Editing Ybor City

{{Short description|Neighborhood in Hillsborough County, Florida, US}}
{{redirect|Ybor|the cigar manufacturer after whom Ybor City is named|Vicente Martinez Ybor}}
{{Infobox settlement
| official_name                   = Ybor City
| settlement_type                 = [[Neighborhood]]
| image_skyline                   = Centro Ybor, Ybor City, Tampa, Florida.jpg
| image_caption                   = Centro Ybor complex with a TECO Line car passing in front
| nickname                        = [[Florida|Florida's]] [[Latin Quarter]]
| pushpin_map                     = USA Florida
| coordinates                     = {{coord|27|57|41|N|82|26|42|W|region:US-FL|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type                = [[Countries of the world|Country]]
| subdivision_name                = United States
| subdivision_type1               = [[U.S. state|State]]
| subdivision_type2               = [[List of counties in Florida|County]]
| subdivision_type3               = [[City]]
| subdivision_name1               = [[Florida]]
| subdivision_name2               = [[Hillsborough County, Florida|Hillsborough]]
| subdivision_name3               = [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]]
| established_title               = Founded
| established_date                = 1885
| established_title2              = Incorporation into Tampa
| established_date2               = 1887
| website                         = https://www.yborcityonline.com/
| footnotes                       = 
| timezone                        = [[Eastern Time Zone (North America)|EST]]
| utc_offset                      = -5
| timezone_DST                    = [[Eastern Daylight Time|EDT]]
| utc_offset_DST                  = -4
| name                            = 
| image_flag                      = Flag of Ybor City.svg
| flag_border                     = no
}}

'''Ybor City''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|iː|b|ɔr}} {{respell|EE|bor}})<ref>{{cite web|title=Ybor City |url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Ybor-City|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921210602/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Ybor-City|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 21, 2013|work=Oxford Dictionaries |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |access-date=October 28, 2015}}</ref> is a historic neighborhood just northeast of [[downtown Tampa|downtown]] [[Tampa, Florida]], United States. It was founded in the 1880s by [[Vicente Martinez-Ybor]] and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly from [[Cuba]], [[Spain]], and [[Italy]]. For the next 50 years, workers in Ybor City's cigar factories rolled hundreds of millions of cigars annually.

The neighborhood had features unusual among contemporary communities in the south, most notably its multiethnic and multiracial population and their many [[mutual aid societies]]. The cigar industry employed thousands of well-paid workers, helping Tampa grow from an economically depressed village to a bustling city in about 20 years and giving it the nickname "Cigar City".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/51ybor/51facts1.htm |title=Determining the Facts: The History of Ybor City |publisher=nps.gov |access-date=2015-10-28}}</ref>

Ybor City grew and flourished from the 1890s until the [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s, when a drop in demand for fine cigars reduced the number of cigar factories and [[mechanization]] in the cigar industry greatly reduced employment opportunities in the neighborhood. This process accelerated after [[World War II]], and a steady exodus of residents and businesses continued until large areas of the formerly vibrant neighborhood were virtually abandoned by the late 1970s. Attempts at redevelopment failed until the 1980s, when an influx of artists began a slow process of [[gentrification]]. In the 1990s and early 2000s, a portion of the original neighborhood around 7th Avenue developed into a nightclub and entertainment district, and many old buildings were renovated for new uses. Since then, the area's economy has diversified with more offices and residences, and the population has shown notable growth for the first time in over half a century.

Ybor City has been designated as a [[National Historic Landmark]] [[Historic district (United States)|District]], and [[List of Registered Historic Places in Hillsborough County, Florida|several structures]] in the area are listed in the [[National Register of Historic Places]]. In 2008, 7th Avenue, Ybor City's main commercial thoroughfare, was recognized as one of the "10 Great Streets in America" by the [[American Planning Association]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2008/10/06/daily28.html |title=Historical 7th Avenue in Ybor City recognized |work=Tampa Bay Business Journal |date=2008-10-08 |access-date=2008-12-26}}</ref> In 2010 [[Columbia Restaurant]], which is Florida's oldest restaurant, was named a "Top 50 All-American icon" by ''[[Nation's Restaurant News]]'' magazine.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationsrestaurantnews-digital.com/nationsrestaurantnews/20100125/?pg=3#pg5 |title= Nation's Restaurant News - January 25, 2010 - (Page 3)|website=www.nationsrestaurantnews-digital.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100203180053/http://www.nationsrestaurantnews-digital.com/nationsrestaurantnews/20100125/?pg=3 |archive-date=2010-02-03}}</ref>

