The Big Guava is a nickname for Tampa, Florida, United States. It was coined in the 1970s by Steve Otto, long-time newspaper columnist for the Tampa Tribune and Tampa Times.
The moniker derives from a combination of New York's "Big Apple" nickname and a reference to businessman Gavino Gutierrez's unsuccessful quest for wild guava trees, which turned out to be vital to Tampa's growth and development. [1] [2]
In 1884, Gavino Gutierrez, a Spanish-American civil engineer by training who was working for a tropical fruit packing firm in New York, heard a rumor that wild guava trees were common near the Tampa Bay area on the west coast of Florida. Thinking that the fruit could be gathered and serve as a new product source for his company, Gutierrez accompanied the owner of his firm on a fact-finding mission to Tampa.
The rumor turned out to be false, as infrequent freezes usually prevent cold-sensitive guava trees from growing to maturity in central Florida. However, Gutierrez was nevertheless impressed by the economic potential of the village of Tampa (pop. about 1000), especially since Henry B. Plant was in the process of connecting the previously isolated town to the nation's railroad network.
Gutierrez returned to New York by sea, stopping along the way to visit his friend Vicente Martinez-Ybor, a major cigar manufacturer in Key West. Ybor had been looking for a place to move his operations, and Gutierrez recommended Tampa as a possibility. Ybor immediately visited the area and agreed with Gutierrez's assessment.
Within a year, Ybor and his partners purchased a large tract of land just northeast of Tampa for a company town to be called Ybor City. Gutierrez accepted Ybor's offer to be his company's civil engineer, and he planned and laid out the streets where thousands of immigrants would soon live and work, a community that has been initiated by his recommendation. By the turn of the 20th Century, the sleepy village of Tampa had become one of Florida's largest cities and the "Cigar Capital of the World".
As Otto wrote when he introduced the nickname, "we owe it all to the guava".
Guavaween, an annual Halloween-themed event in Ybor City, gets its name from the city's nickname.
The Big Guava Music Festival is an annual music festival that features alternative bands.
Tampa is a major city that serves as the county seat of Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. It is on the west coast of Florida on Tampa Bay, near the Gulf of Mexico. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area. With an estimated population of 399,700 in 2019, Tampa is the 48th most-populous city in the U.S. and the third-largest city in Florida after Miami and Jacksonville. The bay's port is the largest in the state, near downtown's Channel District. Bayshore Boulevard runs along the bay and is east of the historic Hyde Park neighborhood.
A Cuban sandwich is a variation of a ham and cheese sandwich that likely originated in cafes catering to Cuban workers in Tampa or Key West, two early Cuban immigrant communities in Florida centered around the cigar industry. Later on, Cuban exiles and expatriates brought it to Miami, where it is also very popular. The sandwich is made with ham, roasted pork, Swiss cheese, pickles, mustard, and sometimes salami on Cuban bread. Salami is included in Tampa, where there is a large Italian population, but is not usually included in South Florida.
Ybor City is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly from Cuba, Spain, and Italy. For the next 50 years, workers in Ybor City's cigar factories rolled hundreds of millions of cigars annually.
Guavaween was an annual Latin-flavored Halloween celebration which took place on the last Saturday of October in the historic neighborhood of Ybor City on Tampa, Florida. It was named after Tampa's nickname, "The Big Guava".
West Tampa is one of the oldest neighborhoods within the city limits of Tampa, Florida, United States. It was an independently incorporated city from 1895 until 1925, when it was annexed by Tampa.
Cuban bread is a fairly simple white bread, similar to French bread and Italian bread, but has a slightly different baking method and ingredient list ; it is usually made in long, baguette-like loaves. It is a staple of Cuban-American cuisine and is traditionally the bread of choice when making an authentic Cuban sandwich.
The modern history of Tampa, Florida, can be traced to the founding of Fort Brooke at the mouth of the Hillsborough River in today's downtown in 1824, soon after the United States had taken possession of Florida from Spain. The outpost brought a small population of civilians to the area, and the town of Tampa was first incorporated in 1855.
