Spanish newspaper La Traduccion was founded in 1903 by J.A. Gregory, who was the first to introduce public reading in Tampa cigar factories. Traduccion means translation in Spanish. Gregory’s paper would take the news, assisted by reader/journalist Ramon Valdespino and Victor Muñoz Rivera, from English media- primarily newspapers- and translate it to Spanish for reading by Lectores at the cigar factories. Los Lectores enjoyed some celebrity among the cigar industry. The paper was later owned and published by Anthony Fernandez and lasted until the mid-1950s. There’s a mismatch in the address in the title of the Burgert Photo. It says the building is at 1916 15th Street, yet the City Directory for that year states the business is at 1812 15th Street, where the building still stands.

In the early 2000s, Redner Enterprises, with Tampa’s most prominent name in strip club’s owner Joe Redner as president, bought the building. In 2009, a team of people rehabilitated it using creativity and technology to open The Roosevelt, a sustainable green event space. It closed in 2013. Microbrewery and tasting room Cigar City Cider & Mead opened its doors here in late 2014 and remains in business today. 

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