The Automat

[Gavvy Cravath]

I have heard stories about these places from yesteryear from time to time. We actually have a toy one that we set up at Christmas time at my parents house (along with a lot of vintage 30's and 40's toy cars and figurines).

My 65 year old co-worker loved the automat. Another girl that just turned 40 remembered her parents taking her to one in mid-town in the early 70's.

And now, the "automat" returns. Has anyone tried this joint? I think I'm going to make a pass there early tomorrow morning to check it out.



http://bamnfood.com/index.html



Gavy

 

[jras]

yummmmmm

Small versions of those are all over Amsterdam. Excellent for the munchies after a visit to the "coffee shop".
Spam sushi?
(say what?)

 

[elmo16]

I've been to Automats when I was very young. They were quick, easy, fun and very inexpensive. I especially liked the franks and bean plate. Towards the end of their existence, they became a hangout for the homeless, and became run down dumps.

They remained in business for a while after that as cafeterias, but it just wasn't the same.

 

[Ozzy]

Someone tried about ten years or so back to reinvent the auto-mat didn't they? I think it was on a corner of Madison or Lex in the 50's. It was over priced and quality was typical shit. The novelty like the old 50's drive ups is dead.

 

[DoNotDisturb]

Someone tried about ten years or so back to reinvent the auto-mat didn't they? I think it was on a corner of Madison or Lex in the 50's. It was over priced and quality was typical shit. The novelty like the old 50's drive ups is dead.

I think it may have been 42nd and Lex

 

[Ozzy]

That could be it. It was a major intersection (two way street).... S/E corner I think? At least the one I'm thinking of.

 

[greyfox]

This is the art deco building that housed an automat on West 57 St.It's being demolished to build a Hilton Grand Vacation Club.

Real automat on 42nd street.

Doris Day at a Hollywood version of an automat in "That Touch of Mink"(Mantle ,Maris and Berra are in the movie too!)

 

[Troutman]

I remember going there with my father. The franks and beans had this thin crust over the top that can only be gotten by sitting idly in a Horn & Hardart's Automat cupboard. It was great!

 

[justbill_redux]

From a post by redleg609 from 2002

Horn and Hardart's

From Smithsonian mag


Meet Me at the Automat

Horn & Hardart gave big city Americans a taste of good fast food in its chrome-and-glass restaurants

It was once the world’s largest restaurant chain, serving 800,000 people a day. It was Horn & Hardart, and its cavernous, waiterless establishments represented a combination of fast-food, vending and cafeteria-style eateries. These restaurants, with their chrome-and-glass coin-operated machines, brought high-tech, inexpensive eating to a low-tech era. Making their debut in Philadelphia in 1902, just up the street from Independence Hall, and reaching Manhattan in 1912, Horn & Hardart Automats became an American icon, celebrated in song and humor. With their uniform recipes and centralized commissary system of supplying their restaurants, the Automats were America’s first major fast-food chain.

Theres more at:

( http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues01/aug01/object_aug01.html )

http://utopiaguide.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=117558

 

[VirKodo]

Stop By the new Bamn Automat. The food was really good. I had two teriyaki chicken burgers. $2 each. They were fersh and juicy. Hit the spot. According to TV interviews with the owners, the food won't be held longer than 15 or 20 minutes. I don't remember the exact amount of time but I do remeber it's no more than 20 minutes to insure freshness.

 

[Mr. Wet Wooly]

The food is Asian themed. Roast pork buns, that sort of thing.

 

[Rokin]

I think it may have been 42nd and Lex

Correct.
I was there a few times.
Last time I visited (many years ago) when I went to take the food out of the little vending box/glass (whatever you call it) a bug was in there with the food. Yuck!

 

[benisbig]

The new automat on St. Marks is pretty good. It's not like the old ones where there were places to sit down and eat this is more like a fast food automat.

 

[vermeer]

sooner or later these will turn into homeless shelters and hoor offices. $5 suck in the bathroom.

 

[neilz]

Their baked beans and mac & cheese were the greatest. I loved watching the change guy slide 20 nickles at you from a pile with 2 hands after you gave him a dollar.

 

[Mr. Wet Wooly]

sooner or later these will turn into homeless shelters and hoor offices. $5 suck in the bathroom.

The bathroom? The other night I just stuck my cock in one of the little food compartments and was in high heaven.

 

[justlooking]

The problem is, you never know if you're going to get one of the compartments with a mouth behind it or one of the ones with a meat grinder.

 

[Mr. Wet Wooly]

Last night, the little sign on one of the compartments said 'WHAT MEN NEED MOST WHEN THEY'RE AWAY FROM THEIR WIVES'. I was horny and curious, so I put in my change, unzipped my fly and put in Junior. After three minutes of excruciating pain, I removed my cock and a shirt button was sewed to the tip of it.