Pietro Giorgianni immigrated from Italy and started the Latin-American Bakery in 1908 at 1932-34 Main Street. As West Tampa grew, so did his business.  In 1928, he built this $16,000, 1-story structure at 2310 Main St. to enlarge and update his operations. A large oven was built into the structure for baking. Cuban bread had become legendary and an essential ingredient for the famed Cuban sandwich. The Latin-American bakery was instrumental in the popularity of the bread in Tampa. The bakery also sponsored a championship bowling team in the Duckpin League in the 1930s. Giorgianni died in 1945, but the business continued when his family took it over.

In 1947, a legal battle ensued when Giorgianni’s son John attempted to enforce a partnership agreement he claimed was signed by his father in 1941, even though John had withdrawn from the business in 1942. The suit asked for a fifty percent ownership, with the balance to be split between the remaining nine Giorgianni siblings. Circuit Court Judge Sandler ruled against John and decided that profits from the bakery would be divided equally. In October of 1949, John put the property up for public auction. It sold again in 1952 for $32,000, but legal ownership issues persisted through the late 1950s. The House of Sandwich moved here in 1971 for a short run, then West Tampa Door and Hardware took over in the 1990s and remains there today.

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