The Panama

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Director Tony Chan
Producer Sun Riders Productions
Year 1996
Length 29 mins.
Genre documentary
Source http://gingerpost.com/
Language
Description Chronicling the Chan family of Victoria, B.C. One of the oldest Chinese families in Victoria, they owned and operated several restaurants, ending with the Panama Cafe on Government Street from around 1930 until 1967. Chan Dun, at the age of seventeen, landed in Victoria in the 1893, and his family of eight sons and four daughters lived & worked at the Panama Cafe, a western-style eatery catering to the working class of the city. It survived the depression and the war years (even when several sons left for military service). But in the 1960s when fast-food competition in the city became too great, they closed their doors. The film includes many rare black and white photos of early Victoria.