Backwoods Blog

THE AUTOMAT

Backwoods Blog;

in the woods and on the road…

“Nostalgia – it’s delicate, but potent…. In Greek, nostalgia literally means “the pain from an old wound.” It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a spaceship, it’s a time machine. It goes backwards, and forwards… it takes us to a place where we ache to go again.”

–Don Draper in Mad Men, pitching an advertising campaign for the Kodak Carousel slide projector (circa 1965)

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I recently watched a documentary by Lisa Hurwitz titled The Automat (2021) following the history of the Horn and Hardart Restaurants located in Philadelphia and New York during the twentieth century. Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart opened their first H&H Baking Company Lunch Room in Philadelphia in 1888 featuring their New Orleans style French drip coffee and home baked goods. While visiting Europe in 1900 they were impressed by the new “automatic” restaurant concept and ordered a German Quisisana system from Berlin. The first Horn & Hardart Automat opened in Philadelphia in 1902 (to much fanfare) as customers were amazed by the new technology and delicious food. Ten years later the first Automat opened in New York City in Times Square in 1912. Horn & Hardart’s chief engineer, John Fritsche, introduced key innovations to the original model and the American Automat soon became the H&H standard that we have come to know. The Automat drew from the tradition of elegant coffee houses in Europe and the modern allure of machines and urban sophistication; coffee automatically dispensed from a brass spigot in the shape of a dolphin head, a vending machine wall of little glass windows which displayed food and opened when you dropped a coin in the slot – and all at an affordable price. When Frank Hardart died in 1918 the headline of his obituary in the New York Times read, “The Man Who Created the Slot-Machine Lunch.” Mel Brooks grew up in Brooklyn and fondly remembers the Automat as a place “where you needed a lot of nickels, but you didn’t need a lot of money.” When Mel heard about The Automat project he volunteered to help in any way possible to make it a success. In effect, Mel ends up on camera with high screen-time and is the defacto star of the documentary. The 95 year old Brooks even composed and performs a Broadway sounding show tune “At the Automat” for the closing credits. Other celebrities and real-life customers that appear in the documentary are Carl Reiner, Elliot Gould, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Colin Powell and Howard Schultz (founding CEO of Starbucks Coffee).  People’s faces lit up as the interviewer asked what some of their favorite foods were; salisbury steak, macaroni and cheese, creamed spinach, meat pies, chicken salad sandwiches, and of course, all those pies! And you didn’t have to leave a tip.

The Horn and Hardart Automats provided an egalitarian model where patrons from all economic, ethnic and racial backgrounds were welcome (you didn’t even need to know English to operate the machines or place your order). To eat at the Automat was an American experience no matter where you happened to be from. If you were a tourist visiting New York, eating at the Automat was on the “to-do” list right behind visiting the Empire State Building and seeing the Statue of Liberty. The Automat Restaurants have also appeared in numerous movies such as “The Touch of Mink” (1962) with Doris Day and Cary Grant and Joan Crawford getting a cup of automat coffee in “Sadie McKee” (1934). If you search for “Automat” on YouTube numerous videos appear that show you what the automat-experience was like in that particular era. During the Great Depression the automats were a place where you could get a good cup of coffee for a nickel and a hot meal with pocket change. Generations of patrons putting nickels in the slots at an automat and taking their favorite dish out of the little glass and chrome food compartment has created a nostalgia for the automat cafeteria that still lingers today long after the last one closed. The last New York Horn & Hardart Automat, which was on the southeast corner of 42nd Street and Third Avenue, closed in April, 1991. There have been attempts to re-invent the automatic restaurant model in recent years (especially since Covid) but most are essentially take-out meals ordered via smart phone apps or kiosk and picked up at the store location in a high-tech storage/display box where there is no inside dining area. Two such examples are Automat Kitchen in New Jersey and Eatsa in San Francisco, also known as a robot restaurant.  For now, I recommend that you view Kurwitz’s delightful documentary The Automat* and reminisce about the favorite diners and eateries that stand out in your memory. You may want to eat a big slice of pie with a cup of coffee while you do so…

* The Automat can be rented or purchased now on Apple or Amazon Prime Video. Rumor has it that it may be available to stream on Netflix at a future date.

In the woods,

Dave

July 27, 2022