- [Narrator] This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

- [Lissette] Support for Greater Ybor City is provided in part by the Joy McCann Foundation and the State of Florida, Department of State Division of Arts and Culture, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

- I just wanted to humanize them a little bit to people and garner them some fans, and it blew up beyond my expectations.

- I do whatever it takes to make bread.

The Spanish, it's called cuida el pan, but it's called take care of the bread in English.

- Farming, to me personally, I think my grandfather felt the same way my dad did.

It's a gamble.

- Whatever your background is, a cigar is a luxury that everybody can afford.

- Mr. Lopez is an icon in Ybor and baseball.

(cheerful music) - [Narrator] From legendary Cuban sandwiches to major league baseball pioneers, Ybor City has a vibrant history and blend of cultures.

Hello everyone, I'm Lisette Campos, and Ybor City has a special place in my own heart coming from a family of Spanish and Cuban ancestry.

This small community founded in 1886 located close to downtown Tampa has made an outsized impact on our region.

Once the cigar capital of the world, Ybor is now celebrated as both a historic district and emerging hub for the arts, business and technology.

In this special episode of Greater Ybor City, we present five stories that showcase the character of Ybor, starting with those street chickens.

- I'm just a guy that's in the streets enjoying some birds.

(cheerful music) (rooster crowing) They are very intelligent animals.

friends that they hang out with all day.

They have routines.

The history of the Ybor chickens dates back to the 1880s.

There was a massive fire in Key West.

Many of the factories were owned by Vicente Martinez Ybor, and instead of rebuilding his factories there in Key West, he heard of this town called Tampa up north that had rail.

And so he figured he would move his operation up closer to the railway so he can distribute his cigars across the country.

The workers brought their chickens with them.

When I first moved to Ybor City, I didn't pay as much attention to the chickens, but I started to get involved with an animal rescue in Kenya called the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

It changed who I was, and when I came back I looked out into the streets and saw these small creatures running around, and they became my proxy elephants at that point.

I did start to pay more attention to the street birds, and I would notice people mistreating them, so I decided they needed some people to give them some protection.

One person doing it is just weird, so I decided to start a group.

It started with an Instagram page.

I expected maybe 200 or 300 total followers, and within six months we hit 1000.

Once I saw that the community was as into it as I was, I decided to formalize it, and that's where the Ybor Chicken Society was born.

We advocate for the chickens.

We give them a voice.

We support Ybor businesses that support the chickens.

We talk to tourists, and we try to drive people into the neighborhood to see them.

'Cause if they come to Ybor to see the chickens, then they might stop at a restaurant and spend some money in town.

If you drive through Ybor City and you look at the signs and the mascots for Ybor's businesses, there's a good 30 to 40% who use the chickens in their logos and in their marketing.

So they know that it's a part of this neighborhood.

We get supportive calls from different business owners.

There are some businesses who sponsor chickens at different points in time.

There are businesses who try to put on events that involve the chickens, sell chicken themed merchandise.

So it's almost a cottage industry here within Ybor City.

The chickens are a means of economic gain for some of these businesses.

(upbeat music) - Right now, you're in the area where the city started, the city of Ybor in a little town called Tampa.

We thank you for coming out, and we'll see you here every Saturday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, your Ybor Saturday market.

- They're a part of the market because this is their home.

The visitors, when they come here, they want something with a chicken on it to remember Ybor City.

It's become symbolic.

- This is actually our first year at the market.

We've had a few join us actually on our tables, which has been interesting trying to get 'em off.

People wonder about traffic and things like that.

Well, chances are the chicken is crossing the road, and that's why everybody has to slow down.

- I mix a lot of paints.

I mix my own colors.

I cannot mix anything that approximates the beauty of the chickens with the sun on them.

Chickens are the jewels of the Ybor.

There is something to be said for having an Ybor City chicken cross your yoga mat.

You can keep your head lifted just a little bit if you're looking at a chicken.

Yoga is about leaving your mind behind, and I think for a lot of people today, they were able to do the yoga practice, leave their minds behind, and just focus on these little tiny animals that were just fun to be around.

I think honestly people love the chickens more than they love the yoga.

I think they were here for the chickens.

The yoga's just a side effect.

It's just a bonus for them.

