New York Latin Culture Magazine®

World-class Indigenous, European & African Culture since 2012

Panamanian NYC

Panamanian NYC used to be centered in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. It is spread out now.

The Panamanian Consulate is in Midtown, Manhattan nyconsul.com

Panama is Tamborito, Cumbia, Latin Jazz and Salsa. Reggaeton came to NYC from Jamaicans in Panama.

NYC’s most famous Panamanian is Salsa and Latin Jazz legend Rubén Blades. He’s super cool. He rides the subway and is usually very generous with the public.

New York City’s big Panamanian festival is the Panamanian Parade and Street Fair on the first or second Saturday of October. It’s the biggest Panamanian parade outside of Panama. The Panamanian diaspora comes from all over the East Coast to join the parade and festivities.

Panamanian NYC News

Hispanic Heritage Month in New York City 2024

A meditation on what it means to be “Hispanic” in America today.

🇦🇷🇧🇴🇨🇱🇨🇴🇨🇷🇨🇺🇩🇴🇪🇨🇸🇻🇬🇶🇬🇹🇭🇳🇲🇽🇳🇮🇵🇦🇵🇾🇵🇪🇵🇷🇪🇸🇺🇾🇻🇪

Panamanian NYC Archive

January 2023

For the Master Drawings New York 2023 art fair, 25 art galleries show old masters and new masters from their collections and from visiting international dealers; in Manhattan’s Upper East Side; from Friday, January 20-28, 2023. The exhibition continues online through February 28, 2023. 🇦🇷🇧🇷🇨🇴🇲🇽🇵🇦🇻🇪 | 🇫🇷🇮🇹

October 2022

The 27th Panamanian Parade NYC 2022 (Desfile Panameño) Gala is a night of dinner, dancing, and community networking with parade honorees and Willie Panamá, “The King of Salsa Rap,” Parade Queen Ms Giovalli Botello, and Chakatín y el Juncal de la Arena de Chitre, at Glen Terrace Caterers in Flatlands, Brooklyn on Thursday, October 6, 2022 from 7pm – midnight. From $150. 🇵🇦

The 27th Panamanian Parade NYC 2022 (Desfile Panameño) marches through Crown Heights, Brooklyn, from Bergen St down Franklin Ave, across President Street to the Panamanian Street Fair on Classon Avenue and Union Street on Saturday, October 8, 2022 at 12noon. 🇵🇦

September 2022

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, a celebration of the Americas, through October 15. 🇦🇷🇧🇴🇧🇷🇨🇱🇨🇴🇨🇷🇨🇺🇩🇴🇪🇨🇸🇻🇬🇶🇬🇹🇭🇳🇲🇽🇳🇮🇵🇦🇵🇾🇵🇪🇵🇷🇪🇸🇺🇾🇻🇪

The Queens Hispanic Parade 2022 marches on 37th Avenue from 69th St to 86th St in Jackson Heights, Queens on Sunday, September 25, 2022 starting at 11am. 🇦🇷🇧🇴🇨🇱🇨🇴🇨🇷🇨🇺🇩🇴🇪🇨🇸🇻🇬🇶🇬🇹🇭🇳🇲🇽🇳🇮🇵🇦🇵🇾🇵🇪🇵🇷🇪🇸🇺🇾🇻🇪

November 2021

Celebrate Panamanian Independence Day on Sun, Nov 28.

Celebrate Panamanian Separation Day, on Wed, Nov 3.

October 2021

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, Sep 15 – Oct 15.

The 26th Panamanian Parade 2021 was live in Crown Heights, Brooklyn on Sat, Oct 9, 2021 at 12pm. FREE 🇵🇦

September 2021

The New York Yankees celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with a giveaway of Yankee caps with Hispanic flags for Yankee games on Fri-Wed, Sep 17-22, 2021. From $40. mlb.com
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March 2021

Melissa Guevara hosts Audrey Mora, Elisa Levet, Carmen Lynch and Andrea Pascasio at Español Please at the Broadway Comedy Club in Hell’s Kitchen on Sat, Mar 19 at 10pm. $25. 🇲🇽🇵🇦🇪🇸

The Neighboring Scenes film festival is at Lincoln Center Mar 31 – Apr 12, 2021. 🇦🇷🇧🇴🇧🇷🇨🇱🇨🇺🇬🇹🇬🇹🇲🇽🇵🇦🇵🇪

February 2021

The Premio Lo Nuestro Awards are on Univision on Thu, Feb 18, 2021. 🇨🇴🇩🇴🇲🇽🇵🇦🇵🇷

January 2021

The 11th Cinema Tropical Awards are online on Tue, Jan 19, 2021. 🇦🇷🇧🇷🇨🇱🇨🇴🇬🇹🇲🇽🇵🇦🇵🇪🇺🇾🇻🇪

Panamanian New York City

Michelle’s Cocktail Lounge in Flatbush, Brooklyn is a popular Panamanian community bar.

Little Panama

New York City’s “Little Panama” used to be on Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Today it is spread out across Flatbush, Crown Heights, Carnarsie, Bed-Stuy and Clinton Hill.

Cafe con Libros bookstore in Crown Heights is Panamanian. cafeconlibrosbk.com

Panamanian New Yorkers

Salsa singer-songwriter Rubén Blades is the most famous Panamanian New Yorker. He was a lawyer before he came to New York. Rubén rides the subway and he’s really cool. If you think, OMG, is that Rubén Blades? It probably is.

Blades played an important role in the development of salsa dura (hard salsa) in 1970s New York. He made many famous hits and is still making great music and winning Grammy Awards.

Panamanian Culture

Panama has its own unique blend of Indigenous, Hispanic and African people and culture.

Today Panama has West Indian culture blended in. Jamaican workers helped finish the Panama Canal. Was this the beginning of reggaeton?

Reggaeton started as pregones (selling songs) on freelance buses in poor neighborhoods of Panama City. Panamanians brought this early form of reggaeton to New York City where it jumped to Puerto Rico and developed before spreading to Colombia and around the world. It’s the popular music of today’s youth around the world.

Panamanian Polleras

Panamanian NYC (Gualberto Becerra/Dreamstime)
Panamanian NYC (Gualberto Becerra/Dreamstime)

The woman wears a Panamanian pollera with a beautiful crown. Polleras are based on Spanish Andalusían peasant dress from the Colonial Era. Today they are a folk costume.

Polleras are worn in many Hispanic countries, but Panamanians have their own style of Panamanian pollera. They are some of the most beautiful polleras in the world.

The man wears a sombrero campesino, a farmer’s hat. The patterns in the hat may represent a particular town or region.

Visit Panama

North and South America meet in Panama, and so do the Atlantic and Pacific. The Panama Canal joins the oceans. The Darién Gap is a roadless forest that joins the Americas.

The country offers a rich combination of modern city, pretty colonial towns, rainforests and beaches. Hispanic culture is strong in Azuero and Coclé. African cultural traditions continue in the Caribbean city Colón.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

  • Portobelo-San Lorenzo
  • Darien National Park
  • Talamanca Range – La Amistad Reserves / La Amistad National Park
  • Panamá Viejo
  • Coiba National Park and It’s Special Zone of Marine Protection
Panamanian Separation Day (Gualberto Becerra/Dreamstime)
Panamanian Separation Day (Gualberto Becerra/Dreamstime)
North American NYC