==History==
{{Main|History of Ybor City}}
{{See also| History of Tampa, Florida}}
[[Image:Tampa Ybor Factory01.jpg|thumb|[[Vicente Martinez Ybor|Ybor's]] first cigar factory]]
[[File:Old cigar factory.jpg|thumb|Old cigar factory in Ybor City]]
[[File:Florida Brewing building.jpg|thumb|Florida Brewing building in Ybor City]]
[[File:Arturo Fuente Sign.jpg|thumb|Arturo Fuente Sign in Ybor City]]

===Establishment===
In the early 1880s, Tampa was an isolated village with a population of less than 1000 and a struggling economy.<ref>Mormino&Pizzo, Ch. 9</ref> However, its combination of a good port, [[Henry Plant|Henry Plant's]] new railroad line, and humid climate attracted the attention of [[Vicente Martinez Ybor]], a prominent Spanish [[cigar]] manufacturer.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://yborcityonline.com/explore/ybor-cigars/|title=Cigar Heritage|publisher=Yborcityonline.com|access-date=2015-10-28}}</ref>

Ybor had moved his cigar-making operation from [[Cuba]] to [[Key West, Florida]], in 1869, due to political turmoil in the then-Spanish colony. But, labor unrest and the lack of room for expansion had him looking for another base of operations, preferably in his own [[company town]].<ref name="ybormuseum.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.ybormuseum.org/research/ybor-city.html |title=Research &#124; Ybor City Museum |publisher=Ybormuseum.org |access-date=2008-12-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209064200/http://www.ybormuseum.org/research/ybor-city.html |archive-date=December 9, 2008 }}</ref>

[[File:Jose Marti in Ybor City.jpg|thumb|left|[[José Martí]] and cigar workers on the steps of [[Ybor Factory Building|V.M. Ybor's factory]], 1893]]

Ybor considered several communities in the southern United States and decided that an area of sandy scrubland just northeast of Tampa would be the best location. In 1885, the Tampa Board of Trade helped broker an initial purchase of {{convert|40|acre|m2}} of land, and Ybor quickly bought more.<ref name="ybormuseum.org"/> However, Ybor City very nearly didn't happen at all. Vicente Ybor initially failed to come to an agreement with the owner of the 40 acre parcel. The Tampa Board of Trade was horrified to find that the purchase had failed and hatched a plan to get the buyer and seller back together. Vicente Ybor was sitting in the train station on his way to Jacksonville to look at more property when the Board of Trade (a group of five, one of whom was Frederick Salomonson, future 3-time mayor of Tampa) arrived and persuaded Ybor to reconsider and the deal went forward from there, the birth of Ybor City.

Cigar making was a specialized trade, and Tampa did not possess a workforce able to man the new factories. To attract employees, Ybor built hundreds of small houses for the coming influx of mainly [[Cubans|Cuban]] and [[Spanish people|Spanish]] cigar workers, many of whom followed him from Key West and Cuba. Other cigar manufacturers, drawn by incentives provided by Ybor to further increase the labor pool, also moved in, quickly making Tampa a major cigar production center.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.floridastateparks.org/yborcity/ParkSummary.cfm |title=Park Summary for Print - Ybor City Museum State Park |publisher=Florida State Parks |date=2003-12-05 |access-date=2010-01-18}}</ref>

Italians were also among the early settlers of Ybor City. Most of them came from a few villages in southwestern Sicily. The villages were [[Santo Stefano Quisquina]],<ref>Gary R. Mormino and George E. Possetta, ''The Immigrant World of Ybor City, Italians and Their Neighbors in Tampa, 1885-1985'' (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1998), 9.</ref> [[Alessandria della Rocca]], [[Bivona]], [[Cianciana]], and [[Contessa Entellina]].<ref>Frank Trebín Lastra, ''Ybor City, The Making of A Landmark Town'' (Tampa, Florida: University of Tampa Press, 2006), 64.</ref> Sixty percent of them came from Santo Stefano Quisquina.<ref>Mormino and Possetta, ''The Immigrant World of Ybor City'', 9.</ref> Before settling in Ybor City, many first worked in the sugar cane plantations in St. Cloud, central Florida. Some came by way of Louisiana.<ref>Lasta, ''Ybor City'', 64, 74, 73.</ref> A number of families migrated from New Orleans after the lynching of eleven Italians in 1891 during the "Mafia Riot".<ref name="ReferenceA">Mormino and Possetta, ''The Immigrant World of Ybor City'', 82.</ref> Italians mostly brought their entire families with them, unlike other immigrants.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The foreign-born Italian population of Tampa grew from 56 in 1890 to 2,684 in 1940.<ref name="ReferenceB">Mormino and Possetta, ''The Immigrant World of Ybor City'', 55.</ref> Once arriving in Ybor City, Italians settled mainly in the eastern and southern fringes of the city. The area was referred to as La Pachata, after a Cuban rent collector in that area. It was also called "Little Italy".<ref name="ReferenceB"/>

