CB-ers refer to Tampa as "Cigar City," but the real cigar city is a neighborhood of Tampa called Ybor (pronounced ē-bor) City. Vincente Martinez-Ybor, a wealthy Spanish cigar manufacturer from New York and Key West began development of Ybor City in 1885. In 1886, 500 Cuban cigarmakers boarded the sidewheeler
Hutchinson in Key West and sailed for Tampa. By the end of the year, there were more than 3,000 workers in Ybor, and for the next 40 years, Ybor City was the "Cigar Capital of the World."
Cubans, Spanish, Italians and Jews settled in Ybor, and one of the factors that made the community thrive is that the different groups established Mutual Aid Societies, clubs that were the centers for social, intellectual and business life. Above is the Italian club.
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| npr.org |
In the society of cigarmakers, one of the most respected and prominent men was the
lector. Cigarmakers would each pay a weekly subscription of 25¢, which paid the salary of a talented reader. The lector would spend the morning reading the newspaper aloud while the cigarmakers rolled tobacco at rows of desks that were known as a gallery. In the afternoon, the lector would return to read a novel, often mimicking different voices. The cigarmakers, while not all literate, were nonetheless very well-informed.
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| ruach.wordpress.com |
In this photo from 1929, you can see the lector in the upper right corner, sitting in a chair that resembles a lifeguard's roost. The lector would have needed a strong voice in any event, but perhaps by 1929 he had some amplification.
I believe the lector in the last photograph might have been reading in this building, which was a cigar factory, and now offices.
Other cigarmakers flocked to Ybor City, and evidence of that time is still seen there. In fact, even today one can go into several tobacco stores and watch a cigar being rolled.
A relatively new shopping mall, Centro Ybor, uses a cigar label image as its logo.
Ybor's cigarmaking peaked in 1929, and then the Great Depression caused a steady decline of the neighborhood. In recent years, Ybor has revitalized. The streets, above, are sleepy during the daytime but turn into a hot night spot.
Newer buildings, like this Hampton Inn, echo the older brick architecture.
You might also enjoy the story of my own cigar label design, which can be found
here.
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Brilliant post Mark! I love the way the mall used the cigar band in their design. Very interesting that you have designed them as well!
ReplyDeleteHi, Theresa - Working on a cigar label was a dream come true for me, but I learned a lot about cultural differences in the process. The job advanced at an incredibly slow pace, taking a full three years from quote to finish!
DeleteHello Mark,
ReplyDeleteSuch an interesting history of Ybor City. I never knew about the reader's function before. Do you see a lot of antique cigar-making equipment when roaming around Florida?
Tobacco manufacturing is usually associated with the South, but I have been surprised how many cigar makers there were in the North. I have read of small makers in New York City, and even H. Allen Smith talked about his grandfather's cigar factory.
--Road to Parnassus
Hello, Parnassus -
DeleteI haven't seen too many cigar-making antiques in my travels because the men (and women) who rolled cigars didn't use a lot of equipment.
The one purchase I made that was special in that regard was a collection of orange ribbons that were used to tie bundles of cigars. They were silk and had the names of different brands printed on them, in very old-fashioned type. I gifted them to an artist who made assembleges and shadow box art.
Good Morning Mark, Before I read your post I noticed the Gentleman in the "higher position." I assumed that he was an overseer, making sure that every worker would work diligently. I like the idea of a Lector, a custom which could be welcome in our times.
ReplyDeleteAnother great post Mark. Always bringing new and old to us.
Good afternoon, Gina. I think listening to the lector might have been a little like listening to National Public Radio. I suppose that the cigarmakers might have discussed what literature they wanted to hear, and perhaps they were polled. In any event, I get the impression that the lectors' novels were usually from a selection of the classics.
DeleteVery interesting! I love learning about these old "trade neighborhoods." Thanks for the education, Mark. And, thanks for including the additional information on the lector. I especially enjoyed that part.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Loi
Hi, Loi -
DeleteLooking at that room with hundreds of workers, and knowing that they all paid a subscription, I'm guessing that the lector was relatively highly paid. I'm glad you liked the story — it's one unique to a small area of the country. I've read that the position of lector has survived in Cuba.
Mark, I like how the all workers / cigarmakers are dressed in white shirts....some with their hats. I think the gentleman in the front is wearing a bow tie. You wouldn't see factory workers dressed that way now.
DeleteSo true. I'm always amazed by the early photographs of St. Petersburg, Florida that show turn-of-the-century fishermen. In virtually every photo, they're standing on a dock on a hot summer day, wearing ties, and sometimes even vests!
DeleteDear Mark - you are very talented with your illustrative work.
ReplyDeleteI love the story of the box and the hair being all wrong for the President of the cigar company.
Seeing your lovely boxes made me go in search of one we have, but I could not find it. Must be in the attic somewhere from when we last moved.
I remember it had an inlaid carved top and was gifted to H when he went on a UN mission to Cuba. Wherever the box is, it still holds all of its fat cigars, as H doesn't smoke.
Dear Rosemary - I can imagine the cigar box you've described. My father went on a trip to the Phillipines and was gifted with a cigar box that had the host's initials carved into it. I was so upset when I moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and that box warped terribly out of shape. Years later I moved to Florida and the box warped back into its original shape! What a happy, surprise ending!
ReplyDeleteWonderful piece on Ybor, a place full of history in Ol' Tampa. I enjoy wondering there, though only during the daylight. The Columbia is a lovely place for a bite, especially for their salad. I recently read where the grandfather of Florida Senator, Marco Rubio had been a lector in the cigar factories there.
ReplyDeletebest,
teaorwine
Thank you teaorwine,
DeleteI had not heard that about Marco Rubio's grandfather, but it would be a great bit of color to add to his political profile. Somewhere in NPR's archive's, there's an old recording of a lector doing a dialogue in different voices.
I'm saving the Columbia for the next posting ...
I loved reading this, Mark. I had no idea. But as I was reading I had one of those vague memory things that said: jeez, the name Ybor City is familiar.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I read about it in a crime thriller written by Ace Atkins that featured an infamous crime-filled Florida city in which an equally infamous murder occurred...(the murder of crime boss Charlie Wall in Tampa). It's possible Ybor was mentioned in passing. Maybe. Name of book: WHITE SHADOW.
Anyway, I also enjoyed reading about the 'lector' - I love being read to aloud, can't imagine anything better if I had to do repetitive boring work all day long.
What an interesting profession.
Hi, Yvette,
DeleteThe lector, like the lamp lighter and the typesetter, often appears on lists of interesting and extinct professions. Of course it gets a little scary when one can remember business dealings with people from those lists!
I did just find the reference in one of my old reviews from years ago for Mysteryink. And the book was, indeed, WHITE SHADOW.
ReplyDeleteYbor City, it was. Ah, memory links. Terrific when they work. :)
I'll bet the White Shadow also mentioned Santo Traficanti, a Tampa crime boss who operated there for decades and never went to jail. He died in 1987 ...
DeleteI'm sure he was mentioned. It was a terrific book. Who knew that Tampa Florida was a hot bed of criminal activity when back when? I never did until I read Ace's book. You might like it, Mark.
ReplyDeleteI'll look for it!
DeleteAlthough the smell of a burning cigar makes me ill, it seems I always had a cigar box with beautiful graphics in which to keep my treasures as a child.
ReplyDeleteDear Devoted Classicist,
ReplyDeleteThough I've never smoked, I've nonetheless always been attracted to the rich history of tobacco graphics. It seems right that certain things like yoyos and piggie banks should be a part of every boy's childhood, and that storing smaller treasures in a cigar box should be a part of that heritage!