Mellow Yellow was the oldest cannabis coffeeshop in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. It was

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

in 1972 then moved to a new building in 1978. It was forced to close at the start of 2017.

History

The cannabis coffeeshop was founded in 1972 by the hippie Wernard Bruining and friends in a

former bakery on Weesperzijde,

. He called it a teahouse, inspired by 1920s and 1930s cannabis cafes in the USA. The shop was named after " Mellow Yellow", a song by Donovan which describes the singer trying to become intoxicated through smoking the peel of banana. It was the first such shop in the world. The intent of the shop was to sell

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...

, despite it being illegal to do so. Other early coffeeshops included Rusland and

The Bulldog The Bulldog is an Amsterdam-based company that owns and operates a chain of cannabis coffee shops, hotels, cafés and brand stores located at Amsterdam and Canada. The Bulldog has its own merchandising brand consisting of clothing, souveni ...

Closure

The shop was closed at the beginning of 2017, under new legislation requiring 28 coffeeshops in Amsterdam located within 250 meters of schools to close. The owner Johnny Petram protested that the school near to his shop was a hairstyling academy with students generally over the age of 18, but the Amsterdam government still required its closure, in part to protect the remaining coffeeshops in Amsterdam from the requirements used in other parts of the Netherlands which bans foreigners from coffeeshops. Petram stated his hope that he would be able to reopen Mellow Yellow at a new location.

Citations

References

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External links

Mellow Yellow Lounge

Stichting Mediwiet
{{Authority control Cannabis coffeeshops Cannabis in the Netherlands Retail companies of the Netherlands 1972 in cannabis Retail companies established in 1972 Retail companies disestablished in 2017 2017 in cannabis Defunct companies of the Netherlands Dutch companies established in 1972 Dutch companies disestablished in 2017 Coffeehouses and cafés in the Netherlands Restaurants in the Netherlands Squats in the Netherlands 20th-century architecture in the Netherlands