Ybor City

Vicente Martinez-Ybor moved his cigar operation here from Key West in 1885 and the district that grew around it was built by Cuban, Spanish, Italian and later Jewish workers, at one point producing hundreds of millions of hand-rolled cigars a year. The custom that defines the place is the lector: workers pooled wages to pay a reader who sat on a platform and read newspapers and novels aloud all day over the rolling benches, which made the floors unusually well-informed. Mutual aid societies built substantial social clubs, several still standing. The Cuban sandwich is claimed here, with a layer of salami reflecting the Italian presence.

Highlights

• Brick cigar factories - from the boom after 1885.
• The lector tradition - readers paid by the workers themselves.
• Mutual aid society clubhouses - several still standing.
• The Cuban sandwich claim - with salami, unlike the Miami version.

When to go

October to May; summer is hot and stormy. Half a day.

Good to know

The district is largely bars and nightlife now and can be rowdy after dark. Much of the industrial fabric is gone. Summer heat is heavy. The museum is small.

Nearby

Downtown Tampa is west by streetcar; Busch Gardens is north.

Key facts