Telephone:31 20 625 1227
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A family owned business, grown like a fine herb plant sprouted in Nieuwmarkt Square in Central Amsterdam, The Jolly Joker has grown to become a tall Oak within the forest of Holland's coffeeshops. Burrowed within the shadow of the fairytale castle De Waag, which was once the original gate to Old Amsterdam where all of the weighing and taxing took place for canal trade -- also rumored to have housed torture chambers during the Spanish Inquisition . De Waag now is a tasteful restaurant with a nice view of The Joker.
One sunny day, someone sent him to the market and along the way a troll that lived under one of the canal bridges in Amsterdam approached him with a riddle:
"Jolly Joker, Joker Jolly, from whence comes risk and whence comes folly?" If he could answer this riddle he would be rewarded some magic seeds.
While he spent the afternoon trying to figure the riddle, he stumbled and a bottle of vodka fell out of his hand and shattered on the ground, causing him to magically answer the troll.
He tossed aside the seeds the troll gave him and a swift wind caught them and blew them across town and into Nieuwmarket Square where the The Jolly Joker stands to this day. At that moment, he still had to grow up a bit and realize that he wanted to open a coffeeshop when he was older. Many moons passed and suddenly J.J. found himself in the shadow of De Waag working in a simple cafe soon to be his own.
Season changed, J.J. grew wiser with experience working in the Red Light District and earned the ownership of the fabulous Jolly Joker coffeeshop where everyone is jolly, Joints are flowing and people migrate from all angles of the world to exchange good energy.
The Jolly Joker was established in 1981 and is located in a part of Amsterdam with a long and exciting history. Situated behind De Waag, it is a crossroads where travellers from near and far meet for smoke, coffee and conversation.
The Jolly Joker is one of the first family-owned hash bars to emerge in Nieuwmarket Square. It was a simple coffeeshop before becoming a hash/grass bar after authorities agreed to tolerate the sale of marijuana and hash for recreational use. Licenses to run coffeeshops were issues in the mid-1980's in order to regulate the use of soft drugs and ensure that no hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin were being sold.
Address: Nieuwmarket Square 4a, Amsterdam
Telephone:31 20 625 1227, email: [email protected]
