Vintage porn posters revive old Casco Viejo Theatre

Teatro Amador is one of the cutest looking theatres of Casco Viejo.  A romantic fasade, has been awaiting for restoration for a while. Their owners, however, are starting to re activate the space… and what best ocassion than a big Halloween art show featuring original vintage porn posters from the 70´s and 80´s (and some earlier!) of another Casco Viejo icon: Teatro Variedades.

History of theatres in Casco Viejo is interesting. While the San Felipe town had Teatro Nacional (National Theatre), Santa Ana which was a more popular area had Teatro Variedades. With the decline of the old quarter, both theatres (and later Teatro Amador itself) decayed to the point of showing movies (porn mostly) and even boxing matches.  Luckily, with Casco´s restoration they are slowly coming back to life. Today, the National Theatre is one of the most elegant theatres in Panama City. Teatro Variedades and Amador have been bought by developers and hopefully their time will come soon.   In the meantime, Teatro Amador will be an open space for interesting art shows and events.

Other Halloween events will be held by Relic (costume party) and Indigo Restaurant (sexy party!).

Where to go?

Teatro Amador: Avenida Central and 10th street. After the traffic light, follow the street towards Santa Ana Plaza. You´ll see it at your right.

Relic: 9th Street and B Avenue. At Luna´s Castle.

Indigo: Central Avenue, between 2nd and 3rd.

 

Nightlife in Casco Viejo in a Nutshell

Here is a bizarre collection of photos I took at Casco Antiguo during last week. From partying at Las Bovedas, to the local caramelized apple cart, this is what Casco Viejo is all about.   Confussed? learn more about each photo here.

Venezuelan Investment in Casco Viejo, Panama

This year, Casco Antiguo - Panama´s colonial quarter – has seen the opening of at least 15 new businesses. Not bad for a town of only 3 avenues and 15 streets. Out of those 15 (maybe 20 at this point) at least 5 are Venezuelan owned and operated.

Most of them food related, they are exploring actively to open new niches and inject their energy into the eclectic historic area.  Businesses range from informal cafés such as Tomato (soups, salads, wraps and breakfast) and Aromas Café, to Mexican food (Tequila´s Restaurant). Neighborhood hang outs like Mayal´s at 8th street and fusion cuisine at 9th street.

Other investors are looking into development opportunities and investment opportunities.  Their preference: to own commercial space either to rent or operate themselves. They view Casco Viejo as one of the areas that has the biggest potential in Panama City due to its historic and tourism character.  Regard it as something unique and authentic.

However, it is also a neighborhood in transition where  things take time and active involvement in community programs  is part of business life.  Not too long ago, AVACA, the neighborhood association organized a beach cleanup with the community. Venezuelan restaurants, along with Italians, Panamanians, Americans, Brazilian, Colombian and many other nationalities helped raise funds for the event.  It was an enthusiastic day, enjoyed by all participants.

If nothing else, Casco Viejo seems to be the heart of what mixed neighborhood is all about, and is part of its attraction.  Not only old patina blends with restored buildings, and architectural styles are interesting, but nationalities and businesses are joined by a vision of building a quality brand called Casco Viejo.  Throughout its history, Panama has been the crossroad of the Americas, joining oceans and continents. And since 1673, Casco Viejo has welcomed every nationality to make a living.

With the right language and cultural backgrounds, Venezuelans seem to be set up for success.

Ghosts, Murder, Treason

Way before the Sopranos, there was Giselle.

Panama´s National Ballet will be presenting one of the jewels of romantic ballet: Giselle at the National Theatre at Casco Antiguo, Panama, from October 5, 7th, 9th at 7 p.m.

Basic plot: sweet girl in town falls in love with not so inocent Prince. He was supposed to get married with a princess. When she finds out, she dies of a heart attack (well… dies of love!). Leaves the prince feeling guilty and the guy who actually loved her (a boy from the town) heartbroken.

Second act: Giselle, as a ghost ends up under Myrtha´s reign. Her gang is made of all the women who have died of love and their mission is to take revenge by killing every man who enters their forest by making them dance until death.  When the poor guy who actually loved Giselle steps in, Myrtha´s army get hold of him and kill him. But when the prince comes in, Giselle arises. Myrtha orders her to dance with him and murder him, so she dances… but keeps a pace where he is still alive at dawn. Giselle has saved him and forgiven him.

The last scene, at dawn, he is found over the tomb of Giselle, repented.

It was said that when this ballet was first performed by Margot Fontayne and Rudolf Nureyev, the public was in such spell that they kept quite for a full minute after the curtain went down. And then, they couldn´t stop a 20 minute explosion of applause.

Dinner in Amsterdam, lunch at Panama´s Jungle

I did exactly the opposite. I had dinner in Panama, took KLM´s direct flight to Amsterdam and had dutch pancakes the next day near Amsterdam Central station. It was so easy, I´m still shocked at it.

