PandaMania - BCB2 Traditional Cache

The PandaMania art exhibit took place in the summer of 2004 throughout DC.  After the exhibit ended, the panda statues were sold or donated.  There are only a few of these statues left in the area (or so I thought when I started this series).  This series will bring you to the ones that I've found.

Ok...ok...this wasn't an original PandaMania statue but the family went through a lot of effort to make it look authentic (to match the one in front of the original restaurant).  They commissioned an artist to do the panda and submitted paperwork to display public artwork to have it placed outside the restaurant. It even looks worn even though the store hasn't been open all that long - at least I don't think that it has been.

The Alis (the owners of Ben's Chili Bowl) also commissioned a panda for their restaurant at National Airport.  It's currently not on display though.  They said that the original panda wasn't supposed to be a permanent fixture in front of the U Street restaurant but due to overwhelming support, it's going to be there a while.

UPDATE: The panda has been repainted...and the cache has been rehidden.

The new paint job is below.