The Kosmos was a meditation centre in a former pop club by the name of Fantasia. Here spiritual streams from the 60ies gathered, Eckhart Dissen was the founder of this youth centre at the Prins Hendrikkade. One could find poetry, meditation, hash and eco-food here, a lot of things we still see around us in our present daily life.
The building on Prins Hendrikkade opened its doors the 29th of March 1968 and knew a period of fame at the end of the 60ies. Famous bands like Pink Floyd and Jefferson Airplane played it. At that time Fantasio was just as known as Paradiso., that was squatted a day later by the same group of progressive pop lovers. Autumn 1969 one of the first Dutch pop-clubs was transformed into meditation centre the “Kosmos”. With the founding of the National Institute of Popmusic in 1998 at the Prins Hendrikkade the original and still intact Fantasia theatre regained its original function.
Around 1967 the hippies want to have their own club as well and have cast their eye on the unused building of the Free Municipality, presently property of the City of Amsterdam. Flower power frontmen like Willem de Ridder, Koos Zwart, Matthijs van Heijningen and Peter Bronkhorst are at that time negotiating with the city council about putting up a youth centre in the building. They have even come up with a name : Paradiso.
is the regular hash and weed dealer generally working in a youthcentre or other social institution. Example is Maarten (later to become owner of Rusland shop) who used to work at the youthcentre Melkweg foundation.
are souped up mopeds like Zundapp, Kreidler and DKW and later Yamaha. A bellyhugger has a low frame and steer, and a buddyseat that allowed the driver to put his body flat out, bellyhugging.
At the social different Nieuwendijk youngsters also gave a cultural twist to the Beatnik stereotype, and were called “Dijkers”. They loved rock ‘n’roll, and their mopeds were mainly souped up Zundapps, Kreidlers and DKWs. Their trademarks were their greased ducktails and pointed shoes.
Around the 60ies a cultural offspring of the “Beatniks” developed among the youth of the Leidseplein area, hence called the “Pleiners”. The youngsters would gather mostly at Reijnders Café and would be employed in areas like fotography, commercials, fashion and art, The even younger “pleiner”kids would hang out at the pancake stand at the corner of Weteringsschans and Vijzelgracht.
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