I wrote here about a trip my mother and I took to New York in 1959 when I was a mere seven years of age. I have a surprising number of memories from that trip and one was a lunch we had at The Automat. At one point, there were many Automats in New York and by '59, they were disappearing one by one.
Don't know what an Automat was? This video, promoting an upcoming documentary, will explain it better than I ever could…
I don't recall which Automat my mother took me to but we were staying at the Hotel Taft which was on Seventh Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets so it probably wasn't the one advertised above at 57th and Sixth…which may not even have been there by '59. I gather they all looked pretty much the same, at least on the inside.
I do remember what a fun place it was, especially for a kid and I somehow remember what I had to eat: A turkey sandwich on white bread, a side dish of cooked carrots, a lemonade and a piece of very rich cake with strawberries and whipped cream. And I even remember wishing we had a place like it back home in Los Angeles. If it had been next door and I had enough change, I never would have eaten anywhere else.
It's odd that we don't see places like this opening left and right these days. When you call a business, you're usually aware how much they don't want to hire human beings to talk to you. When you go to the market, they'd really prefer you use the self-service check-out. Even paying to park your car is often automated to the point where there's not one flesh 'n' blood human being in sight. So, someone's got to be thinking, why not a chain of restaurants that totally eliminates people waiting on diners?
I'm not advocating for this. I don't like the depersonalization of businesses or the job losses. I just like the idea of seeing my food before I commit to paying for it. It's the same reason I like cafeterias…or places like Subway where you can actually see the person assembling your lunch and stop them before they reflexively smear Russian Dressing all over what I ordered. And that Automat was just so much fun.