Strolling La Septima (7th Avenue) in Ybor City, you will no doubt encounter many different kinds of people. All of them are friendly & more then willing to sit down with you and chat a bit. During our visit to Ybor, we met with some of these great folks & we would like to tell you about them.
We parked in the public parking structure on 15th Street, just off La Septima. As we walked towards La Septima, we didn’t know what to expect. The main business district is distinct from any other in Florida, and really has a more New Orleans feel, but smaller and friendlier. No one walked up to us and asked,”Betcha I know where you got dem shoes…” (This is a scam in New Orleans, with the answer always being “On your feet on Bourbon Street” before they pressure you to pay up on the bet you didn’t know you were making.) No, Ybor City is charming, pretty and friendly. We walked down a bit on La Septima, and encountered the first cigar shop, La Faraona, and Bob the self-proclaimed ambassador of Ybor City. 
Bob is more then happy to sit down & chat awhile. As the self-proclaimed ambassador, he feels the need to tell you all about his city, it’s history, and what he feels are the highlights of the town. Bob offers walking tours of Ybor City, but he still loves to sit down & talk about his city.
In our other article in this issue we talk about La Faraona. A recent immigrant from Cuba, she and her family run a small cigar rolling shop, as well as selling cigar memorabilia from Cuba directly, specialty cigars and accessories. Her shop is filled with lots of great items that would fill out any cigar lover’s man cave. There are photographs, drawings, sculptures, and of course, cigars. Her specialty blends & unique custom vitolas are worth seeking out. They are Spanish speaking, with some broken English, so have your Android or iPhone set to translate. The shop is located at 1517 East 7th Avenue, just off 15th Street.
As you continue down La Septima, you’ll encounter many great shops & restaurants. There are Mexican, Cuban or Italian places to eat. There is also the old Central Español social club that is now a part of Ybor Centro, a bustling entertainment & eatery area in the center of the business district. Here you can find small shops with trinkets, fro-yo shops, clothing retailers and the movie theater. This bi-level central area is a great place to meet up with friends. Just tell them to meet you at the statue of Señor Ybor. You literally can’t miss it.
One of the interesting things I liked about Ybor City were the sidewalks themselves. They were a lovely hexigon pattern on the main sidewalk, with brick inlay-ed arches on the sides. The inlays all had quotes from books that the factory lectors would read to the torcedores while they rolled cigars. Rolling cigars is a bit of a monotonous job, so to keep their minds occupied while performing the work, the tabaqueros would all chip in to pay a lector to read to them while they worked. The lector would sit up high over the factory floor, reading from a selection of current events or novels. Each morning, he would start out reading the newspaper, then move in the late morning to whatever novel was current. Many of the tabaqueros were illiterate, but because of the lector system, they were well versed in the current events of the day & knew all the great works of fiction. In one of the famous movies of the 1920’s about Ybor City, “Anna in the Tropics“, the lector is reading Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” to the factory workers.
Continuing further down La Septima, we run into the Tabalero factory. Here the rollers are busy creating cigars. The floor supervisor was kind enough to spend some time with us, telling us about his brand and what they are all about. He allowed me to wonder around & take lots of great pictures of his workers & the tools that they use to create a hand rolled cigar.
One of the things I found most charming about Ybor City is the architecture. The buildings are mostly from 1900 – 1920, and many have protection under the Historical Society. Preserving the beauty of these structures is vital to our understanding of history, making the past come alive for us. I enjoyed our trip to Ybor City, and I would highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in cigars, history, or nightlife. It’s a great place with amazing quirky individuals who love where they live & work, as well as what they do. That is rare today.