The Houtrusthallen in The Hague were a busy venue for decades, hosting a well known flea market, indoor football tournaments, a women’s fair, the Pasar Malam and a camping fair.
The halls also staged athletics, including the Dutch indoor championships, alongside ice hockey and concerts by performers such as The Rolling Stones and Louis Armstrong.
Archive photographs reach back to 1950, when the H.O.K.Y. tracks were pictured at Houtrustweg, and include a camping exhibition in 1963.
Markets, sport and live music
Louis Armstrong played there in 1955, The Rolling Stones followed in 1967, and 1968 brought a hippie party and a concert by the American rock and roll singer Bill Haley.
Other photos record the Pasar Malam in 1974 and a women’s fair in 1977.
The first Hague flea market was held in the halls in April 1981, and an indoor football tournament organised by Indoor Sporting followed in 1982.
The sports pictures run from a handball match between Hellas and Stratum Meteoor in 1969 to Rob Druppers at the Dutch indoor athletics championships in 1988.
The Houtrusthallen were pulled down in 2001, closing a chapter of Hague life built around markets, sport and concerts.
