The Island Shine Auto Wash site has served various uses over the years. It was carved from the Robles’ family large homestead for development. Plans for a new subdivision of buildable lots were filed with the Clerk in 1888. Evidence suggests the Pexa family were the first to inhabit the home that was built there. Next, it went to the Garcia family. The longest-habitating residents, the Hale family, came after. The home was then converted into a boarding house, witnessing several owners and many residents during WWII and after. In 1965 a car wash was constructed on the site and it has remained as such for the past sixty years. As greater shifts occur in the neighborhood, this site is likely to play a role in Nebraska Avenue’s future transformation.
Robles Family
The property was originally owned by Joseph Robles, a Spanish immigrant and prominent early Tampa figure. His homestead stretched along Nebraska Avenue between Columbus Drive and 26th Avenue. By the late 1800s, the Robles family began subdividing the land, with the lot lines for the property officially drawn in 1888.
Pexa Family
Eventually, a two-story wood-frame house was built on the lot. The earliest recorded occupants were Albert and Antonia Pexa, Czech immigrants who journeyed through the Midwest before settling in Tampa. They moved into the home sometime between 1909 and 1912. Albert opened an auto business in 1913. Their stay was brief—marked by the 1912 death of their son, Albert F. Pexa—and ended by 1914.
Garcia Family
In 1916, Spanish immigrant Alvaro M. Garcia and his American wife Nellie lived in the home. Alvaro, who worked in the cigar industry, likely held a position of some status. In 1917, others including Modesto Garcia and Manuel Alvarez were also listed at the address, though the family left within five years.
Hale Family
Arthur B. Hale, a civic leader, moved in by 1921. While widely respected for his work in engineering, business and politics during his time, Hale also deed-restricted his subdivision development to bar Black ownership. His 20-year residency marked a period of stability before selling the home in 1941.
Boarding House
Luigi Dolcimascolo, a Sicilian immigrant, bought the house in 1941 and converted it into a boarding house. While passing through several owners, the boarding house became home to working-class families and individuals during wartime and beyond. 
Stories of residents’ daily lives—including accidents, performances, and legal troubles—were often captured in local papers. The property was listed for sale in 1955 and becomes difficult to track after 1957.
Car Wash
The site reappeared in the record in 1965 as Magic Spray Car Wash. It has remained a car wash since, passing through multiple generations of family of the Manuel Suarez, Jr. In November 2023, it was sold to Urban Auto Worx LLC (an affiliate of UrbanReWorx), which rebranded the car wash as Island Shine Auto Wash and soon proposed an affordable housing development on the site.
Island Shine Auto Wash’s history reflects the historical conditions in the neighborhood. From homestead, to family home, to boarding house, and finally, to car wash, the changes are emblematic of Nebraska Avenue’s descent from upper-middle-class residential street to worn, blighted auto-oriented speedway. With momentum driving the neighborhood toward a tighter integration with the urban core, time will tell what becomes of the site. Recent and planned improvements to nearby infrastructure and an investment boom south of the interstate have positioned the site to play a role in Nebraska Avenue’s future transformation. What becomes of the property is now a matter of municipal budgetary considerations and the market. Whatever its potential may hold, the site is destined to make an impact.
