Ybor City, Tampa: Where Cigars Are Still King

Story by: Jim Weaver

Travel Editor, New York Trend

At the turn of the 20th century, Tampa, Florida,was the “Cigar Capital of the World.” Ybor City, a section of Tampa located near the port,was the center of cigar manufacturing. High quality cigar tobacco was imported from Cuba and thousands of skilled workers hand rolled millions of fine cigars. Cigar smoking was popular and it was not until after the First World War that cigarettes became more fashionable. Gradually, over the decades, the cigar industrydeclined and what was once a prosperous part of the city declined with it.

One by one the cigar companies closed and the community, once a vibrant center of ethnic culture (Italian, German, Spanish, and Cuban), deteriorated. Then came the interstate highway. In the 1960s, Route I-4 (connecting Tampa with Orlando and Daytona) was built through Ybor City eliminating much of its residential housing.

In the past 20 years, however, Ybor City has made a spectacular comeback, and today it is once again an attractive, lively, welcoming community where locals and visitors can find a great mix of history, ethnic charm, and modern amenities. Today its a popular dining and night life destination. Most famous is the Columbia Restaurant, in business since 1905, and featuring fine Spanish cuisine and Flamenco dancers. The food and service here are exceptional. For authentic Cuban food visitors will want to try the popular La Tropicana. There are many other fine restaurants including the Acropolis Greek Tavern and Samurai Blue Sushi & Sake Bar.

While there are now three hotels in Ybor City,only one offers a taste of the Ybor’s glorious past. The Don Vincente de Ybor Historic Inn is a favorite for weddings, and many guests enjoy its charm and beauty, something often missing in modern hotels. Built in 1895, it was originally housed a land development company. It stood empty for several decades, before a multimillion dollar restoration brought back to its original glory. Today, the charming boutique hotel offers 16 guest rooms with elegant oriental rugs, ornate furniture, four-poster canopied beds, and white cast iron balconies. It is well located within an easy walk of restaurants, shops, and historic attractions and there is free parking on site.

While Ybor is an interesting place throughout the year, Aficionado Days celebrates Ybor’s

history as the “Cigar Capital of the World.” Cigar smokers from all parts converge on Ybor to enjoy some of the finest hand rolled tobaccoavailable anywhere. Cigar making demonstrations are held and there are opportunities to learn about the finer points of cigar selection and smoking.

The upscale, two day event begins Saturday afternoon with a Tapas Trail visiting more than a dozen of Ybor’s fine dining establishments. This is followed by a PartySmoker at the historic Italian Club. Sunday brunch is held at the world famous Columbia Restaurant. There are a number of fine cigar shops in Ybor including King Carona, Tampa Sweathearts, El Sol, and Stogie Castillo, all offering a wide selection of fine cigars and smoking accessories.

Learn more at www.ybor.org and http://www.visittampabay.com

Tampa, Florida: Bern’s Winefest Is Florida’s Premier Wine Tasting Experience

Story by:

James weaver

Travel Editor

New York Trends

Have you eaten a truly great steak lately? Or had a suburb glass of wine? What about a truly memorable dining experience? Sometimes you find the greatest things in unlikely places. Who would have thought that Tampa, Florida, would be home to one of the finest steak restaurants in America? Bern’s Steak House, in my mind, is the very best you’ll find anywhere. But Bern’s may be just as famous for its wine. With a wine cellar of a tens of thousands of bottles, it offers one of the largest and most extensive selection in the world. The wine list is bigger than a old family bible.

Each Spring for the past 13 years, Bern’s has hosted a wine festival to treat its guests to an extensive and remarkable selection of fine wines from across America and the world. The multi-day event draws thousands of guests both wine aficionados and those who simply enjoy an occasional glass of wine with dinner. There are many dozens of wineries presenting their finest vintage and hundreds of exceptional wines to choose from at the tastings and other festival events. The Winefest features several ticketed events including dinners, parties, and grand tasting.

Internationally recognized wine experts explain the qualities of each vintage and describe the range of perceived flavor, aroma and general characteristics. The five basic steps of tasting wine -- color, swirl, smell, taste, and savor are employed. During this process, the guests look for clarity, character, expressiveness, and complexity in each wine. When a wine is well balanced, it is said to have achieved a harmonious fusion. Its music to your palate.

