Some bars are definitely wider than they were years ago. There are, of course, pros and cons to wider (and narrower) bars. It really comes down to what you feel is comfortable. My '90s MTB had a 58cm flat bar and my current hybrids have 58-65cm bars. MTBs in particular, though, have up to 80cm bars.

You can definitely put bar ends on a hybrid. I have a '90s Trek hybrid with some classy silver aluminum bar ends -- they look very period correct and are super comfortable. I have them angled pretty far forward (compared with how many use bar ends), so they feel like riding on the hoods, except they're much higher and much farther apart (about 58cm instead of something like 42cm).


IMG_20180606_200702082 by jnjadcock, on Flickr