When we wander a new place like rookies in the new, we always look for local sublimes. Like the best coffee in town, an awesome view behind a fense or a local bakery rich of history. All the stuff only locals know or know how to appreciate. So, to start off the LOCALS CHOICE SERIES we asked some of the locals in our home town The Hague about their favorite hang outs and local sublimes.
Daniel Kwee/ Dan Stezo
Brand strategist/ Cultural Entrepreneur/ Teacher/ MC
35 YEARS YOUNG
LOCAL SUBLIME – Huygenspark, The Hague
“The vibe is not ‘made’ or branded. It’s honest.” – That’s what locals choice is all about! Tell me more!
“Huygenspark is my ‘hood’ so to speak, I used to live here for more than six years” – Dan tells us. “It has almost all a young urbanite can wish for: a spot in the city centre, near a train station, a park, a Moroccan butcher, a Turkish doner kebab store, a bakery, the honest fresh-but-still-cheap fish spot, the Javanese Surinamese warung, an ‘almost hip’ coffee spot (with a great terrace to be enjoyed in the summer), the Chinese local food spot / community centre, an alert neighbour and fun people that pass by”.
This turns out to be a collective of local sublimes! But this location is not to be found easily; “It’s a spot most will only pass by actually. If you don’t live here its hidden secrets stay covered in layers of suspected normality.”
The Hague is a city of politics, government but a city of a diverse population aswell. At Huygenspark you’ll find proof of that. “This is not a place to go when you want to impress your first date or business prospect. It’s a place where the SM toys are promoted in the sexshop window, right next to the butcher right next to the Mosque, opposite of the Tibetan Buddhist centre. I don’t know if multiculturalism is out of fashion or not, but this park and it’s shops around it seem like a successful microcosmos where a varied sorts people from different walks of life intermingle, all seemingly peaceful.”
“The vibe is not ‘made’ or branded, it has no overly community work vibe either. It’s honest. The butcher gives me his ‘illegal’ import of his topnotch olive oil (in a coke bottle), and I ask him how he would make the lambs rack. It is exactly this place you will never hear any politician about, nor hipsters for that matter. Here is where people actually ‘live’ together. If this would be the norm, I would proudly consider myself to the norm core.”
Dan is the initiater of EAST WEST and you are invited to join THE WRAP UP upcoming saturday december 27th in Humanity house The Hague. More info here.