Four Beautiful Sights in Casco Viejo, Panama City, Panama - 7-25-2012

Teatro Nacional in Casco Viejo, Panama City, Panama

Situated in the far southwest of Panama City, Casco Viejo is the city's "old town." The district was built shortly after English privateer Henry Morgan burned and looted Panama City in 1671. Panama City's surviving residents moved their city five miles east to the more defensible, rocky outcropping that became Casco Viejo. Today, the district is an eclectic mix of colonial era buildings restored to their colorful, 17th century grandeur, standing next to dilapidated apartments waiting patiently for urban renewal to work its magic on them. Work crews are aggressively renewing Casco Viejo, so don't be surprised to see new construction equipment next to a hidden plaza or stashed away in the district's narrow alleys.



Luna's Castle in Casco Viejo, Panama City, Panama

Once in Casco Viejo, the cab dropped me off not far from the hostel Luna's Castle at the corner of Calle 9a Este and Avanue Alfaro. Luna's Castle is perennially full and owns a reputation for being that quirky place you talk about for weeks after your trip ended. The hostel is situated in a three story restored apartment building. There is ample room for hanging out, reading, and sitting all throughout the reception level. Please note that they do not accept reservations for private rooms; those rooms are first come first served. Walking south along Avenida Alfaro, I followed the waterfront while admiring Panama City's impressive skyline from across the Bahaia de Panama.




Iglesia de San Francisco in Casco Viejo, Panama City

Moving southeast at Calle 3a Este I passed the small Parque Bolivar. The 19th century revolutionary, Simon Bolivar, held meetings in a schoolroom across the street from this park in 1826. Today, the park contains a bronze statue of the man, and provides a quiet shady respite from Panama's steamy afternoons. Walking further along Calle 3a Este, I pass the Iglesia de San Francisco and the Teatro National, right across Avenida B from each other. Iglesia de San Francisco holds the Golden Altar, one of the few valuables recovered from Henry Morgan's sack of Panama. The Teatro National is a beautiful, ornate operating theater. Its red and yellow archway echos those of Italian opera houses.







Paseo las Bovedas in Casco Viejo, Panama City, Panama

From the Teatro National, I hang a left and follow Avenida Central south east and around a bend to the Paseo las Bovedas. Flowering vines climb trellises alongside and over the paseo, providing welcome shade from the afternoon sun. Today, the paseo is peaceful with only a few tourists and some indigenous artisans set up with tables upon which their quilts, bracelets, and other trinkets are displayed. The Paseo las Bovedas opens and ends at the Plaza de Francia. In the middle of the plaza is a huge column surmounted by a rooster. The plaza also displays stone tables commemorating the the memory of 22,000 French colonial workers who died while building the Panama Canal. Following the plaza around, I follow Calle Oeste north past the small Plaza Carlos V. This flowery square holds a small bust of Emperor Carlos V.



Statue in Iglesia y Convento de la Compania de Jesus

I move on to Avenida A, which leads northwest. Several blocks later, I pass the Iglesia y Convento de la Compania de Jesus. The church is a colonaial era building that still operates and holds a convent. Walking inside, I snap a few pictures of its gold and wood altar, as well as some exquisitely carved, painted and dressed statues of Jesus.

Cutting across Casco Viejo using Calle 5a Este, reach the Plaza de la Indepencia. Several restaurants line the square and offer outdoor seating. Casablanca, an upscale eatery decorated as a sophisticated wine bar, offers large salads and other entrees for an average price of around $12. Try their Andre's Salad, which offered two meals worth of food for $10. After a late lunch, I follow the waterfront for several miles towards Panama City's skyline before catching a cab back to my hostel.


Getting Here:
I recommend taking a taxi or walking along the Cinta Costera, but a bus would work too. I paid only $4.00 for a cab ride from my hostel in the far eastern neighborhood of Channis to Casco Viejo. I did have to ask three taxi drivers to take me across the length of Panama City, though, because Channis is on Panama City's eastern fringes and traffic in this city is so terrible that many cab drivers actively avoid traveling between certain districts. If you take a bus, I recommend you make your way to the Via Espana, Panama City's major east-west street, catch a Metro Bus that lists Casco Viejo or Casco Antigu (Casco Viejo's other name). If the bus does not enter the old city, just get off at the waterfront and walk east until your each the old city. Pay careful to avoid the high density slums north of Casco Viejo. Always take a taxi at night instead of a bus.

Four Can't Miss Bars in Echo Park

Echo Park is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, CA just north of downtown, off the 101 freeway. Los Angeles' film industry was centered in Echo Park before World War I, and the neighborhood served as the backdrop for many silent films. The film Mi Vida Loca explored Latina gang life in Echo Park in the 1990s. Several new apartment and condominium buildings were built in the northern portion of Echo Park as spillover from the late 1990s and early 2000s renaissance downtown.

