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Gonzmart Bust Stolen Again From Columbia Restaurant

Photo from the Columbia Restaurant

After the last theft, a nearby resident who found the bust of Adela in her yard returned it safely to the family in January 2006.

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By VALERIE KALFRIN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 4, 2008

TAMPA - TAMPA - TAMPA - Columbia Restaurant owner Richard Gonzmart thought he was blessed in 2006 when someone returned a stolen bronze bust of his mother about a month after it vanished from outside the landmark Ybor City restaurant.

He doesn't think he will be that fortunate again.

Saturday, an employee of the Seventh Avenue restaurant discovered that the 80-pound hollow sculpture of Gonzmart's mother, Adela Hernandez Gonzmart, was gone from its sidewalk pedestal. Someone had wrenched the likeness of the restaurant family's matriarch from the marble where it had been bolted and welded after the theft in December 2005.

"I said, 'You've got to be kidding me.' I couldn't believe it," Gonzmart said Monday.

Tampa police are investigating the theft.

Adela Hernandez Gonzmart's grandfather founded the Columbia as a corner café in 1905. The Columbia has grown to include locations in Sarasota, St. Petersburg, St. Augustine and Celebration, all owned and operated by descendants of the founding family, officials said.

A concert pianist before entering the restaurant business, Adela Gonzmart and her husband, Cesar, were like Ybor City's king and queen. They filled the elegant restaurant with art and artifacts, such as a portrait of them composed of Cuban coffee and wine. They entertained celebrities, once met Generalissimo Francisco Franco of Spain and performed music on a WFLA program years ago called "The Latin Quarter," with Adela Gonzmart on the piano and Cesar Gonzmart on the violin.

Busts of the couple — Adela Gonzmart smiling in pearls and Cesar Gonzmart in a ruffled shirt playing the violin — have graced the Seventh Avenue sidewalk outside the restaurant's entrance since 2001.

No vandals have touched the bust of Cesar Gonzmart and won't get the chance. "I'm putting my dad's inside," Richard Gonzmart said.

After the last theft, a nearby resident who found the bust of Adela in her yard returned it safely to the family in January 2006. At the time, the family considered moving both busts indoors but left them outside because of Adela and Cesar's love of art, Richard Gonzmart said.

He is offering a $2,500 reward for the statue's safe return, no questions asked. If no one returns the bust within 10 days, he said he will commission a replacement, which could cost more than $25,000 – double the original's cost.

Gonzmart wondered if someone had stolen the bust to melt it down for the bronze.

"It's sad. Just a lack of respect," he said. "I guess you can't have nice things any longer."

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

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