Trolley Cars and Ybor City! March 13, 2017

March 13, 2017

No baseball today, so we decided to take the Trolley System to Ybor City.  We drove to the Tampa Convention Center and parked the car.  We made our way to the second to the last stop on the TECO Streetcar System.  We purchased our "all-day" tickets and hopped aboard.

This shot from the TECO website shows the trolleys in front of the Ybor City sign.

These are not the original streetcars, which long ago whisked passengers to and from Ybor City, Ballast Point, Hyde Park, Sulphur Springs, and other points.  Built in 1892, the electric streetcar line was a critical part of everyday life.  Workers took the streetcar downtown or to the cigar factories of Ybor City and west Tampa.  On the weekends families would board the streetcar system to go to a picnic or ball game in one of the parks.  

I love this shot of the early 20th century streetcar that I found on the TECO website!  Seeing the streetcar juxtaposed with the early automobiles really gives us a sense of how transportation transformed life in the cities.

The advent of the automobile, however, spelled the decline and eventual end to Tampa's streetcar system which ceased running in August 1946.

Tourism gave rise to a vision to create an easy mode of transportation for convention-goers in Tampa.  It certainly was a fun and easy way to get around town!

This was the trolley we rode from the Tampa Convention Center to Ybor City.

We spent some time walking around Ybor City and stumbled across this funky coffee/tea/wine/beer shop called Tre Amici at the Bunker and ducked in for a late afternoon snack (and to escape a bit of rain).  I loved the ambiance from the moment we walked into the place.  Evidently they have open mic nights and a variety of local musicians perform there in the evenings.

A beer for Jeff; a glass of wine for me!  Jeff also enjoyed a cookie while I loved some house-made hummus along with some really delicious home-made pita.  It was a nice, laid-back afternoon.

I remember going to Ybor City with my mother and step-father back when Aimee and Bethany were little and we would make trips down to the Tampa area to visit them in their "winter digs," so today's visit brought back some fond memories for me.