Some History
SquatCafe/Restaurant 'De PaardenVal'.
This small but cozy place was in the North of Rotterdam on the 'Gerard ScholteStraat'. The small squat still exists but only as a home for some people, it has not operated as a cafe for quite some years.
It used to be open every sunday from +/- 14:00 to +/- 21:00. Varied vegan and delicious meals were to be had. We usually had music, soup, bread, tea, and a main course. The cost was up to the individuals. If you had no money it was free, if you had money and you ate a lot 5 guilders was fine too.
Also check out the excellent art by Tomek. His art covered and still covers nearly every wall of the cafe!!
Sientje!
This was a photocopied magazine (very similar to the Trammelant) which focused on squatting in Rotterdam as well as other issues. This magazine appeared irregularly for about 5 issues. I may post more info about the Sientje in the future.
Ye Olde KSU
As stated before the KSU R'dam has been around for as long as anyone can remember. Many of those years it was located in the same office as the JIP. But for some time it also had the following other locations: infowinkel Phoenix (gone), Gallery Slaphanger (gone) and ProJo. The last two locations were not exactly a success, people had trouble finding them and the KSU went downhill until it was returned to the JIP office and "resurrected". During maybe half of it's existence the KSU had an advisory role only. This meant that only information was given and little or no practical help was available.
Over time the KSU has seen lots of people pitching in and being active in it, perhaps more than 30 or even 50. Some people stayed for a few weeks some for years.
There was also a period of several years that the KSU was in essence one person! A few of you will know who i am referring to. When this person finally found some more people that also saw the importance of having a KSU he stopped doing it. We are happy and grateful he kept it going for as long as he did.
That more or less brings us up to date, the KSU now consists of several members and takes an active approach, which is not to imply that all squatting is done through us. There are many groups and people squatting themselves, some very successfully, some not.
Heiman Dullaertplein
The predecessor of the Fridge.
The Fridge
The Fridge / The Butchery /
At the time of writing the fridge is still in existence but it looks like a matter of weeks before it will be demolished. After being around 3 years.. ( i think..?) the owner is now getting around to demolishing it..
I was one of the six people that initially squatted it. I loved this house, it was very large and had some extraordinary possibilities. For some time i very much enjoyed living there but unfortunately i am far from perfect and neither are people or groups of people. After about a year i felt i would be much happier in another new squat. This proved correct, at least for a while. More about that squat (the School) later. After moving out i very often visited the Fridge. This was because one of my best friends and some acquintances of mine lived there. I also had a band practice and tool/storage space there.
For the most part the residents actually had a very good understanding with the owner -Sterner Group- and struck a type of deal with him. The owner's long term plans were to make more and better housing as well as a "buurthuis" on the site of the building. Since these are fairly decent plans and the owner has always been very easy going, there is not much reason to contest his plans.
Over the course of the fridge's existence perhaps as many as 35 people lived or stayed there. Usually the amount of people that truly lived there and had their own room fluctuated between 5 and 8. There were often many guests that stayed quite long and this was actually an issue on more than one occasion.
Not only was it a great place to live, it also had a warehouse out back, a very large garage underneath and a type of roof terrace. As a result the various spaces saw use as:
Hangouts, Vegan Food Cafe, Punk Cafe, 80's party venue, works space for artists, bike repair shop, band practice space, material storage, art gallery and Tekno party venue among others.
This perhaps sounds more grandiose than it actually was, but even so it must be said that it was quite nice!
A major problem that plagued this house from the onset was the fact that the people within the group often had rather major differences in opinions, interests and lifestyles. Sometimes these differences spiraled into conflict, some minor, some major. Altogether these factors prevented the fridge to be all it perhaps could have been. Unfortunately this seems to be an all too common problem with living groups of more than 3 people.
On the positive side many if not all of the people that lived in the Fridge had a creative side, they were painters (Richard, Tomek and Others), sound artists/DJ's, musicians, handymen and the like.
The School
More about this one soon.
(This
is not a typical crowbar)