Unlike Cubans and Spaniards, the Italians arrived in the cigar town without cigar-making skills. When the early Italians entered the factories, it was at the bottom of the ladder, positions which did not involve handling tobacco. Working beside unskilled Cubans, mainly Afro-Cubans, they swept and hauled and were porters and doorkeepers. In time, many did become cigar workers, including Italian women. The majority of the Italian women worked as cigar strippers in 1900, an undesirable position mainly held by women who could find nothing else. However, eventually many of them became skilled cigar makers, earning more than the male Italian cigar makers. Other Italian immigrants started small businesses built around the cigar industry, such as cafés, food stores, restaurants, and boardinghouses.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>

The least known of the immigrants that came to Ybor City are the Germans,<ref>Mormino and Possetta, ''The Immigrant World of Ybor City'', 99, 101, 106, 86.</ref> the Romanian Jews, and the Chinese. The Chinese and Jews were employed mainly in service trades and retail businesses.<ref>[https://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/51ybor/51ybor.htm "Ybor City: Cigar Capital of the World"]. National Park Service: accessed December 29, 2016.</ref> The Germans arrived after the 1890s, and most were businessmen. In the cigar factories, they worked as managers, bookkeepers, and supervisors. Cigar boxes were made by German-owned factories. Several early cigar box labels were made by German lithographers. The Germans formed their own club, the Deutsch Amerikanischer Verein. The club building is still standing on [https://www.google.com/maps/@27.9633723,-82.451253,3a,65.9y,52.57h,95.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1skltN9l9nfEjvSPnjEY6ZYQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 Nebraska and 11th Avenue]. It contained a restaurant open to the public that served German food. In 1919, because of anti-German feelings from World War I, they sold the building to the Young Men's Hebrew Association. The building is now used as offices for the City of Tampa.<ref>Lasta, ''Ybor City'', 85–88.</ref>

In 1887, Tampa annexed the neighborhood. By 1900, the rough frontier settlement of wooden buildings and sandy streets had been transformed into a bustling town with brick buildings and streets, a streetcar line, and many social and cultural opportunities. Largely due to the growth of Ybor City, Tampa's population had jumped to almost 16,000.<ref>Mormino&Pizzo, p. 130</ref>

[[Image:Ybor Cigar workers.jpg|thumb|left|Inside an Ybor City cigar factory ca. 1920]]

===The Golden Age===
Ybor City grew and prospered during the first decades of the 20th century. Thousands of residents built a community that combined Cuban, Spanish, Italian, and Jewish culture. "Ybor City is Tampa's Spanish India," observed a visitor to the area, "What a colorful, screaming, shrill, and turbulent world."<ref>Mormino&Pizzo, p. 96</ref> [[Image:Tampa Circulo Cubano01.jpg|thumb|[[Circulo Cubano de Tampa]], one of Ybor City's social clubs]]
[[File:YborCity-03283.jpg|thumb|One of the many roosters roaming free in Ybor City, 2019]]


An aspect of life were the mutual aid societies built and sustained mainly by ordinary citizens. These clubs were founded in Ybor's early days (the first was the [[El Centro Espanol de Tampa|Centro Español]], established in 1891) and were run on dues collected from their members, usually 5% of a member's salary. In exchange, members and their whole family received services including free libraries, educational programs, sports teams, restaurants, numerous social functions like dances and picnics, and free medical services. Beyond the services, these clubs served as extended families and communal gathering places for generations of Ybor's citizens.

There were clubs for each ethnic division in the community – the [[German-American Club of Tampa|Deutscher-Americaner Club]] (for German and eastern Europeans), L'Unione Italiana (for Italians), [[Circulo Cubano de Tampa|El Circulo Cubano]] (for light-skinned Cubans), [[La Union Marti-Maceo]] (for Afro-Cubans), El Centro Español (for Spaniards), and the largest, [[Centro Asturiano de Tampa|El Centro Asturiano]], which accepted members from any ethnic group<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2008/06/09/story1.html |title=Ybor City's cultural clubs, icons of heritage in peril - Tampa Bay Business Journal |publisher=Bizjournals.com |date=2008-06-06 |access-date=2008-12-26 |first=Larry |last=Halstead}}</ref>

Though there was little overt racism inside the diverse neighborhood, Florida's [[Jim Crow laws]] forbade [[Afro-Cubans]] from belonging to the same social organization as their more European-looking countrymen. Sometimes differences in skin color within the same family made joining the same Cuban club impossible.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/africanamerican/mirabal.html |title=The Afro-Cuban Community in Ybor City and Tampa, 1886-1910 &#124; Nancy Raquel Mirabel &#124; OAH Magazine of History |publisher=Oah.org |access-date=2008-12-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080630214406/http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/africanamerican/mirabal.html |archive-date=2008-06-30 }}</ref> In general, the rivalries between all the clubs were friendly, and families were known to switch affiliations depending on which one offered preferred services and events.

