In honor of Hispanic History month let's talk about pop up restaurants. In the 1960s popup restaurants or “paid parties” in Brooklyn to earn rent money had been a “big deal” recalls George Priestly, a sociologist who conducted about 60 interviews with Panamanian immigrants to the United States. Panamanian emigrants loved paid parties because they “enlarged [their] contact with other folk” who showed them the ropes. Priestly recalls going with Charlie Boogaloo who knew all of the best spots and all of the people that ran them. “He knew seven different places and we would just go from house to house paying a couple of dollars, eating, and then go back to our party or stay there.” Different house parties had different kinds of food. African American homes usually served up southern food. At an Afro-Panamanian home, there would be West Indian meat patties and rice and peas, chicken, fried plantains, potato salad, and Central American tamales.
