Origin of the name
A rak was once the word for a straight stretch of navigable water. This stretch was the waterway leading to the Dam: the Damrak. The name of this stretch of water was kept when a road was built in 1526. Beyond the Dam the street continues as Rokin, again named after the water that was so important in shaping the city.
Standing out from the crowd
Before the turn of the century the Damrak was known for its enormous amount of facade advertising: wonderfully nineties, with lots of neon and wild colours (see the photo with this article). The disco slowly came to an end when the most eye-catching signs were removed ahead of the wedding of King Willem-Alexander and Máxima in 2002. In the years that followed, many more businesses adapted their advertising to the new policy, helped along by a subsidy from the city council.
