Rooms and doors of Amsterdam-West
Hotels are scarce in West, and the ones that exist are mostly small design properties near the Overtoom and Kinkerstraat edge. Most readers who write from here are in a rented apartment, a friend's spare room or a long-stay flat, and that means a street door, a bell and a staircase. Amsterdam addresses in these blocks often carry a suffix after the house number: a Roman numeral for the floor, so that 42-III means third floor up, or the letter H for the ground floor. The stairs themselves are narrow and steep, bicycles often lean in the hallway, and the timed light tends to expire before the top landing. None of that troubles a visitor who knows the city. In the evening, Jan Pieter Heijestraat and Kinkerstraat stay busy until eleven with cafés and late shops, De Baarsjes has its own terrace culture around the canal, and Bos en Lommer is quiet early. A well-dressed woman climbing a stairwell here looks like any resident coming home from dinner.











