Cigar City. Tampa Bay. That’s what they call the Tampa Bay area. But the cigar industry flourished from the area that has grown to become known as Ybor City. It has heavy influence from Spanish, Cuba, and Italian heritage. This is very apparent if you spend more than 15 minutes in the district.

Most of the restaurants in the district are either Cuban or Italian which is fine by me. But this story really begins with the trip to Ybor City.

I was always warned from everyone that I know familiar with the area that you should only visit Ybor city during the day time. The drive from St. Pete is a conniving little trek I say so myself. What happens is you get in an expressway that says its a toll way. And I’m more than willing to pay a toll to get to Ybor City, because its that damn cool. But the further I drive down this toll way, I begin to realize that this is no ordinary toll way. When I pull of the toll way, I immediately come to the realization that there are no toll booths and no way for me to pay the toll. You know what the ******** of the state of Florida do? They take a picture of your license plate and mail you bill. That’s horse****. Anyways, when we pulled off, we saw a dead copse in the back of a pickup truck. This is the best picture I could get. So when this ends up some case on CourtTV 3 years from now, feel free to use this picture.

After we finally found a parking spot in Ybor City the first thing to notice is the Church of Scientology. It LITERALLY takes up an entire city block. No joke. I’m surprised myself. How could a religion afford such a great real estate lot? Good for them!

I love the brick streets in all these old cities in Florida. It really does it for me. That is all.

So this isn’t the first time I’ve been to Ybor City. I knew they had gay clubs and that’s fine and dandy. No judging. But I’ve never visited Ybor during the daytime. I had no idea that they had something they considered the ‘Gay District’. Good for them!

There’s supposedly some great drag shows. Maybe one day someone will drag me to one, but today’s not the day. So instead, I’ll just get some great photo ops!

As we were taking these great photo ops, I heard a horn ringing in my ear. I looked back and with enough time I was able to capture the picture of this city rail. I had no idea such a thing still existed in cities outside of San Francisco but whatev.

Anyways, there are plenty of statues in the city for good pics and plenty of great Cuban restaurants if you enjoy a pressed steak. Even the famous Columbia’s restaurant. There’s something about the atmosphere in this town that gives you a relaxed Sunday vibe that everyone should encounter at least once.