Cuban, Spanish, Italian, German and Jewish immigrants flocked to the factories for work, while many opened their own businesses. The wrought-iron balconies, brick streets, globe street lamps, boutiques, coffeehouses and nightclubs are evidence that cultural heritage is as important today as it was at the turn of the century.
Cigars are still hand-rolled by master tabaqueros.
One of the most famous is Carmela Cammarota Varsalona, who began rolling cigars in 1921 in one of the original Ybor factories. The Gonzalez y Martinez cigar factory, located on Seventh Ave. The Ybor City State Museum exhibits tell the story of the immigrants' life and Ybor's cigar-making history. The Ferlita Bakery building, listed on the National Register of Historical Places, opened as the core of the museum complex in 1980. Florida's oldest restaurant, the Columbia Restaurant, named after the ballad Columbia, Gem Of the Ocean, first opened on 7th Ave. in 1905.