A silent auction is held during Winefest where guests can bid on a fine selection of unusual and often rare wines. The proceeds go to the Bern’s Scholarship Fund. All wines served at the Winefest are available for purchase at Bern’sWine & Spirits, the restaurant’s retail outlet.

Known throughout the country for its extensive wine collection, perfectly aged and prepared steaks and famous dessert room, Bern’s offers its guests a world-class, incomparable dining experience. When Bern Laxer opened the restaurant in 1956, he envisioned Bern’s as Art in Steaks. It still is.

Today, son David Laxer and Chef de Cuisine Habteab Hamde continue Bern’s tradition of excellence with a gastronomic adventure that includes prime steaks cut-to-order, numerous choices of caviar, fresh seafood and organic vegetables grown on the Bern’s farm. The menu also boasts a weekly specials page offering fresh oysters, seasonal delights and entrees with suggested wine pairings.

For oenophiles (wine connoisseurs), the 6,500 label wine collection, a perennial Wine Spectator Grand Award winner, provides ample opportunity for exploration. After dinner, guests can relax and enjoy a Bern’s signature dessert or one of more than a thousand after-dinner spirits, wines, and cordial served in the unique dessert room constructed from old wine barrels. When you dine here be sure to ask for a tour of the kitchen and wine cellar (amazing).

Learn more at www.bernssteakhouse.com

Travelers to Tampa, Florida, should also view www.visittampabay.com

Sarasota, Florida: Home Of The Oldest Golf Course in America

Several communities across America have claimed they were first to provide a golfing facility. The most popular of these claims comes from Yonkers, New York , where two gentlemen from Dunfermline, Scotland, Robert Lockhart and John Reid, constructed a three hole golfing ground in 1888. However, many Sarasotans disagree with the Yonkers claim and local historical records support their position.

In December 1885, John Hamilton Gillespie arrived in the southwest Florida fishing village of Sarasota. Gillespie brought his hickory golf sticks with him from Scotland and by May 1886 he had constructed a two hole golfing ground between what is now Main Street and Ringling Boulevard. By 1888 the number of golf holes increased to four and a practice range was added to the mix. This course increased to 9 holes and a clubhouse by 1901 and by 1906 a full 18 hole course was in operation two years before the Yonkers course.

Today, Bobby Jones Golf Club is a 45 hole municipal facility named for the legendary Robert Tyre Jones, Jr., who personally dedicated the course on Sunday, February 13, 1927.

The original 18 holes were designed in 1926 by the famed course architect Donald Ross. Nine additional holes were constructed in 1952 and another nine were added in 1967. The John H. Gillespie Executive Course was completed in 1977.

In 1930, Bobby Jones accomplished one of the most amazing feats in sports history, the Grand Slam of Golf. In honor of these championships the British Course front nine is named for his British Amateur victory at St. Andrews and the back nine for his British Open success at Hoylake. The American Course honors Jones' championships in the U.S. Amateur at Merion and the U.S. Open at Interlachen. Jones is the

During its eighty three years Bobby Jones courses have challenged such immortals as Walter Hagen, Tommy Armour, Gene Sarazen and even the "Babe", George Herman Ruth. In 1940 the longest playoff for a PGA event was held at both the Bobby Jones Course and nearby Sarabay C.C. when the PGA Seniors Championship tournament needed 36 playoff holes before Otto Hackbarth bested Jack Hutchinson 294 to 295. Past LPGA greats including Patty Berg, Babe Dedrickson Zaharias and Louise Suggs made Bobby Jones a regular tour stop in the mid 1950's. The current British Course record is 62 set by Sarasotan, Paul Azinger, in 1980.

Sarasota’s Bobby Jones Golf Complex attracts visitors from around the world who come to play the fairways and greens steeped in golfing history.

Learn more at www.bobbyjonesgolfclub.com and www.sarasotafl.org if you plan to visit the area.