[[File:Cuban Club Ybor.jpg|thumb|Cuban Club in Ybor City]]

Cigar production reached its peak in 1929, when 500 million cigars were rolled in the factories of Ybor City.<ref name="Lastra">Lastra</ref> Not coincidentally, that was also the year that the [[Great Depression]] began.

During the 1920s, organized crime families thrived in both Tampa and Ybor. Aside from bootlegging, the Ybor mafia ran numerous numbers rackets, called [[bolita]]. By 1927, there were over 300 bolita houses in Ybor City.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Deitche |first1=Scott M. |title=Cigar City mafia : a complete history of the Tampa underworld |date=2004 |publisher=Barricade Books Inc. |location=Fort Lee, N.J. |isbn=9781569802878 |pages=20–23}}</ref>

===Decline and rebirth===
{{See also|Tampa cigar makers' strike of 1931|label 1=1931 Ybor cigar makers' strike}}
The Depression was a major blow to cigar manufacturers. Worldwide demand plummeted as consumers sought to cut costs by switching to less-expensive cigarettes, and factories responded by laying off workers or shutting down. This trend continued throughout the 1930s as the remaining cigar factories gradually switched from traditional hand-rolled manufacturing to cheaper mechanized methods, further reducing the number of jobs and the salaries paid to workers.<ref name="nps.gov">{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/51ybor/51facts1.htm |title=Ybor City: Cigar Capital of the World-Reading 1 |publisher=Nps.gov |access-date=2008-12-26}}</ref>

After [[World War II]], many returning veterans chose to leave Ybor City due to a lack of well-paying jobs and a US [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs|Veterans Administration]] home loan program that was only applicable to new homes, of which there were few in the neighborhood. In fact, the home stock was aging poorly, as many of the structures built in the early days of Ybor City were still in use.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://southtampa2.tbo.com/content/2008/aug/31/tr-cigar-city/ |title=Cigar City |publisher=Southtampa2.tbo.com |date=2008-08-31 |access-date=2008-12-26}}</ref>

As the historic neighborhood continued to empty out and deteriorate through the 1950s and 1960s, the federal [[Urban Renewal]] program sought to revitalize the area by demolishing older structures and encouraging new residential and commercial development. The demolition took place, but due to a lack of funds, the redevelopment did not happen. The primary legacy of the program was blocks of vacant lots which remained empty for decades. The construction of [[Interstate 4]] through the center of the neighborhood during this period also resulted in the destruction of many buildings and cut most of the north–south routes through the area.<ref name="nps.gov"/>

By the early 1970s, very few businesses and residents remained, most notably the [[Columbia Restaurant]] and a few other businesses along 7th Avenue.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/legacies/FL/200002851.html |title=Florida: Ybor City Historical Site (Local Legacies: Celebrating Community Roots - Library of Congress) |publisher=Lcweb2.loc.gov |access-date=2008-12-26}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200" heights="200" mode="nolines">
File:7th Ave Sign.jpg|7th Ave Sign in Ybor City
File:Colorful 7th Ave.jpg|7th Ave Ybor City
File:Traffic.jpg|Traffic in Ybor City
File:YborAug2008CentroYborA.jpg|Centro Ybor, a restored shopping area on 7th Ave
File:The Italian Club of Tampa.jpg|alt=|The Italian Club of Tampa - 2014
File:Ybor City Food Mart.jpg|alt=|Ybor City Food Mart - 2014
File:JC NEWMAN DOOR bbbb 3242.jpg|The J.C. Newman cigar factory - 2023
</gallery>