It made me think a lot about what people travel for and what they consider “exotic”. Being from Panama, for me, cold is an exotic destination. Examples of exotic animals include (and are not limited to): sheeps, furry cows (or furry anything), lambs. Interesting architecture features include chimneys.

So I thought to myself, isn´t this interesting. While I can take a plane at night and be in cold weather the next morning eating pancakes, anyone in Amsterdam can do the same and be on a boat at the Gatun lake in the afternoon watching monkeys or hike at one of our 15 minute away national parks and stay that night in a World Heritage colonial city (Casco Viejo) and have great dinner at a plaza that night.

Travelling before used to be this amazing journey for months on mule, horse, boat. And once there, wao, you had to work your way back. Now is so easy… just wait two hours in the airport, take a sleeping pill and wake up to your adventure the next morning!

Historic City Cleans Up

For a while, garbage has been one of Casco Antiguo´s main challenges. The lack of education in the local community, along with the few resources of the City´s garbage department has been a negative combination.

During the last 10 years, Casco Antiguo has slowly gone through a revitalization process that has brought new people into the mix. This year, having a small critical mass of new residents, Casco Antiguo saw the birth of a community NGO called AVACA (the Casco Antiguo Friends and Residents Association, in Spanish) which has started to tackle the most important issues, garbage being in the top three.

This Sunday, the first public event of AVACA took place at Casco Antiguo. It was burning hot, but a cheerful crowd made it to the parking lot of the National Theatre, grabbed their tools and attacked the nearby beaches.

More…..

Ciao Pescao Restaurant Survives Aristologa

Casco Viejo, Panama´s old colonial quarter, has been booming with new restaurants at every corner. Some better than others, new proposals are popping out everywhere opening areas no one had thought about before. However, the best quality seems to be coming from the “old kids on the block”.   This time by Jorge Zarak, the sucessful owner of Ego & Narcisso, now had opened a ceviche restaurant Ciao Pescao that got reviewed by Aristologa, a Panamanian who is known for “calling it how she sees it”.

The menu was described as “short and uncomplicated”, where the “oriental ceviche and the langostinos on green sauce are indispensable”. Another favorite was the “Italian” ceviche with ribbons of aji chombo (for those who like spicy).

For dessert, she recommends the Panamanian classic “No me olvides”, an updated version of the old icecream classic at the Maria Immaculada café that used to be located in Avenida Peru. I remember fondly those “no me olvides” (forget me not) which where composed of: brownie bed + icecream + marshmallow+ caramel or syrop of your liking which could include chocolate fondue+ brownie + icecream + cream on the top. Wao! Ciao Pescao is a smaller version, but you´ll dig into its delicious decadence the same way!

Can´t Save Yourself From Love

This has been an intense week for international piano star Danilo Perez and his wife and music therapist Patricia Perez. Fundación Danilo Perez has not only launched the next Panama Jazz Festival 2010, but also announced their program Music For Change… and received an award from the Smithsonian Institute in Washington for all the work he´s been doing in Panama with children.  He was also appointed artistic director at the Global Institute of Jazz of Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA. Danilo and Patricia are all about positive energy.

Their passion is simple and deep: to raise the level of music education in Panama and transform through it the lives of children at social risk. The jazz festival is only a platform to achieve this goal, but what a platform! Last year, close to 20,000 people enjoyed the festival. About 650 students went to the clinics, scholarships where given, for a week, Panama was turned into a Cultural Hub.

For Danilo, Panama is the perfect spot to nurture jazz. With an almost caleidoscopic culture….  SEE FULL STORY HERE

Be Organic, Build With Bones

Everyone has been trying to figure out how to be greener than the neighbor. The web is packed with green this and green that, and advises on “how to go back to basics”. Well, in Casco Antiguo (Panama) we did just that…and looks great!

One of Panama´s icons has been under restoration for the last year and finally we can see the results coming along.  It has a wonderful internal courtyard, with a classic Spanish Colonial design and feel. A big carpet of pebble stones covering it with designs in white. Looking closer, you realize the “white pebbles” are not pebbles at all, but bones! Hundreds of cow bones stuck in the ground. According to the historic and archeological research this is exactly how it was done in those days. My dog,  for once,  had a positive opinion on how the design smelled.

Gay Film Festival at Casco Viejo

La Casona at Casco Viejo, Panama, has been hosting four days of a wide diversity of Gay and Lesbian films. The festival starts today, at 7 p.m. andhere is the list of films that they´ve shown.  Don´t miss the last ones!

Monday July 27th:

Salida Restrasada (USA)
La Rosa Con Espinas (USA)
Primera Vez (Argentina)

Tuesday 28th :
Esto es elemental (USA)
El mueble de las fotos   (España)
La Espinita (España)
No puedo ser hetero (UK)

Wednesday 29th:
Solo yo?  (USA)
Vestido Nuevo (España)
Los requisitos de Nati (España)
Glue – Historia adolescente en el medio de la nada

Thursday 30th:
Cuarto Cresciente (España)
Todos me miran (Argentina)