- [Dylan] The Ybor Chicken Society also tries to boost civic engagement and involvement in the neighborhood.

Part of how we do that is we conduct a weekly sweep at Centennial Park.

So we have volunteers come out, and we get the park beautiful for whatever the weekend's events are.

It's a great neighborhood, it's unique, and they're a big part of that.

It's a national historic landmark district, and they are living history here amongst the cigar factories, the brick lined roads, and everything else that makes Ybor Ybor.

- The Cuban sandwich was first known as a mixto, with old world ingredients from families with German, Cuban, Spanish, and Italian roots.

While the taste has captivated Ybor City for over a century, the Cuban sandwich represents community, family love, and generational bonds.

- It's just the heart of me, and it's natural.

I can't take it away.

I think I'm the best baker 'cause of the heart.

My uncle was a baker, my cousins are bakers, my brother was a baker, 'cause everybody always wants bread.

We're making like 18,000 loaves a day baked beautiful and gold as we do at La Segunda Bakery for over 100 years.

I've been working for La Segunda for 37 years as a baker, and I love my job.

(laughs) What's up?

I love you man.

That right there, that's the truth.

What's up, Dwight?

How you doing today?

Cuban bread, it's a lot different than hoagie bread.

You could get a good sandwich with a hoagie, but there's a difference with the Cuban bread.

(upbeat music) The flavor.

(laughs) (upbeat music) - Our Cuban bread, it comes from La Segunda Central Bakery right down the street in Ybor City.

We've been buying our bread from them for over 100 years.

Their Cuban bread is the best Cuban bread I have ever had, and once you taste it, you can't ever eat any other kind of Cuban bread.

So we have been here in Ybor since the beginning.

1903, that's the beginning.

Now we are a 15 dining room, 1700 seats, we encompass a whole city block, and we're still serving those tastes of Spain and Cuba.

It's kind of magical when you think about what Ybor City was like back in the early 1900s, how they would walk from their cigar factories and come to the Columbia Restaurant to get their Cuban sandwich or cafe con leche.

When I look at old pictures, it truly seemed like it was a magical place.

- [Bryant] Basically, I growed up all over Ybor City, and I loved it.

The cigar factories, Columbia Restaurant, the history.

- We're melting all these different heritages in together.

It is almost like the French Quarter in New Orleans.

We refer to ourselves as the Latin Quarter though.

Our Cuban sandwich represents all of those that came to Ybor City at the turn of the century.

You start with your Cuban bread, obviously represents the Cubans.

You've got your ham, which represents the Spaniards.

You've got your roast pork, which is mojo marinated, once again the Cubans, the salami, which represents the Italians and Sicilians.

And then I always say the Swiss cheese represents Ybor city and how it was a melting pot of all these different heritages.

Yellow mustard, pickles represents the Germans and the Jews.

We brush it with butter, and you press it.

They all melt together, they become one.

It is amazing all the different flavors.

It's a party in your mouth.

(laughs) - [Bryant] When people come from outta state, all over, they go crazy for the Cuban sandwiches.

- [Andrea] It is a beautiful thing.

Proud doesn't even begin to describe the way I feel to be a part of this family.

- I'm happy to bring out a product that represents the Cuban and I like to give them the beauty of Ybor City.

- At the turn of the 20th century, many families immigrated to Ybor City to work the land.

Generations later, Vicky and Tessie Giunta still run their Sicilian family farm at their homestead in East Ybor.

- Our grandparents Salvatori and Victoria immigrated from Sicily in 1907.

They heard there were good jobs in the cigar factories in Ybor Cty, paid in gold coins.

After 17 years of hard work, they built their home, and that's the beginning of the Giunta homestead and farm.

- [Vicki] This whole area was settled by Sicilian immigrants.

They were not educated, they had no marketable skills, but they did have this natural talent, the agrarian talent.

- Here's dad.

- They would help pick vegetables after their jobs so that dad would have it to teach at the market the following morning.

And he would do that before he went to teach school.

Hardworking.

The land itself was very rich muck land, and that's the main reason that Ybor did not develop eastward.

This farming community, there were a lot of little farms, and they were able to grow so much in such a small area.

They were often referred to as the bread basket of Ybor.

We are the last farm that remains today thanks to their efforts.