WXTB is a commercial active rock radio station licensed to Clearwater, Florida, serving the Tampa Bay Area. Owned by iHeartMedia, WXTB serves as the local affiliate for Skratch 'N Sniff, as well as the flagship station of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The WXTB studios are located in South Tampa, while the station transmitter resides in Holiday. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WXTB broadcasts over two HD Radio channels, and is available online via iHeartRadio.
Ybor City Museum State Park is a Florida State Park in Tampa, Florida's Ybor City. The museum occupies the former Ferlita Bakery building at 1818 9th Avenue in the Ybor City Historic District. The bakery was known for producing cuban bread and its ovens are part of the museum displays covering the history of the cigar industry and the Latin community from the 1880s through the 1930s. There is also an ornamental garden in the building.
The Ybor City Historic District is a U.S. National Historic Landmark District District located in Tampa, Florida. The district is bounded by 6th Avenue, 13th Street, 10th Avenue and 22nd Street, East Broadway between 13th and 22nd Streets. Ybor City contains a total of 956 historic buildings, including an unparalleled collection of architecture with Spanish-Cuban influence, as well as historic cigar factory buildings and associated infrastructure. The area was developed by businessman Vicente Martinez Ybor beginning in 1886, and was for a time the world's leading supplier of cigars.
The Ybor Factory Building is a historic site in Tampa, Florida, United States located at 1911 North 13th Street. The main factory and its surrounding support buildings cover an entire city block between 8th Avenue and 9th Avenues and 13th and 14th Streets in the Ybor City Historic District section of the Ybor City neighborhood. C. E. Parcell is credited as the building's architect.
V.M. Ybor is a neighborhood within the city limits of Tampa, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the neighborhood had a population of 1,743. The ZIP Codes serving the neighborhood are 33602, 33603, and 33605.
Vicente Martinez-Ybor, was a Spanish entrepreneur who first became a noted industrialist and cigar manufacturer in Cuba, then Key West, and finally Tampa, Florida.
Ybor City is a historic neighborhood that includes the Ybor City Historic District in Tampa, Florida. It is located just northeast of downtown Tampa and north of Port Tampa Bay. The neighborhood has distinct architectural, culinary, cultural, and historical legacy that reflects its multi-ethnic composition. It was unique in the American South as a prosperous manufacturing community built and populated almost entirely by immigrants.
Gary is an industrial section located in the southeastern part of Tampa, Florida, mainly in the vicinity of Adamo Drive east of Downtown Tampa.
The Tampa Smokers was a name used between 1919 and 1954 by a series of minor league baseball teams based in Tampa, Florida. The nickname was a nod to the local cigar industry, which was the most important industry in Tampa during the years in which the Smokers were active. During periods in which the name was not used by a professional team, various local semi-pro and amateur teams took up the Smokers name.
The Florida Brewing Company building is a historic brewery building that once housed Ybor City Brewing Company, which became Florida Brewing Company. It has been restored and converted into a law office. It is the tallest building in Tampa's Ybor City Historic District.
Gavino Gutierrez, a Spanish immigrant to the United States, was an importer, architect, civil engineer, and surveyor. He was responsible for bringing Vincente M. Ybor to Tampa, Florida and for designing Ybor City.
Anthony "Tony" P. Pizzo was a well-respected local historian and businessman, and was internationally recognized for his attempts to preserve the Italian American and Cuban American heritage and history of Tampa, Florida, and in particular that of his home neighborhood of Ybor City. From 1982 until his death in 1994, Pizzo was the official historian of Hillsborough County, and is author of several histories, most of which celebrate the unusual multicultural makeup of early Tampa. Pizzo also served as chairman of the Hillsborough County Historical Commission from 1968 to 1980, where he oversaw and was responsible for over eighty historical markers in Tampa and Ybor City.
William Benton Henderson was a cattleman, merchant, and prominent figure in the history of Tampa, Florida. He is the namesake of Henderson Boulevard and Henderson Avenue as well as the former W. B. Henderson Elementary School.
