Bay City Rollers in Panama
I was at the gym today and one of the songs that played on Spotify was “I Only Want to Be with You” by Bay City Rollers. ...and just like that I am back in Panama. There was a department store in Panama City called Gran Morrison, right across the street from the Ancon Inn—if memory is still telling the truth. Or maybe it was another block over. The Ancon was often the first stop for many young GIs on their first night in town. The bus would pull up out front, brakes hissing in the heat, and boys barely out of high school would step down into a world that felt louder, brighter, and far more complicated than anything they had known before. Across the street was the Canal Zone, which somehow made the whole scene feel even stranger. One side of the road belonged to one world, the other side to another. Borders do that. Even when invisible, they can make a place feel dreamlike. The Ancon itself was one of a handful of bars that catere...
