The Kapsalon as Cultural Icon
Kapsalon. It means ‘hairdressers’ in Dutch. And strangely, it also the nickname of Rotterdam’s spanking new train station. Read on to find out why.
Kapsalon does not just mean hairdressers. It also names a culinary delight, invented in Rotterdam in 2003 on the Schiedamseweg, according to wikipedia at least. Also known as a ‘caloriebom’ and an ‘absolute snackhit’, it is a takeaway dish comprised of chips, doner meat, cheese, salad, tomatoes, onions, garlic mayonnaise, ketchup and anything else left in the kitchen at 4am. It cures hangovers when eaten last thing at night!
So what does this have to do with the train station? Well as with most other Dutch cities, those in power decided to trash the old building and construct a new monstrosity out of glass. The undeniable piece de resistance is Utrecht Station, the Netherlands’ busiest transport hub, where work has been going on for years already. Every time I pass by all the temporary stairs and entrances have been moved, it’s like a different station every time. And the chaos doesn’t stop! It’s already been announced that things will get worse and not better in 2016.
The old station in Rotterdam, above, wasn’t hugely classy, but it was OK. The central passage under the platforms was always a great place to bump into people. Now the passage has become a mini-mall, you can only enter with a valid tickets and I never bump into anyone. Shame.
Anyhoo, the new station was constructed for many years and now it is pretty much finished. In fact it has been opened officially, although there are still ongoing patches of construction which break out at points. Here’s the new monstrosity, below:
And here’s where all the threads tie together. Someone noticed that the shiny roof looks rather like the aluminium container that the kapsalon comes in!
This genius image was made by BASCH and you can read the entertaining story on his website of how he got invited to the station’s VIP opening party!
There were some other worthy contenders for the best nickname (I like the Jaws) but BASCH won out. And rightly so.
So, there you have it, the story of how one Rotterdam institution swallowed up another…
This was a spin-off from Don’t Support Nazi-Inspired Apartheid: Tourists Boycott Rotterdam!
