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In this film I will take you back in time to the Roaring Twenties during which we visit the wonderful beach and fishing village of Scheveningen. This village lies on the Dutch North Sea coast near the residence of its Government, The Hague (Den Haag in Dutch). Huge crowds always used to flock to the Scheveningen Pier, officially “Wandelhoofd Wilhelmina“ opened by Queen Wilhelmina and her husband Prins Hendrik in 1901. Sadly this pier burned down during WWII in 1943 and was replaced by a new pier a few hundred meters more North in the 1960s. We see the “chique of The Hague“, Wassenaar and the rest of The Netherlands roam the Boulevard, the Pier and beaches. You will see what I believe is the most spectacular and rare scene in this film. It shows a wonderful panoramic view of Scheveningen in 1922 that I have never come across before. It was taken from the roof of the Kuhrhaus. On the far left we see a glimpse of Scheveningen's Palace Hotel, followed by a very rare view in the distance of its old station that was demolished in 1953. At present you will find the Europa hotel there with next to it a huge residential block and 3-storey parking garage at the Zwolsestraat. This whole area has now changed beyond recognition with two high rise residential blocks, one with a golden dome on top, and a long arcade-alike apartment block next to it. The high building you see in the middle is still there, but currently hidden behind an ugly parking garage and police station. For decades it housed an Indonesian restaurant. The camera now pans to the Badhuisplein, redubbed Gevers Deynout plein in 1891, which is now also totally changed and in fact utterly spoiled by two ugly apartment blocks left and right of the square. This is where the trams would stop and turn around to go back to The Hague to pick up more beach lovers. Notice the many open tram cars that were in use during the summer. On the right we see the famous Hotel Les Galeries with its Italian style arcades. It was sadly demolished around 1972 together with the Grand Hotel. Above we see the famous round circus building that was opened in 1904. The lions, horses and other acts have long disappeared since. In 1991 the circus was converted into a musical theather by Joop van den Ende. The building is currently hidden behind the Holland Casino and a huge Pathé cinema. Subsequently you wlll see some more great footage of the area of the Boulevard close to the Kuhrhaus. Just to conclude that the destructive forces that were at play in the early 1970s are beyond comprehension. Scheveningen's Council and especially the Exploitatie Maatschappij Scheveningen, EMS, including dubious project developer Reinder Zwolsman, have a lot to answer to. If ever the Dutch expression “vergane glorie“ (vanished glory) can be applied to its utmost extent then it is to Scheveningen. The last part of this documentary focusses on what lied behind the glamour and glory of Scheveningen as beach resort. We take a walking trip through Scheveningen's back streets in the old village, in particular surrounding its main shopping street, the Keizerstraat. The shops seen there were filmed in 1931 for the occasion of the opening of the new second inner harbour by regentess Queen Emma. The CC captions will be the place to view the names of the streets as soon as we get more information. Thanks for watching! Source: Beeld en Geluid Music: Trevor Kowalski and Sinfonietta Cinematica.
