Stories
Essay
The Darkroom Closes, the Gym Fills Up
The gay scene is changing.
What disappears with the old bars, and what takes their place? A walk through Amsterdam's Reguliersdwarsstraat. A Tuesday evening on Reguliersdwarsstraat A man in his early fifties walks down Reguliersdwarsstraat on a Tuesday evening. He's been coming here since 1992. He used to queue outside April. Now there's a coffee shop where you order a matcha latte. The facade is white. The music inside is soft. He tells it without much emotion. Bars close. Darkrooms disappear. What replaces them is prettier, cleaner, often more expensive too. And often no longer just for us. A scene in transition The numbers don't lie. Over the past fifteen years, dozens of gay bars have…
The Darkroom Has Vanished, and Something Else With It
Amsterdam's gay bars are closing one by one. What do we lose when the scene dissolves into apps and gentrification? On…
The Darkroom Has Become a Museum
Amsterdam's gay scene is changing faster than ever. What disappears with the old bars? And what do we get in return? On…
The Leather Bar That Vanished, and What Took Its Place
An old gay bar closes, the gym thrives. What does that say about us? An essay on lost places and new rituals. On a rainy Tuesday evening…