James C. Weaver
jweaver35@comcast.net

Travel Editor
New York Trend, Metropolitan NYC
NewYorkTrendOnLine.com (web)
Travel Correspondent
ilreporter.com (web)
The Morning Telegraph, Tyler, TX
Journal & Topics, Suburban Chicago
Journal-Press, Northern Virginia
Independent Feature Writer
Chestnut Hill Local, Philadelphia
The Crafts Report
CraftsReport.com (web)
Antiques & Collecting
Carousel News & Trader
Old Time Herald
DelMarVa Quarterly
GolfWiz (web)
AANR e-Bulletin (web)

Member:
International Food, Wine
& Travel Writers Association
International Association
of Black Travel Writers

LPGA International: Among Florida’s Finest Golf Courses

There must be a thousand golf courses in sunshine state of Florida, but among the very best are the two courses are the LPGA International. These outstanding courses are open to men and women members and to the general public. Located in Daytona Beach. they’re just minutes from the famous beach and the world renowned Daytona International Speedway. The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), headquartered here, oversees more than 800 golf events worldwide each year.

Opened in 1994, the LPGA International complex features two golf courses distinctly different in design that have hosted numerous LPGA Tour Championships. The Champions course is now the venue of the final LPGA Tour Qualifying School. There’s also a first-class driving range, three regulation-length practice holes, and a clubhouse that boasts all the fine amenities you might expect in a major resort facility.

The Rees Jones designed Champions Course is both challenging and picturesque. There are elevated tees and greens, the dramatically rolling fairways bordered by high mounds and old-growth trees, and many of natural and man-made hazards. Water is in play 10 of the 18 holes. The 18-hole Champions plays 7,088 yards from the tips for a par of 72.

The LPGA’s 1997 signature Arthur Hills Legends Course challenges golfers at every turn. The par 72 layout is a classic at 6,984 yards. Hills used a superb natural setting to create a masterpiece in playability and variety. It features natural wetlands, narrow pine corridors, small greens and strategically placed water hazards.

The Legends calls for the player to use their mind ahead of their muscles. Played from the proper tees, it poses an appropriate challenge to more accomplished players and fairness to high handicappers, seniors, women and junior golfers.

The Practice Facility at LPGA International is larger and superior to any I have ever encountered. Totally unique, it is what one might expect from the home of the LPGA Tour and the Teaching and Club Professional Division. The main practice area features an 80,000 square foot surface area of natural turf and 10 target greens. With a combination of perfect turf and high quality practice balls, there is no better place to practice.

There are six practice putting greens throughout our facility so that it’s never too crowded to practice this vital area of your game. Several of these greens have bunkers with different face heights to enable realistic bunker practice. There is also a bunker reserved only for fairway bunker shot practice.

In addition, there is a three-hole Practice Academy course that features a par 5, par 4 and a par 3. It is maintained to the same high standard as our two championship courses.

The practice facility hosts numerous college golf teams for their annual spring training, international teams, local school teams and a wide variety of golf schools.

LPGA International offers world-class golf instruction, school, and clinics. Florida is renowned as a top destination for golfers worldwide, and the LPGA encourages groups and individuals of all levels and ages to come experience our world-class golf instruction.

To learn more about these opportunities view www.lpgainternational.com. Also, see www.daytonabeachcvb.org to plan you trip to the area.

James C. Weaver
jweaver35@comcast.net

Travel Editor
New York Trend, Metropolitan NYC
NewYorkTrendOnLine.com (web)
Travel Correspondent
ilreporter.com (web)
The Morning Telegraph, Tyler, TX
Journal & Topics, Suburban Chicago
Journal-Press, Northern Virginia
Independent Feature Writer
Chestnut Hill Local, Philadelphia
The Crafts Report
CraftsReport.com (web)
Antiques & Collecting
Carousel News & Trader
Old Time Herald
DelMarVa Quarterly
GolfWiz (web)
AANR e-Bulletin (web)

Member:
International Food, Wine
& Travel Writers Association
International Association
of Black Travel Writers

Adam Scott wins 2010 Valero Texas Open

South African Adam Scott wins the 2010 Valero Texas Open to claim his 7th career PGA Tour win.

video courtesy of yahoo sports

RE: Tiger Woods Withdraws from the 2010 Players Championship

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video courtesy of Yahoo Sports

Hank Haney Resigns as Tiger Woods Swing Coach

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video courtesy of yahoo sports