====Recovery====
[[Image:YborCityAug20087thAvBerniniBricks.jpg|thumb|left|Businesses on 7th Avenue]]
In the early 1980s, an influx of artists seeking interesting and inexpensive studio quarters started a slow recovery, followed by a period of commercial
[[gentrification]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jackboulware.com/writing/cigar-overdose-in-ybor-city/ |title=Jack Boulware " Archive " Cigar Overdose in Ybor City |date=31 January 2007 |publisher=Jackboulware.com |access-date=2008-12-26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite video
  | people = Jamison, Gayla (Producer, Director, Writer)
  | title = Living in America: 100 Years of Ybor City
  | medium = video documentary
  | publisher = Lightfoot Films, Inc.
  | location = Tampa, Fl
  | date = 1987}}</ref> By the early 1990s, many of the old long-empty brick buildings on 7th Avenue had been  converted into bars, restaurants, nightclubs, and other nightlife attractions.<ref>[http://ybor.tbo.com/ybor/seizing.htm Seizing The Day] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414221829/http://ybor.tbo.com/ybor/seizing.htm |date=2008-04-14 }}, ''The Tampa Tribune'', March 27, 2005.</ref>  Traffic grew so much that the city built parking garages and closed 7th Ave. to traffic to deal with the visitors.
[[File:Cigar making with a hand operated 1930s machine.jpg|thumb|As of 2023, the JC Newman company continued to manufacture cigars, using 1930s machines]]
[[File:Cigar making display, Ybor City Museum State Park, Tampa, Florida.jpg|thumb|Cigar making display, Ybor City Museum State Park]]
Since around 2000, the city of Tampa and the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce have encouraged a broader emphasis in development. With financial help from the city, Centro Ybor, a family-oriented shopping complex and movie theater, opened in the former home of the Centro Español social club. [[Florida Brewing Company building|The Florida Brewing Company building]] was restored into a commercial building in 2001.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Our History|url=https://www.swoperodante.com/our-firm/our-history/|access-date=2020-09-22|website=Swope, Rodante P.A.|language=en-US}}</ref>  New apartments, condominiums and a hotel have been built on long-vacant lots, and old buildings have been restored and converted into residences and hotels. New residents began moving into Ybor City for the first time in many years.<ref name="theplanningcommission.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.theplanningcommission.org/tampa/tampaplanningprojects/Eco-Dev/ybor-market/Ybor%20City%20Economic%20Market%20Analysis.pdf |title=Executive Summary |access-date=2008-12-26}}</ref> The blocks surrounding 7th Avenue also thrive with restaurants, nightlife and shopping.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/agora-ybor-shop-offers-imports/1038633 |title=Agora Ybor shop offers imports - St. Petersburg Times |website=www.tampabay.com |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090930222509/http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/agora-ybor-shop-offers-imports/1038633 |archive-date=30 September 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Price|first=Cindy|title=36 Hours in Tampa, Fla.|url=http://travel.nytimes.com/2005/12/09/travel/escapes/09hour.html?fta=y&_r=0|newspaper=New York Times|date=December 9, 2005}}</ref> Reflecting the district's status as a party destination, Ybor City is referenced extensively in the lyrics of Brooklyn-based rock band [[The Hold Steady]]. The song "Killer Parties", for instance, contains the line "Ybor City is très [[amphetamine|speed]]y, but they throw such killer parties."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120531075338/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2007/11/the_atoz_hold_steady_glossary_1.html The A-to-Z Hold Steady Glossary] from the [[Washington Post]]</ref> In May 2009 [[Sweden|Swedish]] super-retailer [[IKEA]] opened its long-awaited Tampa location in the southern edge of Ybor City.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/mar/05/ikea-open-tampa-store-may/news-metro/ |title=Ikea To Open Ybor City Store In May |publisher=.tbo.com |date=2009-03-05 |access-date=2010-01-18}}</ref>

The local museum is the [[Ybor City Museum State Park]] in the former Ferlita Bakery building (originally La Joven Francesca) building on 9th Avenue. Tours of the gardens and the "casitas" (small homes of cigar company workers) are provided by a ranger. Exhibits, period photos and a video cover the founding of Ybor City and the cigar making industry.<ref>[http://www.ybormuseum.org/visit-the-museum Visit the Museum]</ref>

==Boundaries==
Historically, the boundaries of "Greater Ybor City" stretched from [[Tampa Bay]] on the south to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. (formerly Buffalo Avenue) on the north, and from Nebraska Avenue on the west to 40th Street on the east.<ref name="Lastra"/> This eventually included all of today's neighborhoods of Historic Ybor, [[East Ybor, Tampa, Florida|East Ybor]], [[V.M. Ybor, Tampa, Florida|VM Ybor]], and Ybor Heights plus a portion of [[East Tampa, Tampa, Florida|East Tampa]]. The [[Ybor City Historic District]] encompasses the central portion of that area, approximately straddling [[Interstate 4]], which bisected the neighborhood in the 1960s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tampagov.net/dept_Historic_Preservation/files/maps/yborhist_exp_12-10-01ri.pdf |title=K:\GMDS Historic Preservation\HPC Functions\A AutoCAD Historic District Maps\Original Maps\Current District Maps\yborhist_exp 1 |access-date=2008-12-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612065319/http://www.tampagov.net/dept_Historic_Preservation/files/maps/yborhist_exp_12-10-01ri.pdf |archive-date=2010-06-12 }}</ref>

