Wellington cafe legend dies
The Dutch migrant who arguably ignited Wellington’s cafe scene has died.
Suzy van der Kwast, of Suzy’s Coffee Lounge fame, died on Thursday, aged 80, from lung cancer.
Of Wellington’s early coffee houses, Suzy’s – which she opened with her husband Tom in 1964 – is arguably the one that went down in history, largely because of van der Kwast’s ebullient personality.
The glamorous blonde would, famously, loudly urge her staff on over the sound of music playing from her own record player.
Even when the cafe looked full, van der Kwast would invite potential customers inside, assuring them there was room.
Then she would demand that existing patrons move closer together, to create more space.
Her son, Bart van der Kwast, reckoned it was not mere coincidence she died 11 months after the death of her husband: ‘‘They say it is true love if the partner passes within the year.’’
Suzy van der Kwast grew up in rural Netherlands amid World War II and one of her first jobs was to take potatoes to a Jewish family hiding in the field near the house. She was chosen because being just 5 years old meant she was less likely to get questioned by German soldiers.
She first tasted chocolate when given it by liberating Canadian soldiers at age 7.
She ate so much of the sweet gift that she was violently ill and didn’t touch it again for decades.
But post-war Netherlands was a grim place and the lure of a fresh start on the other side of the world enticed her to New Zealand, her son said.
While Suzy’s was not the first Wellington establishment to sell real coffee, it was in many respects the first to become an institution – one known for its Cona coffee.
Geoff Marsland, who cofounded popular Cuba St cafe Midnight Espresso and Havana Coffee Works, described Van der Kwast as the ‘‘epitome of hospitality’’.