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COLUMBIA RESTAURANT TIMELINE
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1905 - Columbia Restaurant is founded in Tampa's Ybor City by Casimiro Hernandez Sr.
1927 - Casimiro Hernandez Jr. takes over the operation of the restaurant. He is the 2nd generation owner/operator.
1930 - Columbia celebrates its 25th Anniversary.
1930 - Casimiro Hernandez Sr. passes away.
1935 - Casimiro Jr. builds the first air-conditioned dining room in Tampa, complete with an elevated dance floor. The Don Quixote dining room is born.
1937 - Casimiro Jr. builds the Patio Dining room. Resembling a courtyard like the ones found in Andalucia, the south of Spain, it is surrounded by a balcony, with a colorful mosaic-tiled fountain with
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Columbia Restaurant Café, circa 1906. |
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the "Love and the Dolphin" statue in the middle. The statue is a replica of a sculpture found in the ruins of Pompeii. A retractable glass skylight was installed, giving the room a wonderful bright and sunny look during the day, and an enchanted glow at night.
1950's - Casimiro Hernandez, Jr. hires his new son-in-law, Cesar Gonzmart, a former concert violinist. Cesar was married to Casimiro's only child, Adela, who was a concert pianist trained at the Juilliard School of Music. Cesar & Adela are the 3rd generation owners/operators.
1955 - Columbia celebrates its 50th Anniversary.
1956 - Cesar builds the Siboney Room. It's a 300-seat showroom designed to showcase the top Latin talent of the time.
1959 - Columbia Restaurant opens a 2nd location on St. Armands Circle in Sarasota, Florida. Today that restaurant is Sarasota's oldest restaurant.
1960's - Cesar and Adela's two sons, Richard and Casey, begin working at Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City. They begin with receiving merchandise in the restaurant & stocking shelves, working their way through all the different cooking stations within the kitchen.
1962 - Casimiro Hernandez, Jr. passes away.
1970's- Richard & Casey Gonzmart join the day-to-day management of the Columbia. They are the 4th generation owners/operators.
1970-2000's- The 5th Generation is born: Richard has two children; Lauren & Andrea (1970's). Casey has six children: Cassandra, Casey Jr., and Jessica (1980's) Charlie (1990's) and Christian & Marlena (2000's).
1980 - Columbia celebrates its 75th Anniversary.
1983 - Columbia Restaurant opens a 3rd location in the Historic District of St. Augustine, Florida.
1988 - Columbia Restaurant opens a 4th location at the Pier in St. Petersburg, Florida.
1989 - Columbia Restaurant opens a 5th location at Sand Key, on Clearwater Beach, Florida.
1992 - Cesar Gonzmart passes away.
1996 - Lauren Gonzmart, daughter of Richard and Melanie and the 5th generation family member, joins the company full-time.
1997 - Columbia Restaurant opens a 6th location near Orlando, in Celebration, Florida.
2001 - A brand new, 5000+ square foot kitchen is built in Ybor City. Florida's most modern, state-of-the-art kitchen is now in the state's oldest restaurant.
2001 - Andrea Gonzmart, daughter of Richard and Melanie and 5th generation family member, joins the company full-time.
2001 - The 6th generation family members are born. Lauren Gonzmart welcomes twins Michael and Isabella into the family. In 2006, younger brother Maximilian Cesar is welcomed into the family.
2001 - Adela Hernandez Gonzmart passes away.
2002 - The renovated Siboney Banquet Room in Ybor City is completed.
2002 - Columbia awarded the MassMutual National Family Business of the Year award.
2003 - Richard & Casey Gonzmart inducted into the 2003 Tampa Bay Business Hall of Fame.
2004 - Chosen "Our Favorite Romantic Restaurant" by the Southern Living Magazine's writers. Only nine restaurants in the Southeast United States were selected, and Columbia Restaurant of Ybor City was the only restaurant chosen in Florida.
2004 - The first brand new dining rooms built at Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City since 1956 are complete; the Andalucia and the Familia de Casimiro. These new dining rooms were built in the space that housed the old kitchen. The Familia de Casimiro is designed to resemble a Spanish wine cellar, with space for private meetings.
These two new dining rooms bring the total number of dining rooms to fifteen, with seating for up to 1,700 people. The restaurant has a grand total of 52,000 square feet, and encompasses an entire city block.
The new kitchen and dining rooms were part of a $6.5 million renovation project preparing the restaurant for its 100th anniversary in 2005. Other completed projects include new state-of-the-art restrooms for men and women, renovation of existing dining rooms, new wine cellars, and a new, energy efficient air conditioning system.
2005 - The Gonzmart family and the Columbia Restaurant celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the restaurant's founding.
2005 - The Columbia Restaurant of Ybor City earns the Distinguished Restaurants of North America (DiRoNA) Award of Excellence.
2005 - The Columbia Restaurant of Ybor City is named One of Southern Living Magazine's "Favorite Regional Tastes" for Spanish and Cuban cuisine.
2005 - Richard Gonzmart awarded the National Restaurant Association's "Humanitarian of the Year Award" for the State of Florida.
2006 - The Columbia Restaurant of Ybor City is named to the Golden Spoon "Hall of Fame" - the industry's highest regional award. This recognition is given to Florida restaurants that are named Golden Spoon winners consecutively over a period of time. The Golden Spoon award recognizes individual achievement and distinctive contributions at an established eatery. Columbia has been named "One of Florida's Top Restaurants" every year since 1967, the year Florida Trend magazine created the award.
2006 - Richard Gonzmart inducted into the Florida Tourism Hall of Fame by the Florida Commission on Tourism.
2006 - The Gonzmart family builds a brand new, state-of-the-art kitchen in the Columbia Sarasota on St. Armands Circle.
2007 - Cassandra Gonzmart, daughter of Casey and 5th generation family member, joins the company full-time.
2007 - Columbia awarded the Celebration of Free Enterprise Award from the University of South Florida in Tampa.
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