Good Eats in Panama City
Belvedere, Club Panama, la Pampa. Do you recognize any of these restaurants from Panama City? A Zonian community member has provided the UF team with a booklet filled with advertisements and descriptions of restaurants. Our upcoming exhibit isn’t just about cuisine, it is centered on YOUR adventure with food in the Zone and Panama, and I would love to hear all your memories. Please share your experience in the comments, or email us on the contact page.
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14 Comments
Mimi Stratford Collins
…and El Rancho 😉
Robert Raymond Dixon gordon
A very good place to eat in the former Pma canal zone was the Balboa club house, diablo club house, the Baboa bowling ally to mention a few, on the pacific side. Great meals back then. I enjoyed it all. Dixon.
Bob Dillon
Napoli Pizza! As for the El Rancho, I saw it in an old black-and-white movie recently I believe it was called, Canal Zone. For some reason Fred MacMurray comes to mind. I guess I could go to IMDb and look it up but I’d rather hear about Napoli Pizza. Boy do I miss it.
Bob Dillon
Slideshow does not work for me in Google Chrome or on my Android’s browser. However, I was able to hack my way to the images.
https://ufpcmcollection.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/restaurants1.png
Slideshow Image 1, features the Holiday Inn in which Noriega was reported to be hiding during Operation Just Cause, the Liberation of Panama. The rumor was, he got advanced knowledge that the U.S. forces discovered he was hiding there and were coming to get him. It was at that point, he crossed the street to the Vatican Embassy (The Papal Nucio?) and asked for sanctuary.
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/05/world/noriega-s-surrender-chronology-vatican-issues-ultimatum-general-takes-walk.html?pagewanted=all&mcubz=0
Bob Dillon
Following are the links to the 5 images in the slideshow. Napoli is mentioned in the 4th image. The fifth image is the cover and is guaranteed to activate a brain cell you forgot you still had. .
https://ufpcmcollection.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/restaurants1.png
https://ufpcmcollection.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/restaurants2.png
https://ufpcmcollection.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/restaurants3.png
https://ufpcmcollection.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/restaurants4.png
https://ufpcmcollection.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/restaurants5.png
I recommend posting as an Adobe PDF rather than a slide show. Otherwise, user smaller image files for the slide show. These are big files. Image 4 is 53.1MB which is huge… covfefe!
ufpcmcollection
Hi Bob, sorry for the delayed reply! Thank you for posting the images, I have made the file sizes smaller for the slideshow, but if that feature still does not work on certain browsers I will keep that in mind for future postings. For now, since you posted the images, I will see how the slideshow does. Let me know if it does not work!
Robert Dillon
It works on the android and on my desktop now. Defiantly an improvement.
These little tourist books were all over the place in the Zone days when the ships used to tie up at either ends of the Canal and Tourists would come ashore and visit. After the ports were given to Panama, all the tourist trade stopped, I was told that Panama had jacked up the port fees so much that the ships would not stop any more. Obviously, that has changed since Operation Just Cause, the Liberation of Panama.
I believe these books were published by Panama’s Department of Tourism. They were everywhere and I remember this cover. Certainly, they were in every hotel lobby, I’m sure.
Bob Dillon
Dear moderator, please read the comments on this posting awaiting moderation. There is a problem with this webpage. No need to repeat myself all you have to do is read the posts.
Bob Dillon
ufpcmcollection.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/restaurants1.png
ufpcmcollection.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/restaurants2.png
ufpcmcollection.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/restaurants3.png
ufpcmcollection.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/restaurants4.png
ufpcmcollection.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/restaurants5.png
i guess the moderator is on vacation. cut and paste into your browsers address bar and press enter.
Bob Dillon
Slideshow Image 1, features the Holiday Inn in which Noriega was reported to be hiding during Operation Just Cause, the Liberation of Panama. The rumor was, he got advanced knowledge that the U.S. forces discovered he was hiding there and were coming to get him. It was at that point, he crossed the street to the Vatican Embassy (The Papal Nucio?) and asked for sanctuary.
Bob Dillon
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/05/world/noriega-s-surrender-chronology-vatican-issues-ultimatum-general-takes-walk.html?pagewanted=all&mcubz=0
Robert
Looking for info on watering holes in the old PCZ, please write
Dale Nulik
Napoli and Hilton on pacific, ymca, a Chinese fried lice, hot tea was great in Colon, too many colon clubs to list, Panama was a fun place in the early 70’s.
Carol Meyer
The Napoli has the advantage of still being in existence at same site next to Instituto Nacional and still inexpensive, wonderful wait staff, and always likely to see old friends. Many of old places no longer exist such as Miramar, Yate del Angelo, and at the moment totally blocking on my favorite near the US Embassy on Balboa Ave. In the Canal Zone the Yacht Clubs in both Cristobal and Balboa were great. The Elk’s Clubs were frequented and Tarpon Club near the dam on Charges River. The only place I ever ate in Colon was Washington Hotel. La Hacienda in Las Cumbres was a favorite place and I always laughed at the English interpretation of “ceviche de camarones” as “pricking shrimps”.