Automats

[opus]

Since everyone here is old, anyone ever eat at a place like this? Not sure how prevalent they are nowadays. I'd guess barely if at all.


An automat is a fast food restaurant where simple foods and drinks are served by vending machines.

[stevea]

I was probably taken to one as a kid. H & H stood for Horn and Hardart and it was a cafeteria/automat in Philadelphia and probably a few other cities in the East. They also had bakery goods that were sold in grocery stores.

[Caroline13]

I'm pretty sure I got something at one in NYC on my first trip to NY in 1957, I was 18 and on a fun weekend with a gf looking for boys. I may have been to one again in the 70's when I was in sales on the road, but maybe not...back in the sales like, it was fine dining and NY is known for that.

[Babalu]

I think we covered this subject before.

I remember being in one a few times when I was very young but I never understood the appeal.

My father never stopped talking about it. He loved the Automat.

[GentlemanJim]

I recall that they had a gallery like this in the snack area of a nearby bowling alley, vintage 1960s. One product that amused me were the hot, ready to eat cans of soup. Evidently they were kept hot continuously, because they were served on demand, no wait time. The sandwiches always seemed gross. diagonal cut egg salad on white, that had been sitting in that machine for goodness knows how long.

In 1990s era Los Angeles, I knew a vending machine guru who had clusters of food vending machines at several locations throughout the LA area. At that time the "cutting edge" was machines that used a vacuum hose to serve frozen ice cream bars, $2.50 a pop. I was surprised that someone was earning a living doing this, but he was driving a better car than mine.....so it must have been paying off. Where he seemed to be making his best business was on corporate campuses, where someone like Toyota was occupying several buildings in an office park, where he would have a canteen-like operation on each floor.

[icecream]

I must be young, had not heard of automats.

[opus]

Originally Posted by icecream

I must be young, had not heard of automats.

You kids today and your freshly made food that isn’t sitting in machine for days and days. You don’t know what you’re missing.

[1960'sTVfan]

I don't know if Automats still exist or if they have completely become a thing of the past. They looked like cool places but I never had the experience of visiting one.

[GentlemanJim]

Well, being able to actually see the food you are going to eat before you are financially responsible for it would solve my main pet peeve against fast foods having glorious menu imagery, where the product they actually serve you falls short.

And, for those who seem to abhor the idea of tipping unless the server royally kisses their fanny, I can see obvious benefit. And one (other) business model that does over come both of those,...the buffet style cafeteria, regrettably has all that food exposed to chatty "spit ball" type patrons, so Automat style having the food inside windowed compartments that won't open until you pay seems like progress in that area.

But you still have some of that food being left to languish until it's sold....kinda scary




But hey, I've always wanted to learn to play the holophonor

[Caroline13]

Post War, a lot of inventions were good in many lives of those who knew WWII.

[Wawwie]

Even though I'm 50 years old, I don't remember automats at all. My dad loved automats. What I do remember is back in the days when department stores like Woolworth's or Gimble's had lunch counters. I used to get egg salad sandwiches, cole slaw and pickles after shopping with mom. The good 'ol days.

[1960'sTVfan]

I also remember those dime stores that had lunch counters, my former neighborhood had one back in the 1960's and 70's and they had the best tasting hot dogs, they were cooked in a roaster. Some good ol' days to be sure.

[stevea]

The G. C. Murphy at a mall here had a lunch counter up into "modern times," I'm guessing into the 1990s. I think it was there until the chain went under. Of course the mall has fallen on hard times too, as many of them have.

Unlike McDonalds you could actually watch them fry your hamburger.

[Yong Fang]

Too young to remember those, I was born in 1967 and remember things from the early 1970's on. I have seen old 1950's shows where the characters would be in an "automat".

I guess the rise of fast food places in the 1960's killed the automat.

[Torgo]

Nov 22, Turner Classic Movies will be airing a documentary about automats, aptly titled The Automat- it's showing 2 times that day.