The old North, squeezed between 3 waters – the Noordsingel, the river Rotte and the Noorderkanaal. Here you’ll find 2 small areas in the northern part close to the center. Locals tend to gather them both as Het Oude Noorden (the Old North). Despite a certain reputation as so-called ‘hotspot’ (not a good thing here), I’ve lived many happy years in this buzzing multicultural area which is definitely worth a visit (and for shopping).

A little introduction and historical facts: The Old North used to belong to a ‘manor’ till the 19th century. The ‘manor’ has a special Dutch name, ‘ambachtsheerlijkheid’. This means that either some nobility or a city has ownership of a certain territory. They don’t ‘own’ the land, but have certain rights – a leftover of the feudal system.

Historic streets like Zwaanshals, now great for shopping, already got mentioned in the 16th century and was known as both a small area and the name of a house (Swaenshals). Two typical houses are turned into a museum where you can have a glimpse of the past.

The Liskwartier (quarter) is named after Lischwater. What’s left is a small pond nearby. This area has grand houses, lanes and broad streets with the monumental Bergsingel church. The stately Rodenrijselaan, Bergselaan and Bergsingel are just a few streets to wander around for the architecture and the atmosphere.

There was a substantial Jewish community here, most didn’t survive the concentration camps during WWII. You can still find a shelter at Schiebroekselaan.

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Oude Noorden/Liskwartier | Art & culture, Relaxing | Free
From Noordplein on | Noord
Museum Wed 12:30 – 17:00 and by appointment

I’d like to think that Rotterdam not only started to appreciate it’s old(er) constructions but also wants to give people a chance to transform and re-use these places when they shut down and lost their functionality.

The monumental Hofbogen is one of these places, a 1,9 km long viaduct railroad, the Hofpleinlijn, in the north part of town which goes from Rotterdam to the Hague. It was built in the beginning of the 20th century to carry mostly people to the beach of Scheveningen but also connected with other small cities in between.

The former Hofpleinstation has been the location for several interesting performances like the wintercinema or dancepiece Common Ground by dance company Conny Janssen Danst and the Motel Mozaique Festival .

Some spaces underneath are already in use by mostly small businesses and occupies also art collective Cucosa but a big part of this construction looked forlorn and neglected. The part at former Hofpleinstation is being fabulously renovated and will house the Mini Mall.

It’s where new jazz joint and stage Bird, ComiQuest for comic addicts, a coffeebar and more are found and has brought new lively vibrations in this a bit forgotten area. Info Mini Mall , they opened 2/9/2011. Come around and see for yourself!

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Monumental Hofbogen | Art & culture, Bars, Shopping
Raampoortstraat 30 | Noord | +31102653391
Check website

Unbeknownst of eachother, both artists Sandra Breuer and Marcel Niehoff have a peculiar taste and broad flavor for furniture and stuff made in the ’50s to the ’80s of last century. They collected a lot of things over the years and their collection expanded.

They bumped into each other in the Old North and found out they collected the same things. As well as sharing the habit of ringing people’s doorbells when they see something interesting hanging from the ceiling or on the wall while passing by.

Sandra and Marcel decided to find a studio together and partially decorated it with some furniture for extra atmosphere. Visitors were interested to buy what they saw there. This encouraged them to start a real store with enough room to display their enormous and varied collection of furniture, lamps, ceramics and anything that catches their eye.

The SPAM shop is located at the Zwaanshals in a nicely renovated building and across the street in a former electronic store. They have more space now for their extensive collection.

It’s also possible to buy from their webshop. The shop itself is inviting to snoop around and perhaps you’ll find that missing piece of chair, couch, table or music you’ve been looking for.

They are also the initiators of Route du Nord, a nice event to discover the area and what it has to offer. Even ukulele lovers can visit this shop when they host the Ukulele Jamboree from time to time and people gather to have a jam session.

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SPAM | Art & culture, Coffee & tea, Shopping | From € 10.00
Zaagmolendrift 53 | Noord | +31642437036
Wed – Sat 11:00 – 17:00

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 neighborhood 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, Shopping
Zaagmolenkade 46 | Noord | +31653623230
Wed – Fri 10:00 – 18:00, Sat 10:00 -17:00