But don't let the new wine bar fool you. Gentrification hasn't sterilized this neighborhood yet. Today, working class Latinos and Millennial generation hipsters (and yes, some plaid clad Gen Xers too) frequent shadowy dive bars serving $3 Pabst, eat at ethnic restaurants in operation for generations, and nod their heads at live music venues tucked away in the shadows, safe from the judgmental eyes of pretentious Westsiders.




The Short Stop

Only a pink neon COCKTAILS sign advertises this former cop bar turned gay bar turned hipster haven. The shadowy back room houses a pool table, a collection of police badges, and dark leather booths for quiet conversation. The narrow bar quenches the thirst of straight twenty-something "actors" and "actresses" financing edgy entertainment industry lives with Mom and Dad's green. Come for Super Soul Sundays from 10pm to 2am to dance on a packed floor to Motown oldies and 80's favorites. Ignore the worn wooden sign declaring "DANCING IZ EVIL." Groups of skinny-jeaned, pirate-mustachioed hipsters get their nicotine fix on the outdoor porch. Come early for a seat at the bar because Sunday nights also feature crowds four deep trying to get a drink.

No cover
Full bar 5pm to 2am
Super Soul Sundays 10pm to 2am
Sunset & Sutherland at 1455 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA. Phone: (213) 482-4942


The Little Joy
The kind of bar I would run if I were a tagger. Enjoy two beers on tap, play on a worn pool table, cut shadowy deals in the few booths hidden in corners, or chat up the pretty blond in the black dress with leggings underneath as you both stand around because furniture is so sparse. Surprisingly well-lit for a dive, but how else could you enjoy all the graffiti, sketches, and street art four walls can handle? Bring cash because they don't take credit cards. Cheap drinks and a DJ spinning funk offer comfort to patrons who didn't want to deal with the line at The Short Stop. More diverse crowd than the hipster-only Short Stop. Makes up with real what it lacks in hip.

No cover
Cash only
Full bar
Sunset & Portia at 1477 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA. Phone: (213) 250-3417






The Gold Room
Well-lit with tiled floors, leather booths, and a largely well-dressed, young, female clientele. Sometimes the entire staff wears tuxedos. Fiber optic lighting at the bar cycles through a rainbow of colors. And was that a neon palm tree? What is this, Miami? Sit at the polished granite bar and get all the free roasted peanuts you can eat, if you don't mind shelling them yourself. Mirrored wall next to the booths and behind the bar make this small spot seem larger. Loud, eclectic jukebox plays mariachi, bachata, classic rock and metal. A good reprieve from the local dive bar routine.

Full bar
Food
1558 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA. Phone: (213) 482-5259


El Prado
Westside class without the arrogance. Long and wide light brown bar with plenty of stools offer ample opportunity to meet locals. Modern art, mellow lighting, and light colored wood paneling lend this wine and beer bar a chill atmosphere. Staff spins LPs from a sizable collection next to the wine bottles. Wine and beer selection hand written in white wax pen on the mirror wall behind the bar instead of in a menu is a nice touch. Enjoy olives, walnuts or pecans for $3, or spring for the cheese plate for $7. Impress a first date by ordering a glass of an obscure New Zealand Pinot Noir she's never heard of for $7. Or commiserate with a friend over a $3 glass of the finest Portuguese boxed wine you've ever cried into.

Wine and beer only
Food
Open 7 days a week, 6pm to 2am
1805 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA. Phone: (213) 483-8609

Special Bonus:
Taco Zone Truck
The only taco truck I've seen on Yelp with a 4.5 star rating and over 150 reviews. Didn't stop them from getting firebombed(!) in mid-2009, though. Jealous competitors? Thankfully, Taco Zone is back as of early July 2009. Enjoy steaming, flavorful, tacos, burritos, and quesadillas. Taco Zone even set up a few chairs, just for you. At 2:30AM, how could you possibly go wrong with three chicken tacos for $1.25 each, and a full salsa bar? Go for the dark orange salsa if you like hot. Tacos served open face on soft tortillas the way they're supposed to be done, and not in crunchy shells like at corporate behemoth Taco Bell. Walk across the parking lot to Vons and wash down your late night taco with a Snickers bar.

Food
Open well past 2AM.
Parked at Alvarado and Montana, on the street next to the Vons supermarket parking lot and near a car wash.

Special thanks to Echo Park resident and my guide, Nima Samadi, who took me on an amazing five hour bar crawl and taco fest one Sunday night and Monday morning.