- It just so happens that Vicky and I remain single, and it was our choice to remain here at the farm.

We live a a life close to nature like we all have here in this home and we continue to do that today.

- Our days start in the morning, like everyone.

Tessie has the responsibility of taking care of the chickens.

So first thing in the morning she'll open them up.

Otherwise it's preparing the rows, planting the seeds, and then from there maintaining them like with fertilizer and what we call scratching the rows.

In 1950, dad purchased a tractor.

We loved riding the tractor.

That's one of the family pastimes was to have dad drive the tractor.

We would hang on like monkeys on the handlebar, and he'd ride slowly around the field.

That's been our best friend all these years to farm.

We're not in the garden eight hours a day, that's for sure.

You can get to where it becomes so cumbersome it's not enjoyable anymore.

And that's the thing, farming has to be enjoyed, because not only do we grow things, but then we have to make time during the day to bring in a bunch of vegetables, 'cause we want to eat 'em too.

- [Tessie] We cook the lasagnas, the ziti, pasta, sauces, but because our grandparents worked in cigar factories, they learned recipes that were Cuban and Spanish.

So our repertoire is very diverse.

- [Vicky] We're trying to put together a soup that is a recipe from our grandmother.

We use fennel.

That's one of the main ingredients.

- [Tessie] We do enjoy eating the vegetables from the garden and in a very, very simple way.

- Today, I'd say we're more conscientious about the weather than ever before.

We never used to have the heavy, heavy rains that actually cause flooding.

Now I look to certain varieties that have a shorter growing season.

Call it global warming or whatever you want, there definitely is a difference.

- Vicky and I talk about that almost daily from the way bees behave to the way birds behave and crops, et cetera.

What keeps us going?

It's the love we have for farming, and there's a peace that you get when you work close to the earth.

You're one with nature, one with God, and the harvest is worth it.

- For me, it's being fortunate enough to be part of the legacy and to try to continue that legacy for as long as I can.

The farm will not be here forever, nor will I.

But the reality is it's not just about one family, it's about these immigrants and what they contributed.

- I see it in the neighborhood.

There's getting to be more of a sense of community.

It's almost like the Ybor City of old, where the Spaniards, the Italians, everyone came together.

It's coming back.

(mellow music) - Next, we go behind the scenes here at the JC Newman Cigar Company to explore how Ybor became the cigar capital of the world and why cigars remain a cultural staple to this community.

- The cigar industry started in Ybor City 135 years ago.

They were trying to bring big industries into the city, beef it up so that way it would be an economic powerhouse for the South.

And for Tampa, they thought their best hope was tobacco, because the Tampa Chamber of Commerce petitioned these two Spanish and Cuban businessmen Ignacio Haya and Vicente Martinez Ybor to come here and build cigar factories.

They offered them huge incentives.

It worked.

During its peak, Tampa had between 150 and 200 large scale production cigar factories.

All the cigars made out of Tampa were 100% wrapper, binder, and filler Cuban tobacco.

That's what made Tampa one of a kind.

That's what made Ybor City cigar city, USA until the 1960s, when the Cuban embargo, of course, went into effect, and you couldn't get any more Cuban tobacco.

We're making cigars the same way they would've 100 years ago.

One of a kind, very unique, and a very unique experience.

(Luis speaking Spanish) - For me, it's a privilege.

Make cigars here in the United States, here in the J.C. Newman Cigar factory, which is the last cigar factory in the whole country.

So lemme tell you guys the first step in the hand rolling process when you make premium cigar.

When you make a cigar, you got filler, binder, and wrapper.

The filler is the the blend that you're gonna seal inside, you cover it with the binder, and you put inside the press.

The last step is the wrapper.

This blend, we use three different type of tobacco from Nicaragua, and we use a double binder for the cigar.

- Depending on the size of the cigar and the gauge is the time inside the press.

Here's how looks the cigar already pressed.

It's nice, with a nice shape, and the cigar is ready to put the wrapper on.

The wrapper is the specific leaves, but the fermentation process is different completely because we need the nice leaves to be outside the cigar.

A roller can make about 100, 120 cigar a day.

Machine cigars, about 3,000, 4,000 cigar a day.

(cheerful music) - Ybor City's much different now.

