Paul Wilborn’s Book Takes Us Back to 1980s Ybor
It almost feels redundant to call Paul Wilborn a Renaissance man. The former Tampa Bay Times writer, musician and bandleader, and executive director of the Palladium has added published author to his CV. Wilborn’s s new book: Cigar City: Tales From a 1980s Creative Ghetto.
His maternal great-grandparents immigrated from Sicily and met and married in Ybor. “So we were right there. My father’s family was American, but on my mother’s side was this huge Italian family. We used to have to rent a hall for our Christmas Eve dinner.”
By the time Wilborn was born at Tampa General Hospital in 1952, families were moving out of the once-thriving neighborhood. His parents moved to Temple Terrace when he was 4; his mother still lives in the house he grew up in.
He graduated from King High School and the University of South Florida. By the late 1970s, he embarked on a journalism career, working for more than a decade at the Tampa Tribune, where he covered everything from the police beat to fashion.
Wilborn will be featured in a monthly live taping of Cindy Stovall’s Beauty & The ‘Burg Podcast, which spotlights local arts and business personalities the third Wednesday of each month, broadcasting from SubCentral At The Iberian Rooster, St. Pete’s subterranean multi-genre hangout of choice the past few years.Doors open at 5:30. Live show airs from 6-7 p.m. Stovall will also be streaming live on @Helium Radio’s FB and Instagram pages.Suggested donation of $5 helps cover production costs.
