethnic food markets, Turkish butchers and bakeries, and tiny stores selling imported clothing and international calling cards used to be the norm, but when a storefront becomes available these days, a place like Bedford-Stuyvesant opens its doors.
(Mari Meyer / Gothamist)
26-year old Eva, who has been living in the Indies Neighborhood for 8 years, has witnessed the change first hand. "Houses are being renovated and sold and the city is investing in so-called 'Attractive Initiatives,' " Eva says. "Coffee places, stores that sell design furniture and cultural hot spots. The neighborhood has become a lot less messy and a lot more safe."
When asked what comes to mind when she thinks of Brooklyn, 23-year old student and Bedford-Stuyvesant patron Hilke Heijmans mentions words like "originality, crossing boundaries, vintage, creativity."
Does Bedford-Stuyvesant in Amsterdam deliver that? She shakes her head. "We might as well be in London right now. I simply don't understand why they're trying to recreate something that's so specific to another city. If they wouldn't have advertised it as such, maybe I would be less critical about it."
Her friend, 33-year old Andre Weststrate, adds: "I think it's great that these places are popping up. This one could be really cool, once it finds its own face and place in the neighborhood. It's definitely nice and cozy, but the theme feels a bit forced."
(Mari Meyer / Gothamist)
Eva (who declined to give her last name because her employer doesn't allow her to speak with the media) can see why some people might have reservations about the New York vibe: "They could have called it 'New Berlin.' Old-looking furniture is not just something you find in Brooklyn."
But, she emphasizes, a place like Bedford-Stuyvesant will certainly make the neighborhood more desirable. The deep, abiding skepticism that surrounds gentrification in New York is mostly absent in Amsterdam: "Change tends to make people uncomfortable, but I don't think one thing has to exclude the other. The stores that have been here for ages benefit from it when people with higher incomes move here."
She adds, "Hipsters who complain about the disappearance of the older, more authentic joints, are exactly the same people that will frequent the new, cool coffee place."
Mari Meyer is an actor, writer and journalist. Of course she's on Twitter and Tumblr.
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