1950 D'Anello City Plan or Map of Panama City, Panama

This is a c. 1950 P. D'Anello city plan or map of Panama City, Panama. Two colors, pink and light orange, immediately leap at the viewer, and, upon examination, delineate between the República de Panama (light orange) and the Canal Zone (pink).

Canal Zone

Under U.S. control form 1903, the Canal Zone was the critical infrastructure zone abutting the Panama Canal. The Canal Zone was abolished in 1979, and the canal itself was turned over to Panama in 1999. Streets, neighborhoods, and railroads are labeled within the Zone. The Hotel Tivoli and several docks are also identified. Manuscript notations within the Canal Zone mark the roundhouse, the YMCA, and the Smith Institute.

Panama City

Sixty-six locations throughout Panama City within the República de Panama are alphanumerically labeled and correspond with an index in the lower right. Twenty-six of these are labeled alphabetically and include churches, the presidential palace, hospitals, the National Archives, and the U.S. Embassy. The remaining forty locations are labeled numerically and shaded green. These include, theaters, shops, bazars, banks, hotels, and the Pan-American World Airways Office, among other civilian entities.

Advertisements and Verso Content

An advertisement along the top border proclaims the presence to I. L. Maduro Jr, the headquarters of French Perfumes and the exclusive agents of Chanel. The more interesting of the two advertisements, appears in the lower right corner, and promotes Club Atlas. The Club Atlas was a popular nightclub in Panama City during the 1940s and 1950s. It was a favored haunt for U.S. personnel stationed in the Canal Zone. Numerous advertisements populate the map's verso, with several promoting shops, hotels, Panama's National Lottery, and Pepsi-Cola.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn by P. D'Anello and distributed by the Junta Nacional de Turismo, the predecessor of today's Ministerio de Turismo. The sole other example is cataloged in OCLC at the University of Texas. It is otherwise extremely scarce.