In 1886, as soon as Henry Plant's ships had ensured a regular supply of Havana tobacco into Tampa, cigar magnate Don Vincente Martinez Ybor cleared a patch of scrubland three miles northeast of present-day downtown Tampa and laid the foundations of YBOR CITY . About twenty thousand migrants, mostly Cuban, settled here and created a Latin American enclave, producing the top-class, hand-rolled cigars that made Tampa the " Cigar Capital of the World ." However, mass-production, the popularity of cigarettes and the Depression proved a fatal combination for skilled cigar-makers: as unemployment struck, Ybor City's tight-knit blocks of cobbled streets and redbrick buildings became surrounded by drab, low-rent neighborhoods.

Today, Ybor City is in the midst of a revival; it buzzes with tourists and at night the atmosphere reaches carnival proportions, especially on weekends. It is trendy and culturally diverse, yet the city's Cuban roots are immediately apparent and explanatory background texts adorn many buildings. The Ybor City State Museum , 1818 Ninth Ave (Tues-Sat 9am-5pm; $2; tel 813/247-6323, ), helps you grasp the main points of Ybor City's creation and its multiethnic makeup. The museum also offers cigar-rolling demonstrations on Friday and Saturday from 10am to 1pm, historic walking tours (Fri 11am) and walking ghost tours of Ybor City (Sat 10.30am; $4). The old cigar-rolling factory is now converted into shops, restaurants and bars as Ybor Square Mall , between 13th and 14th streets and Eighth and Ninth avenues. Standing on the factory's steps in 1893, the Cuban poet and independence fighter José Martí called for "money, machetes and manpower" for the country's anti-Spanish struggles. Expatriate cigar workers responded by contributing ten percent of their earnings.

Ybor City

• Ybor City

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