Hendrik Conscience Square

The Kant, the neighborhood around Hendrik Conscience Square, was the quintessential hippie area in the sixties and seventies. “Sam, the main character in my novel, is a journalist for a weekly magazine and also works as a bartender in café De Mok on Wolstraat. That’s something we have in common, as I had the same jobs back then,” says De Wit. “Even a fight that actually took place in De Mok, in which I miraculously had a heroic role, made it into my book.” De Mok has long since disappeared. In the same street, however, there is still café De Kat, which exists to this day.

Also gone is Het Pannenhuis, once a legendary pub on Conscience Square. Today, the restaurant BOHM & Berkel occupies this building. In 1968, the psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd performed at Het Pannenhuis, an event that provides the following scene in Paul’s novel: 'At the entrance of Het Pannenhuis stood a group of Dutch hippies, surrounded by a penetrating mixture of hash smoke and patchouli, all clad in sleeveless mouton return jackets, patiently queuing to have their tickets torn by a bunch of hired muscle. Stuck to the window was the reason for this crowd: Today Pink Floyd, an English psychedelic rock group that was beginning to make waves but was completely ignored by the BRT for being too marginal.'

GVA - Gazet van Antwerpen