The official boundaries of the Historic Ybor neighborhood are I-4 to the north, 22nd Street to the east, [[Florida State Road 60|Adamo Drive]] to the south, and Nebraska Avenue to the west.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tampa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=6beaab9a78ef4d619f3aac98cc3dba6d |title=Tampa Neighborhoods|publisher=The City of Tampa / tampagov.net |access-date=2019-10-23}}</ref> The area of this district is about 1 square mile (about 2.6&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>). Though modern Ybor City also includes some of the surrounding area, its exact dimensions are loosely defined and subject to debate.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sptimes.com/2008/01/11/Citytimes/Not_in_Ybor_City.shtml |title=Citytimes: Not in Ybor City |publisher=Sptimes.com |access-date=2008-12-26}}</ref>

==Population==
At the height of its life as a thriving immigrant community, Ybor City's population was numbered in the tens of thousands. In the lowest point in the late 1970s, perhaps 1000 residents called the neighborhood home.<ref name="Lastra"/>

In recent years, the numbers have begun to climb once more. Ybor City's population grew an estimated 42.5% between 2000 and 2003, mainly as a result of new condominium and apartment construction. As of 2003, approximately 2,900 residents lived in the area.<ref name="theplanningcommission.org"/>

==Economy and land use==
Ybor City is one of the oldest sections of Tampa and is almost entirely an urban, [[mixed-use development|built-up]] area. Commercial property comprises almost 50% of the land, institutional use (including the [[Hillsborough County, Florida Sheriff's Office|Hillsborough County Sheriff's Operations Center]] and a satellite campus of [[Hillsborough Community College]]) 16%, residential use about 23%, and industrial use about 7%  <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tampagov.net/appl_neighborhoods/default.aspx?export=pdf&section=landuse&id=35 |title=Archived copy |website=www.tampagov.net |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223195932/http://www.tampagov.net/appl_neighborhoods/default.aspx?export=pdf&section=landuse&id=35 |archive-date=23 February 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to a 2003 survey, the top five business types in the area were professional services (22.8%), retail (18.4%), manufacturing (14.0%), wholesale/distribution (13.2%), and restaurants & bars (11.4%).<ref name="theplanningcommission.org"/>

==Transportation==
[[File:Interior of a historic streetcar, Ybor City, Tampa, Florida.jpg|thumb|Interior of a TECO streetcar]]
For the most part, Ybor City still uses the [[grid plan|gridded street system]] laid out by Gavino Guiterrez in 1885. Many roadways are now paved with modern materials, though a few [[brick]] streets remain.

Because 21st and 22nd Streets, which cut north–south through the area, were once the main traffic routes between [[Interstate 4]] and the [[Port of Tampa Bay]], there was a large volume of [[semi-trailer truck]] traffic funneling through the historic district for many years. This caused damage to narrow city roads, was a danger to pedestrians, and sometimes resulted in trucks colliding with historic buildings.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/roads/ybor-city-hopes-connector-will-ease-traffic-woes/983097 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606152659/http://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/roads/ybor-city-hopes-connector-will-ease-traffic-woes/983097 |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 6, 2011 |title=Ybor City hopes connector will ease traffic woes - St. Petersburg Times |publisher=Tampabay.com |access-date=2010-01-18}}</ref> In 2014, the elevated [[I-4/Selmon Expressway Connector]] was built to siphon heavy truck traffic away from the historic district.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/roads/article1012106.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606152708/http://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/roads/article1012106.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 6, 2011 |title=I-4 connector work to begin in January |publisher=Tampabay.com |access-date=2010-01-18}}</ref>

[[File:Streetcar 431 at Centro Ybor, July 2013.jpg|thumb|Trolley in Ybor City]]
The [[TECO Line Streetcar]], which links Ybor City, the [[Channel District, Tampa, Florida|Channelside District]] and [[Downtown Tampa]], began operating in October 2002. The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority ([[HARTline]]) operates the [[streetcar]]s as well as the bus system. Small startups have also begun utilizing [[Neighborhood Electric Vehicle|NEVs]] to shuttle passengers between Tampa's core neighborhoods including Ybor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/apr/07/agency-discuss-regulating-golf-cart--vehicles/ |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-07-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121209021801/http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/apr/07/agency-discuss-regulating-golf-cart--vehicles/ |archive-date=2012-12-09 }}</ref>

==Museums==
*Cigar Museum And Visitor Center, Ybor City
*[[Ybor City Museum State Park]]
*TECO Line Streetcar Museum
*Tampa Baseball Museum

