Image by Rénia Sastrowidjojo

In between the Zwaanshals and the river Rotte tucked away in a block of houses is Rotabs. An interestingly shaped building.

It was empty for some time after having served as a building for the municipal sanitation service Rotab. Hence the name Rotabs.

Luckily this place was included in the renovation plans to spruce up the entire block which is still in progress. The building is now turned into a creative warehouse where entrepreneurs of diverse disciplines have put up small businesses.

The inside is divided into several units which have tenants like a photographer, a publisher, a goldsmith, a café and a gallery. There are some units left waiting for other daring adventurers to set up shop and where new neighbors have opened shops on the Zaagmolenkade recently.

Initiator Paul Posse is active in the neighbourhood and hopes to create an area like a Camden Town in the Oude Noorden. As Rotabs can be pretty hard to find even for locals, a special bus service is in the making to transport anyone interested to visit this part of the town where much is waiting to be discovered.

Want to find it yourself? Just walk into the Zwaanshals where there’s an entrance through a building leading you to Rotabs. Or do a Route du Nord weekend or visit the Swan Market which is organized several times; an introduction to this area and it’s creative spots, artists and variety of shops.

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ROTABS Stylecenter | Art & culture, Festivals & events, Music, Shopping
Zaagmolenkade 46 | Noord | +31653623230
Wed – Fri 10:00 – 18:00, Sat 10:00 -17:00

Image by Club vibes

To me this place is a little fun factory. I have had the best nights out in this place and the most fun. The music is never the same, but they do have theme nights, like ‘Dirty Disco’ or ‘Karaoke night’.

The place has just gotten a bit of a make over and isn’t as dark as it used to be.

Don’t go too early to this place, it’s not the same if it’s not a bit busy. So have an other beer at ‘Stalles’ (check the Stalles article) or Parket’ and walk right on through to ‘Vibes’. And don’t take yourself too serious when you’re going here.

Just relax, be a bit crazy and have lots and lots of fun.

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Club Vibes | Bars, Music | Late entrance € 5.00
Westersingel 50a | Center | +31104361655
Thu – Sat 00:00 – 05:00

Image by ALexander Geijzendorffer

Slightly out of the center, it took me a while to go, but now I can confirm it’s a place worth visiting. The World Music Dance Center or WMDC is exactly what you’d expect when you read the name.

If you live in Rotterdam and you want a close encounter with playing world music or dancing more seriously, this is a good place to start. In collaboration with SKVR and the Codarts music school they organise workshops and lectures.

On the other hand, if you’re just around for a few days and you feel like meeting a lot of happy Spanish people over drinks and dance, this is ALSO the good place. The podium/cafe has recently seen a complete make-over and is now titled Grounds.

Grounds features an interior styled with recycled materials and a nice ambiance in which they serve drinks, but alsno snacks and a daily dish. Like mentioned in the article on Heidegger (check the Heidegger article), Rotterdam is lacking pop-podia for small artists sinds the fall of WATT so it’s great the Grounds is helping to fill up the gap.

A specific point of interest are the monthly Moonfests, where a wide variety of high quality bands from Codarts present their skills. Every group gets about half an hour, time between bands is hypershort, the music gets more dancy as it gets later (this has nothing to do with drinking) and the entrance is free! No reason not to try it out at least once.

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WMDC / Grounds | Art & culture, Bars, Music | Free
Pieter de Hoochweg 125 | Delfshaven | +31102444516
Mon – Fri 10.00 – 17.00 & during events

Image by ALexander

Dek 22 is a small exhibition space I enjoy as much for the plans & enthusiasm as for the actual exhibitions. The owner Hoessein Bouziane is a short fellow with a long breath. He’s into art, architecture, music, hiphop, breakdance, theater, name it. He’s making a nice attempt to bridge the gap between a young street scene and more established crowd.

The works that make it to the gallery are often a bit more formal, while the events appear to be more fun and street wise. It’s directly visible in the location. Somehow the owner managed to get a big part of the building situated in the messy, yet city-council-stimulated Coolhaven.

Dek 22 is a bit out of the way but close to other attractions like De Machinist (acclaimed office space for successful entrepreneurs) the WMDC and the Pelgrim beer brewery.

Keep your eyes open for the developments. Soon they hope to fully utilize the basement with wild ideas for a project space that can be transformed from cinema to capoeira room to party floor. He seems to know the guys that can make it happen…

The cultural season is opened again and there are plans for more design, interiors and affordable good stuff. A short look on the site will show the amazing amount of events in the past. No telling what will happen in two months. 

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Dek 22 | Art & culture, Festivals & events, Music | Free
Willem Buytewechstraat 22 | Delfshaven | +31643708313
Thu – Sun 14:00 – 18:00 & during events

Image by ALexander

Churches are in crisis these days and certain scandals are not being very helpful lately. Tax reductions and lowering of the interest rate by the SER won’t save these organizations from seeing their number of visitors decrease. New approaches to fulfill their task of enlightening the people might. The Arminius church has chosen to make a radical change by opening the doors and making a mission statement out of their passion for word and music. These days, typical activities include concerts big and small, showing interesting movies, hosting debates & lectures and participating in many of the cultural festivals in Rotterdam as a podium or with private initiatives.

Check the site for upcoming activities, most of them are low budget or even free. I believe the most bizarre show I ever saw here was a 4-men choir singing renovated Georgian chants about the rights of gays in Uganda. Guess that kind of took away any of my hesitations to visit a church. If you have any great ideas for hosting stuff yourself, this is a nice crew to contact.

The church even goes as far as putting the best spaces in the building for rent. You can rent the church hall for a mere €825 per part of the day! Go for it! As the picture shows, the church is just done with a major reconstruction, but inside the activities continue.

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Arminius Kerk (Church) | Art & culture, Festivals & events, Music, Theaters
Museumpark 3 | Center | +31104363800
Mon – Fri 10:00 – 17:00