Ybor City is Tampa's historic Latin quarter, founded in 1885 by cigar manufacturer Vicente Martinez-Ybor. For decades it was the cigar capital of the world, home to Cuban, Spanish, Italian, and Jewish immigrant communities who rolled cigars by hand in massive brick factories. At its peak the neighbourhood produced over 700 million cigars a year.
The cigar industry declined after the 1930s and Ybor City fell into disrepair, but the old factory buildings and wrought-iron balconies survived. Since the 1990s the neighbourhood has been revived as an entertainment district — 7th Avenue (La Sétima) is the main strip, lined with restaurants, bars, and clubs. The architecture is the real draw: ornate brickwork, tile-roofed casitas, and the kind of faded grandeur that most Florida cities bulldozed long ago.
The Ybor City Museum State Park on 9th Avenue tells the cigar-making story well, and the J.C. Newman Cigar Factory is the last working cigar maker in town. On weekday mornings the neighbourhood is quiet and walkable; on weekend nights it transforms into one of Tampa's liveliest nightlife districts.