An excursion just west of the NDSM shipyard is a must for anyone with a taste for modern architecture. For 60 years a massive shipping industry called the NDSM-shipyard wharf home. Countless vessels left these legendary wharves, a part of the Dutch seafaring tradition that had lasted for centuries and made Amsterdam one of the planet's economic powerhouses. But nothing lasts forever and the shipping industry suffered greatly during the economic recession of the 1970s, which had a profound effect on Amsterdam-Noord and its residents. In 1984, the shipyard finally closed its doors, but the misery caused by unemployment and the loss of a proud livelihood sowed the seeds of today's rebirth. The shipyard has been converted into a cultural venue that has become one of Amsterdam's hottest entertainment centres. Concerts, festivals and theatre are held amid a landscape of monumental industrial buildings.