Eugenie Bondurant (L) and Paul Wilborn, c. 2014. Credit: Photo by Heidi Kurpiela

Ybor City is quite literally changing in front of our eyes (have you seen those bricks??), but author and journalist Paul Wilborn looks back and taps into his award-winning 2019 book “Cigar City: Tales From A 1980s Creative Ghetto” for the first of four events celebrating the work’s fifth anniversary.

Wilborn and his better half—model and actress Eugenie Bondurant (“Hunger Games,” “The Conjuring,” “Werewolf By Night”)—will read from the book inside Tempus Projects, which is currently home to “Theo Wujcik: Too Big For Tempus,” an exhibition of archived work by the late Tampa art legend and traveler.

Wilborn told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that his friend Wujcik, along with photographer Bud Lee, was the most talented artist in the district.

“ I visited his studio, followed him to the Ms, Lucky Club (but could never stay as late as he did), and was around when he met his future wife outside the Ovo Cafe,” Wilborn added. “And in keeping with the spirit of the place, he was constantly reinventing himself and pushing the boundaries of his work.”

There’s no cover for “Ybor City in the ‘80s and ‘90s—Paul Wilborn w/Eugenie Bondurant” on Thursday, Aug. 15 at Tempus Projects in Ybor City.

Readers are invited to submit their own events to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s things to do calendar.

Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.

This article appears in Aug 8-14, 2024.