| Y Go Ybor By: Shiva Threatts Florida. It’s known for its romantic skylines, sandy beaches, and clear coastal waters. It’s home to Orlando, one of the biggest tourist cities in the nation supported by Disney World, Universal Studios, and a plethora of other well known amusement attractions. And if you know anything about Spring Break hot spots, Florida is also home to Pensacola and the infamous Miami. Yet, often times the rich cultural diversity of its smaller towns is overlooked. One of the richest Hispanic cultural centers of Florida can be found in the heart of Tampa Bay. There amongst city lights, college campuses, and an array of shopping locals, lies Ybor City. Ybor City, which is pronounced YEE-borh, is a historic district of Tampa located just a few blocks from the downtown area. Founded in the early 1880s by cigar manufacturers, Ybor was once home to immigrants from Spain, Cuba, and Italy. Over the years, as a cigar hub, Ybor was a massive production area specifically for hand rolled cigars. During the late 1880s, as more Italian and European Jewish immigrants began to populate the area, the economy of the area expanded from simply the manufacturing of cigars into an outstanding shopping district. By the 1990s, Ybor city had grown at such an outstanding rate that its population alone had contributed an additional 16,000 individuals to the overall population of Tampa. By the 20th century, Ybor City had become not only a manufacturing hub but also a major cultural melting pot for Tampa. The unique combination of Spanish, Italian, Jewish, and Cuban residents made for what has often been called “Tampa’s Spanish India.” Such a unique mixture of cultures opened the door for clubs or what are historically known as “mutual aid societies.” These ‘clubs’ included El Centro Espanol (for the Spaniards), L’Unione (for the Italians), the Deutscher- Americaner Clubs (for Germans and Eastern Europeans), El Circulo Cubano (for fair skinned Cubans), La Union Marti-Maceo (for darker skinned Cubans), and El Centro Asturiano (which was open to members of any ethnic group). By 1929, all racial issues aside, Ybor City had become an ethnic pinnacle. The Great Depression served Ybor City its greatest blow, and Ybor’s economic decline continued in the 1950s and the 1960s, when the neighborhood fell from its regal ethnic heights as buildings and factories were torn down. Beginning in the late 1980s, artists began to take notice of Ybor City and developed a recovery project for the area. As younger individuals and new business partners and organizations moved in, Ybor slowly began to reignite its spark in the cultural and social scene of Tampa. With the assistance of a few ambitious individuals and a little monetary assistance from the city of Tampa, Ybor began its rebirth. Today, Ybor City is not only a tourist attraction, it is a historical district seeped in its cultural history. It has become home to apartments and condos, renovated homes, hotels, new and refurbished restaurants, and museums. Its most recent accomplishment was the opening of Centro Ybor, which is now one of Tampa’s major shopping complexes and movie theatres. On any given day visitors can partake in typical shopping and dining pleasure or visit one of the museums (Tampa Electric Company [TECO] Line Streetcar Museum, Ybor City Museum State Park, Cigar Museum and Visitor Center). And while there may only be physical remnants left of Ybor City’s origin, there are still many tributes (Festa Italiana, Fiesta, Tampa Cigar Heritage Festival just to name a few) paid each year to the rich cultural history that made Ybor City what is today. Ybor City is living proof of the lasting quality and richness of Cuban, Spanish, Italian, and Jewish cultures on the native Florida lifestyle. |
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| Editor's Note: This is the second of a series exploring our country's rich cultural and ethnic heritage. |
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