==Annual events==
*[[Sant'Yago Knight Parade]] (sometimes known as Gasparilla Night Parade) - usually held two weeks after the [[Gasparilla Pirate Festival]] in mid to late February
*[[Guavaween]] - daytime events and nighttime parade in October, named for Tampa's "[[The Big Guava]]" nickname
*Historic Ybor City's Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony - began in 2010 and held each year in November<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thatssotampa.com/ybor-city-tree-lighting-ceremony-planned-for-november/amp/|title=Ybor City Tree Lighting Ceremony planned for November|website=thatssotampa.com|first=Andrew|last=Harlan|date=October 27, 2020|access-date=November 9, 2020}}</ref>

==Notable people==
[[File:Estatua de Jose Marti en Ybor City.jpg|thumb|250px|Monument to José Martí in Ybor City]]
*[[Braulio Alonso]], first [[Hispanic-Americans|Hispanic]] president of the [[National Education Association]]
*[[Dick Greco]], multi-term [[List of mayors of Tampa, Florida|mayor of Tampa]]
*[[Evelio Grillo]], writer and community organizer
*[[Marcelino Huerta]], [[College Football Hall of Fame]] coach
*[[KJ-52]], influential Christian hip-hop artist, whose debut album was named [[7th Avenue (album)|7th Avenue]] after Ybor City's main commercial street
*[[Joe Lala]], musician and actor
*[[Victor Licata]], [[axe murder]]er whose 1933 killings influenced the idea that [[Reefer Madness|marijuana causes criminal insanity]]
*[[Al López]], first Tampa native to play [[Major League Baseball]], manage a major league team, and be inducted into the [[Baseball Hall of Fame]]
*[[Baldomero Lopez]], [[Medal of Honor]] recipient during the [[Korean War]]
*[[Nick Nuccio]], first [[Italian-Americans|Italian]] [[List of mayors of Tampa, Florida|mayor of Tampa]]
*[[Ferdie Pacheco]], [[boxing]] personality, artist, and author
*[[Frank Ragano]], "mob lawyer", author
*[[Trafficante crime family|Santo Trafficante Sr. and Jr.]], alleged [[American Mafia|Mafia]] bosses
*[[Jose Yglesias]], author
*[[Cesar Gonzmart]] concert violinist and entertainer, Spanish "nobleman" and energetic chairman of the $42 million [[Columbia Restaurant]] Group

==In popular culture==
===Music===
*[[Jason Isbell]] references Ybor City in the song "Traveling Alone" from the album [[Southeastern (album)|Southeastern]] released in 2013.
*[[The Hold Steady]] also reference Ybor City in several of their songs. Some examples are "Killer Parties", "Slapped Actress", "The Cattle And The Creeping Things" and "Most People are DJs".
*[[MOFRO|JJ Grey & MOFRO]] references Ybor City in a song of that title on their album [[Orange Blossoms (album)|Orange Blossoms]].

===Literature===
*Ybor City natives [[Jose Yglesias]] and [[Ferdie Pacheco]] have each written several books and stories set in their hometown. Most notably, Yglesias' debut novel is entitled ''A Wake in Ybor City'', while Pacheco's memoir of his early life is called ''Ybor City Chronicles''.
*''[[Anna in the Tropics]]'', the winner of the 2003 [[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]] written by [[Nilo Cruz]], is set in the cigar factories of Ybor City.
*Ybor City and Tampa are prominently featured in the novels ''Live by Night'' and its sequel ''World Gone By'' by [[Dennis Lehane]].
*Ybor City and the greater Tampa Bay area is the setting for the novel ''Only Dangerous In The Breeding Season'' by John Callaghan.

