Day Wood’s Ice Cream Bar
Day Wood’s Ice Cream Bar, corner Florida Avenue and Adalee Street, front facade with signs advertising Southern Dairies Ice Cream. 1934. Burgert Brothers. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System
Southeast corner of Florida Avenue and Adalee St., Tampa, FL. 2021. © Chip Weiner
When the first ice factory opened in Tampa in 1884 at Government Springs in Ybor City, ice cream soon followed. Heladarias (ice cream parlors), where cream and sugar were blended and chilled, were popular with Cuban immigrants working in the cigar industry. Demand for the cold sweet treat expanded rapidly and by 1893 Tampa had seven ice cream parlors. By the early 1900s ice cream was big business nationally and the area was a large player, supplying milk and cream to the industry.
In the 1930s Day Woods Ice Cream Bar opened on Florida Avenue, a busy artery running right through the heart of then-popular Tampa Heights. By 1950, the property had become Johnnie’s Tire and Battery Supply and is now a storage yard for Supreme Towing.
From Burgert Brothers: Look Again Vol. 2
Burgert Brothers: Look Again is a compilation of over 900 then and now photographs from the Burgert Brothers collection, spread into two volumes. Volume 1 has images from vintage downtown Tampa and Tampa Heights. Volume 2 contains images from Ybor City, Bayshore, Davis Islands, Hyde Park, South Tampa, West Tampa, and around town.