It runs along one of two old parallel roads running through the city on either side of the Grote Markt linking Heemstede to Schoten, and is one of the oldest streets in Haarlem.
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Halfway down the street is a small statue commemorating Malle Babbe by Kees Verkade.
Unique 1928 film footage of the funeral procession with a lead carriage followed by ten mourners, followed by a carriage with the coffin, followed in turn by at least four more carriages, passing by a crowd at the Grote Markt, Haarlem from the Zijlstraat to the Smedesstraat, and then back again through the Grote Houtstraat towards the Barteljorisstraat, on the way to the "Algemene Begraafplaats" at the Kleverlaan (northern Haarlem cemetery) has been digitized on Youtube.