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Ybor City Review
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Ybor City 
- Category: Neighborhoods/Streets
- Location: Tampa
Fodor's Review:
Lively Ybor City, Tampa's Latin quarter, is one of only four National Historic Landmark districts in Florida. It has antique-brick streets and wrought-iron balconies. Cubans brought their cigar-making industry to Ybor (pronounced ee-bore) City in 1886, and the smell of cigars -- hand-rolled by Cuban immigrants -- still wafts through the heart of this east Tampa area, along with the strong aroma of roasting coffee. These days the neighborhood is emerging as Tampa's hot spot, as empty cigar factories and historic social clubs are transformed into trendy boutiques, art galleries, restaurants, and nightclubs that are a microcosm of Miami's sizzling South Beach. Take a stroll past the ornately tiled Columbia restaurant and the stores lining 7th Avenue. Guided walking tours of the area ($6) enable you to see artisans hand-roll cigars following time-honored methods. Step back into the past at Centennial Park (8th Ave. and 18th St.), which re-creates a period streetscape and hosts the Fresh Market every Saturday. Ybor City's destination within a destination is the dining and entertainment palace Centro Ybor (1600 E. 7th Ave.). It has shops, trendy bars and restaurants, a 20-screen movie theater, and GameWorks, an interactive playground developed by Steven Spielberg. The Ybor City Museum State Park provides a look at the history of the cigar industry. Admission includes a tour of La Casita, one of the shotgun houses occupied by cigar workers and their families in the late 1890s. 1818 E. 9th Ave., between Nuccio Pkwy. and 22nd St., from 7th to 9th Ave. 813/247-6323. www.ybormuseum.org. $3. Daily 9-5; walking tours Sat. 10:30, $6.
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- A romantic evening Tampa Bay area
0 responses; most recent on 04/29/2006, 10:51 am - Tampa Bay Area
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