Beginning in 1886, immigrants from Spain, Italy, and Cuba fled poverty and warfare to seek new lives in Tampa. The tumultuous cigar industry provided some shocks of its own. Violence, strikes and work stoppages in the cigar factories reminded all how tough things could be on a regular basis. An erratic cycle of feast and famine continued in Ybor City for fifty years. The Cuban sandwich rose in popularity during the 1920s, when electric sandwich presses and toasters became more common. During the Great Depression, the filling sandwiches served as a Latin-flavored equivalent of New Orleans' "Po' Boy."

Mama Rosa couldn’t stand people watching her as she cooked–I guess she had to be totally alone in order to concentrate on her creation.

Legend has it when Sammy and Andrew were born, they came out singing and they haven't stopped since. Their last name, "Arena", should have tipped us all off in advance that they were destined for show business!

In 1884, a Spanish jelly importer and civil engineer would visit Tampa looking for a suitable domestic climate to grow guava trees and establish a cannery. "Don" Gavino Guiterrez, an acquaintance of Martinez Ybor and New York factory owner, Ignacio Haya, suggested the two tobacco magnates consider relocating to Tampa. Citing a deep-water port, a humid climate similar to Cuba's, and the extension of Henry Plant's railroad connecting Key West and Tampa to cities in the north, he convinced the two industrialists to relocate. With the Morrison Act guaranteeing low import duties, a humid climate, and its close proximity to Cuba, Tampa assured the cigar manufacturers quick and easy access to a quality product.

Don Victoriano, of course, was a heroic leader of the strike. He spoke almost every night at meetings in the cafes of Seventh Avenue, to the clubs, Centro Asturiano, Centro Espanol, Cuban Club and veterans' organizations.

Who was Gasparilla? The answer to that depends on who you ask. It is one of the first things people want to know when they come to our town for the annual Gasparilla Invasion and Festival. There have been a number of theories over the years and someone back in time penned the following poetic explanation.

Who was Gasparilla,
asks the stranger in our gate.
Listen: then, and we’ll the tale relate.
Gasparilla was a pirate
in the happy days of old
Who made a living off of
other people’s gold.
He ravaged up and down this coast
for many a bloody day
’Till finally they hanged him,
down at Lemon Bay.

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