Ybor's Jewel, the Columbia Restaurant

In my last posting, I shared a little history of Ybor City, once home of a large Cuban community. At the heart of Ybor is the Columbia Restaurant, in business since 1905, and today run by the fourth generation of the Hernandez-Gonzmart family.

The Columbia is Florida's oldest restaurant, the first restaurant in Tampa to be air-conditioned (a big deal in 1935!), and today it boasts a modern 5000+ square-foot kitchen.

columbiarestaurant.com

The Columbia's interior still has the ambiance of a 1905 establishment, and it looks as though some of the heavier Spanish furniture might even be original to the building.

The restaurant is famous for its "1905 Salad,"  a hearty meal and customer favorite!

The entire outside of the building is decorated with beautiful antique tile work.

The Columbia Restaurant isn't the only building to boast such beautiful tiles. The store across the street, which happens to be a tile gallery, features the work below:

While this tile has coloration one might associate with Spain or Portugal, the original design is actually by the 19th century German artist, Karl Klimsch.

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