Centro Asturiano de Tampa’s cultural legacy stretches back more than a century.
In the early 20th century, famous jazz musicians played the grand ballroom of Centro Asturiano’s Ybor City clubhouse. In the 1970s, that ballroom featured a disco ball.
For Ansley Blackwell, the connection and passion for Centro Asturiano runs in the family. Blackwell, a third-generation legacy member of Centro Asturiano, is the club’s community relations and marketing manager. Her mother, Cristal Lastra, is the president. And Blackwell’s 90-year-old grandmother still loves to tell stories of her days dancing at Centro Asturiano.
“Hearing stories of her getting dressed up in her gowns, putting on her finest jewelry to go to dances…It’s an honor to be connected to something that’s so important to my family,” Blackwell says.
Part of Tampa's immigrant heritage
Centro Asturiano was established in 1902 as a social club and mutual aid society for Spanish immigrants. It’s named for Asturias, the region of Spain from which most club members hailed. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, immigrants who came to work in Tampa’s booming cigar industry found support and a sense of community in the club.
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Courtesy Centro Asturiano de Tampa“It's so important to know Tampa and Ybor City’s history and everyone who came here to make Tampa what it is today,” Blackwell says. “These clubs were here to support them.”
The circa 1914 clubhouse building on Nebraska Avenue in Ybor has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974.
“This is where their life happened,” Lastra says. “We took care of them from cradle to grave, their medical care, their banking. They’d come here and have dances and see shows in the theater.”
The building provided the immigrant community with a place to socialize, an entertainment venue and needed services. They had a cantina open seven days a week, a bank, medical care, a gym and even a hospital, which remained open until 1990. The library was an educational resource for immigrants, providing English and citizenship classes.
In the day, you’d find men sitting around the cantina, drinking cafecito, playing dominoes, reading La Gaceta newspaper and smoking cigars. At its peak, the club sported around 3,200 members. Today, it is just shy of 300, mostly made up of legacy members.
Centro Asturiano today
While it is no longer the daily hub of social gatherings it once was, Centro Asturiano is still a venue for public and private events, hosting wedding receptions, comedy shows, musicals, recitals, bingo nights, auctions and more.
Today, the main mission of the Centro Asturiano club as a registered nonprofit organization is to preserve the building, its culture and its legacy.
“I hope that this building is here for another 110 years, inspiring generations to learn about its history and its heritage,” Blackwell says. “Tampa’s such a popular place to move to right now and I just hope that people take the time to learn about what it took to get it to what it is today and respect those who came before us.”
The club hosts several fundraisers annually to support its preservation mission, the largest is the Wines of Spain event on August 2nd. The fundraiser will feature more than 50 Spanish and Mediterranean wines. There will be a bourbon, tequila and cigar
What: Centro Asturiano de Tampa "Wines of Spain" fundraiser
Date: August 2nd, 2024
Time: 6 pm - 7 pm (VIP); 7 pm -9 pm (general).
Tickets:
Wines of Spain
lounge to socialize and enjoy a smoke and a drink. Most of the food at the event will come from the famous Columbia restaurant. The evening will feature flamenco dancers, a silent auction and a poetry reading. The funds raised will go toward the restoration of the Centro Asturiano building.
“There’s a lot of upkeep that needs to be done to a 110-year-old building,” says Blackwell.
The building’s gym still houses exercise equipment from the early 20th century. The dust-covered equipment has not been used in about 50 years. Blackwell hopes the room could one day be a museum, where people can see what an early 20th century gym looked like.
“I wish we could go back in time to see what it once was,” she says. “When you think about it, this room was such a cultural hub but now it’s completely unusable.”
Thankfully, Centro Asturiano’s members passionately support the club and its legacy. With an increase in membership over the past year, Blackwell is optimistic about the club’s future.
“Support from the community is fantastic. The more people spread the word, the more people get excited about it,” she says.
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Tashie TierneyAnsley Blackwell
Along with the frequent events and shows at Centro Asturiano, Blackwell says the public is welcome to view the building in all its beauty and explore its heritage during free community tours offered every Tuesday at 10 a.m.
“Tampa was this melting pot of cultures,” Blackwell says. “People came here to work hard and make it what it is now, you don’t want that legacy to get lost.”
For more information, go to Centro Asturiano de Tampa