Charms of Panama renewed

By Lance Richardson
Updated October 3 2014 - 1:13am, first published 12:15am
The American Trade Hotel in Panama.
The American Trade Hotel in Panama.
The American Trade Hotel in Panama.
The American Trade Hotel in Panama.
The American Trade Hotel in Panama.
The American Trade Hotel in Panama.

Casco Viejo, the old quarter of Panama City, has gone through more cycles of boom and bust than Wall Street. Settled in 1673 after the English pirate Henry Morgan sacked and torched Panama Viejo down the road, Casco spent nearly 300 years as a centre of prestige for the city. By the 1950s, however, things had taken a dramatic dive; wealthy residents fled to the suburbs because Casco's streets were too narrow for their new cars. Eventually, urban decay turned the neighbourhood into a mouldering ruin, controlled by street gangs from the once-prestigious American Trade Developing Company building, which came to be known colloquially as "Castle Greyskull".

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