===Film===
*The 2016 film [[Live by Night (film)|''Live by Night'']] (based on the books of Dennis Lehane) is centered on an Ybor City [[Rum-running|bootlegger]] who becomes a notorious [[gangster]] during [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]]. The [[crime drama]] was written, directed, and co-produced by [[Ben Affleck]], who also played the starring role. Although the movie is almost entirely set in Tampa during the early 1930s, much of it was shot in and around [[Brunswick, Georgia]] due to movie production [[tax incentive]]s offered by the state of Georgia and the town's proximity to Affleck's home. Ybor City-inspired signage and decorations were added to buildings in downtown Brunswick, and several new buildings based on locations in Tampa were constructed on empty lots to add to the "fake Ybor City" setting.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tbo.com/news/politics/filmmaker-affleck-building-ybor-city-in-brunswick-ga-20150928/|title=Fake Ybor City rising in Georgia for Affleck's Prohibition-era film|website=TBO.com|first=Paul|last=Guzzo|date=September 29, 2015|access-date=August 6, 2017|archive-date=March 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330001132/http://www.tbo.com/news/politics/filmmaker-affleck-building-ybor-city-in-brunswick-ga-20150928/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Television===
*In 2016, the [[Ad Council]] and the non-profit Love Has No Labels produced a [[public service announcement]] promoting diversity and inclusion starring [[John Cena]] that used Ybor City as a backdrop for a commercial which premiered on July 4, 2016 to coincide with Pride Month. The PSA promotes the importance of acceptance of all communities, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age and ability.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MdK8hBkR3s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/0MdK8hBkR3s |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=We Are America ft. John Cena, Love Has No Labels, Ad Council|website=YouTube.com|date=July 4, 2016|access-date=July 4, 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Florida}}
*[[Channel District, Tampa, Florida|Channelside]]
*[[Downtown Tampa]]
*[[Hyde Park, Tampa, Florida|Hyde Park]]
*[[Soho, Tampa, Florida|SoHo]]
*[[Tampa Heights (Tampa), Florida|Tampa Heights]], historic neighborhood bordered to the northwest
*[[West Tampa, Florida|West Tampa]], historic district a few miles northwest with similar [[Cubans|Cuban]] roots.
*[[Tampa cigar makers' strike of 1931|Ybor cigar makers' strike of 1931]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===

*{{cite book |author=Tampa Bay History Center |title=Hillsborough's Communities |publisher=Tampa Bay History Center |year=2003 |isbn=1-930148-07-0}}
*{{Cite book| last = Ingalls | first = Robert | title = Tampa Cigar Workers: A Pictorial History | publisher = University Press of Florida | location = Gainesville, Fla. | year = 2003 | isbn = 0-8130-2602-4 }}
*{{cite book | last = Lastra | first = Frank | title = Ybor City: The Making of a Landmark Town | publisher = University of Tampa Press | year = 2006 | isbn = 1-59732-003-X }}
*{{cite book | last = Mormino | first = Gary | title = The Immigrant World of Ybor City | publisher = University Press of Florida | location = Gainesville, Fla. | year = 1998 | isbn = 0-8130-1630-4 }}
*{{cite book|last=Mormino|first=Gary|author2=Tony Pizzo|title=Tampa The Treasure City|year=1983|publisher=Continental Heritage Press|location=Tulsa, OK|isbn=0-932986-38-2|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/tampatreasurecit0000morm}}
*{{cite book | last= Muniz |first=Jose Rivero |others= translated by E. Fernandez and H. Beltran|title= The Ybor City Story: 1885-1954|orig-year= 1954|date=1976| publisher= private printing }}
*{{Cite book| last = Pacheco | first = Ferdie | author-link= Ferdie Pacheco | title = Ybor City Chronicles | publisher = University Press of Florida | location = Gainesville, Fla. | year = 1994 | isbn = 0-8130-1296-1 }}
*{{cite book | last = Westfall | first = Loy G. | title = Tampa Bay: Cradle of Cuban Liberty | publisher = Key West Cigar City USA | year = 2000 | isbn = 978-0966894820 }}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ybor City, Tampa}}
*[http://usflibrary.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapTour/index.html?appid=910e745d44e24430a4aa290816d74fd4&webmap=d9f7855c635d4bda9f32b1f9ec3c0ecc Burgert Brothers Ybor Collection] An interactive map of Ybor City where historic photos were taken by the Burgert Brothers.
*[https://yborcityonline.com/ Ybor City Development Corporation]
*[http://www.ybor.org/ Ybor City Chamber of Commerce]
*[http://www.lagacetanewspaper.com/ La Gaceta newspaper]
*[http://www.nps.gov/history/NR/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/51ybor/51ybor.htm ''“Ybor City: Cigar Capital of the World”'', a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan]
*[http://digital.lib.usf.edu/?C61 University of South Florida Libraries: The Columbia Restaurant & Gonzmart Family Collection, 1903-]
*[http://southernspaces.org/2009/preserving-memory-ybor-city-florida "Preserving the Memory of Ybor City, Florida"], ''Southern Spaces'', 22 December 2009.

{{Tampa neighborhoods}}
{{Tampa Bay Area}}
{{Hillsborough County, Florida, Points and Events of Interest}}
{{Ethnic enclaves}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1885 establishments in Florida]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1885]]
[[Category:Neighborhoods in Tampa, Florida]]
[[Category:Cuban-American culture in Tampa, Florida]]
[[Category:Italian-American culture in Tampa, Florida]]
[[Category:Spanish-American culture in Tampa, Florida]]
[[Category:Company towns in Florida]]
[[Category:Spanish communities in the United States]]
[[Category:History of Tampa, Florida]]