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Arguably the world’s oldest gay bar, Amsterdam’s Cafe ‘t Mandje is an extraordinary institution opened in 1927 by maverick motorcycle-riding leather-jacketed lesbian Bet van Beeren. Upon her death in 1967, younger sister Margaretha ‘Greet’ van Beeren took it over and ran it until 1982, when the area had taken a turn for the worse. The small and heavily decorated bar lay dormant (but dusted, aired and vacuumed) until 2008, when the sisters’ niece Diana van Laar restored the premises, characterized by old photos, stained-glass windows, souvenirs, stuffed lizards, bear and tiger heads and the like, much of it dangling from the ceiling. It remains a welcoming and local-feeling place to have a drink and maybe hear a wild story or two.
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