This is a little slide show and history on the Horn & Hardart Automats that used to exist in Manhattan. They were great places to eat and even greater places to take a kid. In the summer of 1959 when I was seven, my mother took me to New York City and we had lunch at an Automat. I don't remember where it was but I remember what I ate: A turkey sandwich on white bread, a dish of cooked carrots, a glass of milk and a slice of some very rich cake made with strawberries and whipped cream. I'm still coming down from a sugar rush from that cake.
By the next time I went to New York, which was in 1970, the Automats were close to extinct, though Horn & Hardart's operated a lot of little cafeterias. Our first night in New York, my friend Steve Sherman and I went to one for dinner and I had a quarter of a baked chicken that was swimming in grease with a mound of mashed potatoes. I have no idea how I remember that or why I am telling you.
Here's a few minutes about Automats. In case the piece doesn't make clear, these were not exactly vending machines. There was a wall of these little windows and on the other side of the wall was a kitchen were chefs made the items they would then place into the little windows for your selection…