I ONCE SMOKED A CIGAR, ONLY ONCE, and I am pretty sure it didn’t come from Ybor City. This historic suburb of Tampa was sucked from a cypress swamp by Vincente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers around 1880. Soon immigrants, mostly from Cuba, Spain and Italy, flooded in, seeking their piece the American dream.
Shotgun homes, interest-free
As it turned out, their dream was more realized than most immigrants. They not only lived in Ybor City, they pretty much owned it. The hand-rolled cigars they produced were much in demand and the workers were well paid. They had the opportunity to purchase homes with interest-free loans, something that others wouldn’t have until the GI Bill.
7th Avenue, Smokin' Nightlife
Each neighborhood had its own social clubs where everyone could meet, dance, play cards and socialize with their own kind. Most impressive to me, the cigar companies employed “lectors” who stood above the workers in pulpits and read newspapers, novels and otherwise dispensed knowledge to what would become a well-educated populace.
The streetcars are up and running
The cigar factories are gone, victims of the Depression and mechanization. With the post-War exodus to the suburbs, “Cigar City” fell into disrepair, its once vibrant neighborhoods mostly deserted by 1980. Since 2000, parts of the city around 7th Avenue have developed into an entertainment and club district and a variety of restaurants and new professional business have sprouted. Many of Ybor City’s once derelict buildings are now on the National Register of Historic Places
Like Cubans, but legal
And in a few, tobacco leaves are still being lovingly rolled into expensive cigars.
