Tampa History

Ybor City is associated with many monikers. The cigar capital of the United States, the place to get the best Cuban sandwich, home of the roosters and one of the oldest restaurants in Florida. It’s also rich with history, beautiful architecture and an impassioned community, some of whom have connections to the city that date

It might hard to imagine now, sitting on the Plant Hall verandah at the University of Tampa, but in 1891, it was the Tampa Bay Hotel. On that patio, guests would sip iced tea to cool off, because there was no air conditioning and no downtown skyline. The hotel was a seasonal destination for guests

As a high school student in Paris, Kentucky, Paul Leone helped out at his family’s 17-room Starlight Motor Court, sharing a room with his two brothers. These days, he’s still in the hotel business—as CEO of The Breakers in Palm Beach, one of the nation’s grandest hotels since it opened in 1926. The Breakers and