“When I was between the age of seven and eight years old, I used to visit my Aunt that stayed in the scrubs behind the Lincoln and the Central Avenue theatre. The theatres that we had to attend during those early days… Up until I got to be a teenager I used to frequent Central Avenue with some of my classes, what we call a rec [recreation center]…We had all our talent shows at the rec,” (Artis Clayton in interview on December 16, 2003 from HCPLC’s Hillsborough Remembers Oral History Collection).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Central’s [Central Avenue Business and Entertainment District] not my earliest [memory] it was the Little Savoy on the corner of Scott and Central. I worked there as a bar maid. I liked it,” (Claretha Johnson in interview on August 19, 2003 from HCPLC’s Hillsborough Remembers Oral History Collection).

 

 

“Tampa’s cultivated many baseball players who went on to play the game professionally. I guess the most well-known is, of course, is Al Lopez, who was the first Hispanic ball player that was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame from Tampa,” (Tony Garcia, interview on October 19, 2010 from HCPLC’s Hillsborough Remembers Oral History Collection).

 

“Later, when my Dad [Tony Garcia, Jr.] retired from the USO, he actually was able to revive the West Tampa Chamber of Commerce and which he was the executive director for serval years and worked and collaborated with a lot of local groups there in West Tampa to help revive the Centro Espano building, which is over there on Howard Avenue, to help assist to get that thing revived,” (Tony Garcia, interview on October 19, 2010 from HCPLC’s Hillsborough Remembers Oral History Collection).

 

 

“All of my ancestors are Spanish and I grew up in Ybor City. I was born in Ybor City, which was a community of great uniqueness. This is the only community in the entire United States with three or four different ethnic groups lived next door to each other,” (Braulio Alonso in interview on July 17, 2001 from HCPLC’s Hillsborough Remembers Oral History Collection).

 

 

 

“I guarantee you, if you come to Tampa, you stay around here for a little while, people will take you in. You become part of it and before you know it, they’re making fun of your nose…And the names, the nicknames in Ybor City. It is a phenomenon. Everybody had a nickname and you know, the amazing thing that, that’s so fitting,” (Jack Espinosa in interview on August 13, 2001 from HCPLC’s Hillsborough Remembers Oral History Collection).

 

 

“In 1921, the building [serving as the Hyde Park Grammar School] was relocated to Swann Avenue and from 1922 to 1968 served as the Hyde Park Public Library. Since 1968, the building has been the Old Hyde Park Art Center, home of the Tampa Regional Artists,” (p. 70 in Images of America: Tampa’s Hyde Park by Delphin Acosta, 2012).

 

 

“The automobile became a popular mode of travel at the beginning of the 20th century. At first, gasoline was available at very limited locations. Affluent families had gas pumps attached to private garages behind their homes. As the automobile became more affordable, service stations began to appear in residential neighborhoods,” (p. 46 from Images of America: Tampa’s Hyde Park by Delphin Acosta, 2012).

 

 

 

 

 

 

“It is the oldest church building in the Tampa Heights historic neighborhood. In 1974, the church built a 16-story apartment building next to the church dedicated as the Palm Avenue Baptist Tower, to provide housing for senior citizens and disabled residents of Tampa Heights. (USFSCL.)” (p. 86 from Images of America: Historic Tampa Churches by John V. Cinchett, 2018).

 

March 1933
 

"[The hospital] was along 7th Avenue. And I worked there for twenty-one years…at the time when I workin’ at St. Joseph’s, you know, St. Joseph’s Hospital used to be run by the Catholic Nuns,” (Edna Ligon in interview on April 13, 2001 from HCPLC’s Hillsborough Remembers Oral History Collection).

 

 

“Seminole Heights Baptist Church…was a pioneer in Christian television broadcasting. In 1962, the church produced one of the first local Christian television shows, called Good News, which was broadcast on weekday mornings,” (p. 72 from Images of America: Historic Tampa Churches by John V. Cinchett, 2018).

 

January 21, 1948
 

"Some people went to high school with a streetcar ticket. That’s how they got to school, on streetcars. They stopped right in front of Hillsborough High School on Central Avenue... Got special rates because you were a student,” (Sarah Gilbert, interview on November 23, 1999 from HCPLC’s Hillsborough Remembers Oral History Collection).