January 14, 2024 - January 19, 2024 - Visit by my sister, Renee, and her husband, Jim

My sister, Renee, and her husband, Jim, arrived on Sunday from St. Louis for a visit. We showed them around several places while they were here. This blog contains places we went and what we did but it is not necessarily in the right chronological order. (I didn't keep very good records I'm afraid.) 

It was cold when they arrived. In fact it was pretty cold the entire week they were here. We went to the Kite Festival on the beach in Treasure Island. We found a place to park and walked the beach checking out the various kites. There were far fewer kites than last time we were there because it was cold and, while windy, we heard that the winds were not that great for kite flying. Here are some pictures.

We just had to get our picture taken with the huge tropical fish balloon and the with the spaceman balloon overhead.

From there we drove a short distance to have lunch at the original "Caddy's on the Beach". We couldn't sit outside because it was too cold but we were seated with a view of the water. The food was delicious.

Another day we went to the "Seaside Bird Sanctuary". Renee and Kelly took a great interest in the Bald Eagle with part of his right wing missing. They are majestic birds.

I like the Pelicans and took this video of the brown ones. I found it interesting watching them swallow the fish whole as they ate.

The bird sanctuary is on the beach so the ladies scouted out a few shells and dipped their toes in the water before we left.

From the sanctuary we headed to "Mahuffers" in Indian Shores. It is bar like no other. This is their signature Bloody Mary. Added on top is celery, olives, lemon, pickle, cheese, bacon, meat stick, hot pepper, mushroom, and probably a couple of other items I missed. It is like lunch in your drink.

Here are a couple of pictures of us there.

As the sign indicates they take great pride in being a grubby place to eat and drink. Everyone writes their name on a dollar bill and staples it up somewhere. Here is the one Renee and Jim did.

One day the ladies headed up to the heated pool and the hot tub. While they did that Jim and I worked on a small project I had in mind. Most of our downspouts have had the elbows knocked off by the fellows who mow and weed eat. I wanted to reconfigure them by shortening the six downspouts and adding a new elbow and a short extension on each. I wanted to mount each elbow and extension a little off the ground so they could weed eat under them. A trip to Home Depot got us the elbows and screws we needed. I had a piece of downspout on hand to cut for extensions. The extensions are to help get he water away from the house.  Here are a couple of pictures of our completed work. Time will tell how long they will last with the landscapers. (I should have cleaned the downspout pieces or painted them before putting them up.)

Renee and Jim's last full day here we went to Ybor City for dinner at the original "Columbia Restaurant". It was Renee and Jim's treat. We arrived in Ybor City early to have time to tour the local history museum. We are so glad we did. The museum had great displays explaining the growth of the cigar industry in the area, which was the whole reason Ybor City was established. The cigar making business moved up from Key West, Florida. Throughout the years there were immigrants from Cuba, Italy, Spain, Germany, African-Americans, and Jews. Many worked in the cigar factories and many worked in businesses supplying the needs of the workers and companies.  

Because the immigrants did not speak English, each nationality established a "club", which was the place the workers' entire social life revolved around. The clubs provided all social activities, provided health care, helped with getting jobs, and had classes to learn English. With the help of the employers this area developed a health care system for all that was much like our HMOs now. It was so successful that the government sent representatives down to study it when they were developing Medicare in the 1960s. 

Each club built a large building for activities, sports, meeting rooms, teaching rooms, and a large hall for dances. At least two such clubs are still standing, the Italian Club and the Spanish Club. 

Our docent at the museum took us on a tour of one of the thousands of Casitas built for the workers back in the day. They were basically all the same, ordered from Sears-Roebuck, and shipped by train for assembly. Workers could rent them or buy them. If they bought one the company held the mortgage and if they moved to a different job the mortgage was taken over by the new company. Payments were taken out of the paycheck. Here are some pictures of the inside of a Casita. The only inside walls that were painted were the parents' bedroom. They were built off the ground for air circulation and had ten to twelve foot ceilings so the heat could rise. Here is a bedroom and the kitchen. Most cooking was done outside due to the heat.

The back yard of the Casitas provided a view of one of the cigar factories which had been falling down and was rescued and turned into apartments. The outside is completely original.

Here is a picture in front of three of the Casitas sitting on the history museum property. You can see that they were "shotgun" houses on narrow lots.

The docent told us that just two blocks away was the original "Italian Club" building and that it was usually open for people to see. We went there and were able to walk through it even though an event was taking place on the third floor in the ballroom. (We kinda crashed the event to get pictures.)  Here are pictures.

Here is an outside picture of "The Italian Club" as it is today, about 130 years after it was built. It is a magnificent, three-story building.

This picture is the first floor lobby.

A few stairs down was the lower level with a huge bar and lots of area for hanging out with friends. The bar is the original.

A great staircase takes you up to the second and third floors.

This is the second floor lobby.

Th entire third floor is a ballroom. You can see the event we crashed to get a few pictures. The ballroom was beautiful, large, and ornate. We were told all the nationalities were proud of their clubs and paid dues to belong but if one became unemployed the dues were suspended.

After touring "The Italian Club" we checked out a cigar shop where Renee and Jim bought some hand-rolled cigars for their son and son-in-law. After they made a purchase we headed to the "Columbia Restaurant" for dinner. It is the oldest restaurant in Florida. It opened as a sandwich shop for the workers in the cigar business in 1905 and quickly grew as the city flourished. It now covers an entire city block with seven dinning rooms which can serve up to 16,000 people at a time. 

After a great dinner we walked down the old commercial street district past many bars and cigar shops now. One of the buildings in the area is the original building of "The Spanish Club". Here is a picture of it as it sits today. Quite impressive.

Here is a video of a gentleman rolling cigars in the window as we passed by.

We had a great time visiting and showing Renee and Jim around the area. Friday morning their flight was delayed so they got to stay about an hour longer than expected. We used the time to teach them how to play Mexican Train dominoes. 

Before they left they stripped the bed, washed the sheets, and made the bed. They will get a discount on their next visit. LOL