Posted on 08/27/2023 3:03:59 PM PDT by Twotone
Like most people who've lived more than five decades, I have a few regrets. Some are deep and personal and as such none of your business. But some are less severe and can be borne lightly: prime among them is that, while I had the opportunity countless times, I never ate in an Automat.
I had every chance; the last Automat in New York City, at 42nd St. and Third Avenue, closed in April of 1991, by which point I had been visiting the city every few months for a couple of years. It had fallen steeply since its heyday in the '40s – in a New York Times story one Halton Adler Mann, described as "an Automat fan who lives on the Upper West Side", said that "the chicken pot pies had become a dried-out gelatinous mess...You couldn't get the warm apple pie with vanilla sauce anymore, the cream spinach tasted as if it were canned, the stewed tomatoes had lost their real tomato flavor, and the chocolate milk cost too much."
The iconic cafeteria had become insalubrious, and my dining companions would have included more than a few bums nursing a cup of coffee or "condiment soup" made with free hot water mixed with ketchup and mustard packets. But knowing what I do now about the Automat's historical and cultural importance, it would have been worth it to bear witness to something peculiar to the 20th century before it disappeared, probably forever.
It's been over three decades since that last Automat closed but its mythic status lingered enough to inspire Lisa Hurwitz to direct a feature documentary celebrating its history and lamenting the passing of everything that made the Automat possible. Released in 2021 after a decade of research and interviews...
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
I miss hearing Mark’s voice/insight when he filled in for Rush. :(
Anybody remember P.D.Q. Bach’s “Concerto for Horn and Hardart”?
The black and white comedy films from the 50’s is where I saw automats, never face to face. I didn’t even know that was their proper name until just now.
It was an invention of its time. It could work now, but only in closed environments and with people of easygoing temperment.
I seem to recall you could buy Horn & Hardart Cakes and pies in retail stores back in the day.
Ha ha ha ha! Yes, I remember that well.
Peter Schickele was a twisted genius.
True. True. True.
Today an automat would succumb to the subhuman vermin roaming our
urban landscapes. The dispensing doors would last a week until they were all
pried open and destroyed, the glass smashed. The seating would be ripped and vandalized.
Welcome to dystopian world of Wakanda.
I remember an episode of ‘That Girl’ when Marlo Thomas/Ann Marie was a struggling actress and was so broke that she went to the Automat and used a cup of hot water and free ketchup packets to make Tomato Soup!
I decided that day that I was NOT going to be a ‘Starving Actress’ in NYC when I grew up. ;)
“Dined” at one in my youth, 1963 or so. Memorable in the way of operation, but forgettable in the way of flavor.
The documentary (featuring Mel Brooks) was quite good.
Nice. Did you know that Prof. Schickele is still alive at 88 (and Tom Lehrer at 95)? I doubt either still performs, though.
The Automat scene in the Jean Arthur comedy “Easy Living” was hilarious.
Bookmark
(I hope Lerher is not spending his time sitting in the park poisoning pigeons!)
I ate at one once as well.
I had a great aunt who lived in the city and she took us (the kids) to one just to show us what it was.
She did warn us the food was mediocre—and she was correct.
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