Besides residential buildings, the neighborhood streets are lined with restaurants, bars, clubs, shops, cultural centers, churches and galleries.

Coahuila, bisected by Roma's signature boulevard, Avenida Álvaro Obregón, is where the vast majority of the hippest restaurants, bars, clubs, etc.

Roma Norte I, west of Insurgentes, has fewer landmark buildings and is a mix of offices, restaurants, retail and residential.

The territory of modern Colonia Roma in pre-Hispanic times consisted of the very shallow waters of Lake Texcoco and a number of very small islands of firm ground, on one of which stood the village of Aztacalco.

It was one of several projects of this type by architect Mario Pani, designed to house city government workers and to be semi-autonomous with its own schools, administration, businesses etc.

[13] The largest street is Avenida Álvaro Obregón, whose traffic islands have large trees, walking paths and metal benches.

The popular name of this red-brick castle-like structure, built in 1908, comes from the face that seems to be formed by the windows on the top of the corner tower and the Art Deco entrance, which was added in the 1930s.

It was the setting for part of a short story called “La batallas en el desierto” by José Emilio Pacheco.

These were homes of bankers, factory owners, politicians, artists and businessmen who worked in the city center but lived here.

Today, there are an estimated 1,100 structures which date from the 1930s or earlier, compared to the 500 to 600 the remain in Santa María la Ribera and Colonia Juárez.

[24] These earlier structures include examples of Neo-colonial (which imitate the styles built during Mexico's colonial period) and Art Deco, but most are “Porfirian,” meaning that they are a mix of French, Roman, Gothic and Moorish elements which were all fashionable in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

[21] One of these old mansions was the home of television personality Paco Stanley, who says he bought the structure because of its “small friendly ghosts,” naming it “La Princesita” or The Little Princess.

[25] These houses and streets have provided the backdrop for films such as Los Olvidados, filmed in La Romita by Luis Buñuel and literary works such as Batallas en el desierto by José Emilio Pacheco, Agua Quemada by Carlos Fuentes, Manifestacion de Silencios by Arturo Azuela and El vampiro de la colonia roma by Luis Zapata.

[21] Owners of many of the older structures have had or have wanted to demolish or radically change them for economic reasons, a process which still persists today.

[27] While the older mansions are no longer economically viable as residences, there has been efforts since the 1990s to save them, by converting them into offices, stores, restaurants and other businesses with restrictions aimed at conserving their facades and the colonia's overall character.

[21][26] Like neighboring Colonia Condesa, Roma has a number of cafes, restaurants and other eateries established in older structures (as well as newer ones), especially along Álvaro Obregón, Colima, and Orizaba streets, and on plazas Río de Janeiro and Luis Cabrera.

[22] In the 1930s and 40s many Jewish residents moved from downtown Mexico City to Roma and Condesa, where Yiddish was the unofficial language of Parque España, the local park.

The goal is to promote Mexican art from its current status as regionally relevant to one with broader appeal, by not only promoting native artists more effectively at home but also by sponsoring international tours, featuring established artists such as Francisco Toledo, Roberto Márquez and Alfredo Castaneda as well as newer talents such as Cisco Jimenez and Guillermo Kuitca.

You can find different murals made by national and international artists such as D*Face, Interesni Kaski, Saner, Revost among others.

[34] The district is the namesake for the 2018 film Roma, written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón, which takes place in the neighborhood during the 1970s.

[35] Casa Lamm is a cultural center and restaurant located in a restored mansion that dates to 1911 on Avenida Álvaro Obregón.

It also offers a master's degree in Literary Appreciation and Creation, which combines both classes on criticism as well as workshops for writers mostly focusing on Latin American and European works.

When this institution moved to Polanco in 1986, it began to lease the building free to the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).

[10][39] Although unproven, it is still rumored that the house was used for prostitution at one point and there is also local legend which states that a ghosts wanders through its halls, rooms and especially in the terrace.

[39] The bookstore specializes in the promotion of mostly written works produced by those associated with UNAM in the center of the city away from the Ciudad Universitaria.

In the 1920s, painter and Jesuit priest Gonzalez Carrasco decorated the interior with murals, with two smaller paintings realized by Hermano Tapia.

The interior also contains the remains of Miguel Agustín Pro, a Jesuit priest executed by Plutarco Elias Calles in 1927 during the Cristero War and considered to be a martyr.

The church is fronted by a small atrium bordered by a wrought-iron fence constructed by the Gábelich workshop, which was in neighboring Colonia Doctores.

[44] On Avenida Cuauhtémoc between Querétaro and Zacatecas streets is the Nuestra Señora del Rosario Church, which was built by Mexican architects Angel and Manuel Torres Torija.

Avenida Alvaro Obregon has a pedestrian median (camellón) lined with gardens and fountains with characters from Roman and Greek mythology.