Thirty years ago, a striking number of things happened in Amsterdam for the first time.
The first Canal Parade took place, and some 300 people from electronic music gathered at De Balie for the first Amsterdam Dance Event.
Ajax moved into a new stadium in Zuidoost, and the city council approved the Noord/Zuidlijn and the new IJburg district.
A city on the rebound
City historian Fred Feddes says Amsterdam’s image was dented by the early 1990s, after squatter riots and a failed Olympic bid.
A booming economy helped, and historian Tim Verlaan says the exodus to Almere and Purmerend had largely ended by then.
New ideas for coffee and breakfast
In 1996 Rick Bekkema and Dick de Kock opened the first Coffeecompany on the Leidsestraat, serving espresso and coffee to take away, both new to the city.
Bekkema says people barely understood it at first, but the chain now has more than 30 branches nationwide.
That same year, Ronald Bakker and Ninande Thio opened Bagels and Beans on the Ferdinand Bolstraat in De Pijp, modelled on American examples.
Internet pioneers also gathered at De Waag on the Nieuwmarkt, where Waag Futurelab was founded.
Check out our guide to Amsterdam’s history.