Friends Enjoy The Domino Effect

From a hallway on the second floor of Centro Asturiano de Tampa, a visitor is greeted with rising voices, laughter and the clatter of domino tiles.

It's the Centro's Cantina, where regulars gather Monday through Saturday to play intense games of dominoes and rummy while they chatter about life and politics, share a drink, sip Cuban coffee, smoke a cigar and reconnect to a social scene no longer commonplace in Tampa.

"Keeping the tie to the past is extremely important to us because it shows where we came from, how we got here," said Rick Duran, the Centro Asturiano's executive director.

"It's a little example of how the immigrants who came here to work at the cigar factories back at the turn of the 20th century lived their lives," Duran said. "Everything centered around the social club they belonged to, the mutual benefit society they belonged to."

After retiring as a butcher, Pedro Aribu has been a regular at the Cantina for 16 years. He enjoys the opportunity to play dominoes because it connects him to Cuba, his native country where the game is a national tradition.

At age 81, playing dominoes also serves as a good diversion. He is grateful the Cantina allows him to keep up his skills.

Aribu hangs out at the private club from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. six days a week. Without it, he isn't certain what he would do.

"I'd have to go to the mall to walk, and on other days I would go to the beach during the summer," said Aribu, of Tampa. "There are no other activities at my age."

Manuel Blanco is another regular. He has been involved with the Cantina for 40 years.

Blanco plays both dominoes and rummy. He said the domino matches with partners can get heated, so he prefers playing rummy.

But the tensions don't last, he said.

"The Cantina has a lot of fellowship," said Blanco, 81, of Tampa. "We have something for the members to come and pass the time as they get older."

Centro Asturiano de Tampa, named for the Asturias region in northern Spain, was founded in 1902 as a mutual aid society. It offered health and medical benefits, as well as social and recreational activities to its members.

During the Great Depression, it had the nation's only Spanish-language theater supported by the federal Works Progress Administration. Musicians including Andres Segovia and Ernesto Lecuona performed there. In the Centro's ballroom, Doris Day, Count Basie, Stan Kenton and Buddy Rich entertained audiences.

The organization also operated a hospital in Ybor City until 1990.

In 1907, the original building burned. The existing structure, 1913 N. Nebraska Ave., was built in 1914. The organization had more than 4,000 members in the early 1900s. Today it has more than 300, Duran said.

The Cantina has about 40 members who range in age from the 20s to the oldest member, who is 97, Duran said. They pay $30 a year to access the Cantina.

The Cantina draws a mix of people, but no women, although it's open to them, Duran said.

Duran said Cantina regulars are trying to attract more members and are hosting their fourth annual domino tournament March 28 to tout the history of the Centro and increase membership.

"It offers a glimpse into what it might have been..." Duran said. "Maybe the politics were different, maybe the dress was different, maybe the drinks were different, but the atmosphere was the same."

"It was the socialization, the fraternization of men here who shared ideas and maybe a lot of things would be decided here," Duran said.

At 56, Mark Perez is one of the younger Cantina members. He recently retired from Verizon after 33 years and regularly can be found at the Cantina.

He enjoys playing dominoes and cards and likes the Cantina's atmosphere. When he worked for Verizon, Perez would volunteer 50 hours a year at the Centro and receive a donation from the company for the Centro. Perez, of Riverview, would present the gift to the organization to help keep the Cantina going.

"The cantina is the fun part that not only I but most of the people that come here every day enjoy," Perez said.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Centro Asturiano de Tampa Cantina

WHERE: 1913 N. Nebraska Ave.

WHEN: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday

COST: $30 for annual Cantina membership

CONTACT: (813) 229-2214