It's not the same old Latin vibe it had back in the 1920s or 30s, it's now its own unique thing.

Partly it caters to tourists, but partly it caters to society, which wants something fun to do.

Our hopes is that here at JC Newman Cigar Company, we can continue to make cigars forever.

Make more cigars, make better cigars.

We want people to come here and see this is the industry that built Tampa and Ybor City.

We're honoring the legacy of all those people who have come before us.

We're honoring the people who started Ybor City, this Tampa that will continue forever.

- Baseball plays a special role in the history of Ybor.

Local hero Al Lopez became the first Tampa player to make it to the major leagues.

His legacy, it continues today.

- Ybor City is historic.

I think of baseball with Ybor, the restaurants, nightlife, cigar factories, now the Ybor Baseball Museum.

Baseball was it in Ybor City back in the early days when I was a kid.

the Intersocial League had four original baseball teams Loyal Knights, Cuban Club, Central Sturiano Italian Club.

I played for the Italian club.

I've played for several teams.

Some of the players there went on to play pro ball.

Of course, Mr. Lopez was the first.

He started it all.

(doorbell playing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame") What did you expect?

- Al Lopez is Mr.

Baseball in Tampa.

First major league player starting in 1928.

First all star major leaguer, first manager from Ybor City, Tampa.

Managed in the World Series and ultimately in the Hall of Fame.

(cheerful music) - My name is Chantal Hevia.

I'm president and CEO of the Ybor City Museum Society and the Tampa Baseball Museum at the Al Lopez house.

Well, baseball actually got started in Ybor City because of the cigar industry.

So many Cubans had come here to make cigars that they actually established the first two teams.

In the 40s, 50s, and 60s, baseball was a hot ticket.

This house where the museum is located is our biggest artifact.

It was the childhood home of Al Lopez.

His parents, who came from Asturia, Spain rented the house when he was a child and they came here to work in the cigar industry.

It is a very big deal that Al got into the major leagues as a Hispanic person.

In those days, as you may know Hispanics were not as prevalent in the game.

It's a big deal that both he became a player as a Hispanic and that he got into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

- Once he made it, we all thought we could make it.

It was an inspiration to us.

Of course, he's one of a kind though.

I lost my father at a young age of 46, and I was grieving very badly, and that's when I met my wife to be and she's the one that encouraged me to start something to memorialize my dad.

We did, we checked with the coaches and got the tournament started in 1981.

We've had 53 players from the tournament go to the major leagues.

Our goal is not to put 'em in the big leagues or college or the minors but to become caring and responsible citizens one inning at a time.

We stress that every year.

If they make pro ball, college, major leagues, that's all a bonus.

We're proud of them, but we want them to be role models when they get there.

Tournament has changed formats in recent years and my son has taken over doing all of the bracketing, scheduling, getting the sites.

It's a pleasure being there with him.

He does it all.

I'm there if needed, and it's been great.

- Al Lopez changed the landscape of Ybor City because he was the first one.

He was numero uno.

- I was appointed chairman of the committee to erect the statue for Mr. Lopez.

My wife talked to him in English and Spanish and told him we were gonna do the statue.

If we would've asked him, he would've said no.

So I didn't know anything about a statue and a sculptor and how to raise money and all that, but we did it.

In return for that, he invited me to go with him to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

Everybody that I turned to was a Hall of Famer.

That was his way of thanking us for doing that for him.

That's the kind of guy he was.

Baseball is still big.

The Rays have made it bigger.

The Rays helped me with the tournament.

They're helping this museum also, so it's a great thing for the community here and in St. Pete.

Off season, he always came back to Ybor City, hometown guy.

He would be very appreciative of this museum.

- What I hope this museum does is help people to enjoy a game that has been part of our passion for more than 135 years.

Because it's not just about the players, it's about all those that have made this happen.

(upbeat music) - Ybor's industrious community and charm help put Tampa on the map and continues to drive local commerce, economy, and culture.

To watch any of these stories again, visit wedu.org/greater.

Thanks for watching everyone.

I'm Lisette Campos.

(cheerful music) Support for Greater Ybor City is provided in part by the Joy McCann Foundation and the State of Florida, Department of State Division of Arts and Culture, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

- [Narrator] This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.