Sweelinkplein in The Hague

This is the corner of the Sweelinkplein and the Reinkenstraat in our neighborhood in The Hague. What is interesting here is that the building frontages are protected monuments and may not be changed in any way. The neighborhood has changed of course, but now there are doctors' offices on the ground floor in places but still family homes in most of the buildings. The building directlyon the corner houses a doctors' office on the ground floor but the second story is a sports school and where I work out every morning. Typically for modern Holland, there is a Polish nurse who is the daily trainer. The top two floors are for a group of physical therapists. An interesting story is that the recent Dutch Paul Verhoeven movie about the war years in The Hague was filmed on the street in front of this building. Any modern looking features were covered up, including painting the white lines in the parking bay a bricky reddish black. Doorways were changed, street lights were "oldenized" and original street hardware like posters and round message towers were brought in. One of our friends, Wilbert van Dorp, is the owner of a set building company, and his team built up the street scene. I would run out of the gym and chat with him. A funny ending to this story is that at the Dutch Oscars ceremony in Amsterdam, Wilbert got into an argument with the main producer who had never paid his company, so Wilbert couldn't pay his staff without dipping into cash reserves. The argument developed slowly into a loud discussion and finally erupted into a fist fight right in the middle of all the fancy folks.

You can also see the red mailboxes on the side of the building. Mail here is picked up five days a week and so the local companies and families have a local and secure mailing point. During New Year's, when the Dutch explode millions and millions of fireworks, the slots in the mailbox are covered so that only single letters can be mailed, and not fire crackers.