Spring is in the air. In Holland we just changed the clocks an hour ahead of the winter time. Snow and ice of the last few months have finally disappeared. No more skating or skiing... Easter is just around the corner. BB guests are starting to come on a daily basis now from all over the world. Philip and I can finally practice the use of the various languages we speak at Xaviera's Happy House BB.
Lots of film and theater festivals not only in Amsterdam, but all over Holland. Ofcourse we attend quite a few of these shows. Making new friends, loosing a few due to old age or illness. Time goes by and Philip and I have been very happily married in the meantime for 14 years !
Well here are some details about myself for those who have almost forgotten who was that Xaviera Hollander again ???
Xaviera Hollander is an ex-call girl, former madam & famous author of 17 books, of which 'The Happy Hooker' was a worldwide bestseller. She now runs a cozy bohemian bed & breakfast in Amsterdam: XAVIERA'S HAPPY HOUSE BB. She is born in Surabaya, Indonesia, is a Dutch author and former prostitute and madam. She became world famous for her book The Happy Hooker: My Own Story 1971.
After I finished highschool, I won the award of "best secretary in Holland" at a competition organized by MANPOWER TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT AGENCY in Amsterdam . I left Holland in my early 20's to stay with my stepsister and family in Johannesburg. In South Africa I met and became engaged with an American economist. In 1968, when the engagement was broken off, I went to New York, where I worked at the Dutch consulate in Manhattan as a secretary. I left this position to work as a luxurious call girl, something I could no longer combine with my day time job at the Consulate.
In 1969, Xaviera opened her own brothel: Xaviera’s Happy House. Within a short period of time she became New York City's youngest and leading madam. Three years later, in 1971, she was arrested for sex work by the New York police and forced to leave the United States. This, after she had also become involved in a massive Police Corruption Scandal in Manhattan, referred to as the Knapp Commission scandal. This brought to light how a young New York policeman Bill Phillips got nailed as a double murderer while being investigated about his dealings with me as a corrupt policeman in my call girl period 1971 - 1973. Last month I did an interview with USA radio about this period around the New York Police corruption scandal
Photo by New York Post: Frank Serpico exposes rampant corruption (1970)
Xaviera Hollander, “The Happy Hooker,” announces she will leave the U.S. rather than be deported for running her swank east side brothels.
The Happy Hooker Book
In the same year, 1971, Xaviera Hollander published her memoir; The Happy Hooker. The book was remarkable for its frankness by the standards of the time & is considered a landmark of positive writing about prostitution and sex. In the book Xaviera Hollander detailed her life as an open-minded woman. It was also the very first book in the world where an author could freely write about sex in a frank way without using misguiding words. In other words Xaviera was allowed to mention the proverbial “beast byits real name”. Four letter words have since been totally accepted by the usually quite prim and proper American people.
From Happy Hooker to Happy Hostess in Amsterdam.
Nowadays she lives in the south of Amsterdams "Gold coast ". Together with her darling Dutch husband Philip, they run a bohemian style bed and breakfast in a beautiful and quiet part of the city. It's the fanciest neighborhood of Holland's capital and it has the highest average disposable income per household from all parts of Amsterdam.
Details Bed and Breakfast Xaviera Hollander: “a home away from home”
Hollander's Happy House B&B is closely located to Museum Square with its Van Gogh, Rijks and Stedelijk museum . Her B&B offers free WiFi, king size beds, a beautiful and spacious garden, terrace, lovely art and a cozy ambiance. Xaviera and her husband speak 5 languages between them. Staying in Xaviera's Happy House gives you the opportunity to meet & greet a famous writer, who can also organize a delightful workshop for up to 12 people with, as her main topic: HOW TO MAKE YOUR PARTNER INTO A SUPER LOVER! . It's most interesting to actually meet her and her charming man. He is also a great cook and they organize lunches and dinners up to 10 people. You can ask her all sorts of questions!
Her accommodation has 84 great reviews and a 5 * rating for TRIP ADVISOR.
By the end of April 2018 there will be a massive one hour radio talk show which Xaviera has just taped for the entire U.S.A. to memorize the fact that 45 years ago her Happy Hooker empire came to an abrupt ending by her involvement in the so called Knapp Commission Police Corruption Scandal that took place in Manhattan. Bill Phillips, the infamous police officer, who had offered her protection for a few years in Manhattan, went to jail for nearly 40 years and has just been released. It was a tumultuous life.
Xaviera is presently more than happy to be back in cozy Amsterdam, though the winters can be pretty miserable, her group of friends has expanded enormously and after a few years of producing her own theater shows she used to pick up at the Edinburgh theater festival in Scotland, she now has just finished writing her ultimate spectacular last double omnibus book called WALL TALK OR XAVIERA .... STILL HAPPY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, which covers her last 40 years in Holland. A new publisher still has to be found.
In the meantime she has befriended quite a few interesting BB visitors two of whom she just attended the Laurel and Hardy Festival with in Amsterdam, organized bythis charming adorable couple, same age as Xaviera, who have been married for 50 years already. WolfgangGuenther is a very tall German and his wife is a sweet and feisty little woman also called Vera ( which is also xaviera's own nickname) . They manage this impressive Laurel and Hardy museum in Germany: Solingen www.laurel-hardy-museum.de
Remember when you come to Amsterdam in spring time to see the lovely flower paradise called Keukenhof which has just been opened this weekend.
