Orange is the color of the Dutch Royal family, who are members of the House of Orange-Nassau.  I don’t know whether many people realize that is the inspiration for the color scheme of Dutch banking institution ING Direct.  It might be just as well if many people are not so aware, because if you trace the political and cultural associations of the color orange from the Dutch royal family, into the Glorious Revolution in England and various Anglospheric countries ot the present, you run through a lot of Protestant-Catholic strife and bloodshed.

Happier to contemplate is the history of the Dutch in New York, which was, of course, originally New Amsterdam, a Dutch colony.  This history is preserved in multiple place names, including Brooklyn, the Bronx, Harlem, the Bowery, Gramercy Park, Flushing, and numerous cities and towns across the entire state.  Henry Hudson, although English, explored the region 500 years ago on behalf of the Dutch East India Company, and set the stage for Dutch colonization.  In addition, as anyone who saw the John Adams biography on HBO, or read the original book by David McCullough, the Dutch assisted the Colonies by providing loans to finance the Revolutionary War.

Given the local history, it is fitting that 2 of the 8 ING Direct Cafes in the United States are located in New York.  The cafes all emphasize the firm’s signature color, and this one especially seems to emit a bright orange electric glow at night.