A LEGEND IN ANTWERP CAFE STRANGE
For a long time Armand, with his bar Strange, was top of the bill for homos in Antwerp, the mecca for gays in Flanders. For many years he made a career in the world of fashion, too, developing patterns for, amongst others, Dries Van Noten. In the meantime he’s kept the Strange open for a good 30 years and can lay claim to a number of records, of which the main one is oldest working senior in the city’s oldest homo bar. He’s also had his share of troubles. He lost his husband, for instance, saw the gay culture change and was attacked on several occasions. I’m starting my interview under a bright spring sun in the café’s cosy courtyard.
You were recently attacked. How's it going? Now, sonny, I've been raided three times. All in all it wasn't so bad. Two guys attacked me. I was hit on the head, eye socket broken. Stupid young guys reacting impulsively because they'd sniffed too much coke and had no more money for two vodka redbulls, of all things. They'd been topping before that in the Hessenhuis. The culprits were caught and I'm fully recovered. Had it always been your dream to open a café? Not at all! It happened pretty well by accident. I've never been a dreamer. Before the café I worked with a handloom. I found that really great to do. We worked for large fashion houses in Brussels and Antwerp. After my military service I no longer had any work or any money. My friend Roger knew the previous boss and so we took over the Strange. The man was a butcher and had opened the Strange along with his friend. It was then Antwerp's first gay café. Next year we'll have been open for 60 years. He handed it over when he was 83, almost as old as I am now. Were you yourself a regular in the Strange? I came here now and then but preferred to party in the Schipperskwartier, which is where the youngsters were in those days. There was already a large gay scene in Antwerp then. Much better than nowadays! How did your parents react when you opened this café? In the beginning they were astonished, especially my father's family. Open a drinking hole for homos? My family
went pale at the thought. They didn't know what to make of it. On my mother's side they knew in those days what was on the go in this district. They had a place where you could eat a cake, and they made a lot of money with it. Downstairs the customers would eat a bun and upstairs they messed around with each other. (Raucous laugh.) Did your parents know you were gay? My father died quite young and my mother will have known it, but I never said anything to her: it wasn't necessary. She knew my friend, too, but never asked any questions. Live and let live. People didn't understand it all, anyway, in those days.