If you spent any amount of time in Ybor City, then the name Don Barco should ring a bell. The former proprietor of King Corona Cigars was a constant, seemingly always smiling, force in the district where he worked with the Ybor City merchants association to guide the neighborhood to myriad changes like the closing of Empire (where Zydeco Brew Werks is today), the Guavaween fence fight and the district’s most recent changes.
To some Ybor denizens, Barco was the district personified. And that’s why we’ve collected a few reactions from Tampeños reflecting on this morning’s news that Barco has passed away at the age of 67.
Have a look — and listen to a recent podcast that our friends at Cigar City Management recorded with Barco — below.
We'll add more details as they become available.
Manny Leto
Marketing director at Tampa Bay History Center
If you want to know what Ybor City is, what it was like to live and work and experience it every day, I give you Don Barco. King Corona was my entry into Ybor life. I drank there, led my first walking tours from there, interviewed people for Cigar City Magazine there and, sometimes, if I was lucky, the crew that gathered on Saturdays would let me sit in on an endless bullshit session. Guy stuff. Dirty jokes, politics, guitars. It made me feel like an insider.
It also introduced me, in my 20s, to older guys who were unabashedly liberal in their politics, which was new to me. Don always had a smile, always wanted to talk to me about Ybor politics, history, music, and his welcome smile and easy stride was, to me, Ybor City in human form. I’ll always consider Ybor my one true neighborhood, and Don was a friend and fellow traveler. I — and all of Cigar City — will miss him terribly.
Kelly Benjamin
Activist, contributor to CL Tampa
For many years Don Barco was a friend and confidante always willing to lend an ear when I needed to rant about something political or personal. Skilled in the lost art of conversation, he was a great listener, storyteller and advice giver. Most of all, he made people from many walks of life feel welcome. Class Act. I’ll miss him.
Guido Maniscalco
Tampa City Councilman, District 6
Very sad news this morning with the passing of Don Barco, a good friend and a true gentleman and staple in Ybor City. I remember meeting him at King Corona almost a decade ago and have always enjoyed spending time sitting out front along 7th Avenue. He will always be remembered by the many wonderful people who loved him. Kimberly DeFalco took this photo of us a few years ago outside of King Corona.
Tom DeGeorge
Co-owner, GM of Crowbar
He was a great, loving, knowledgeable, beautiful person. One of the greatest mentors anyone could hope for. He taught many people so much and influenced many many lives in the most positive ways imaginable. Ybor City and the world have lost a one-of-a-kind human being but his legacy will live on forever.
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This article appears in Mar 21-28, 2019.