Once upon a time, 1888, to be exact, Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart founded a restaurant that became a chain, a place in which you could put a nickel in well constructed vending machines and get a high quality piece of apple, peach, or lemon meringue pie, creamed spinach, turkey, ham and cheese sandwich, and many other well loved entees. To compliment the food or have on it's own, you could put five cents in a slot and pour a piping hot cup of perfect coffee out of a dolphin spigot, inspired by a fountain in Rome.
The first location was in Philadelphia. Other locations around Manhattan and other cities followed. Horn and Hardart believed in quality. They did not cut corners. They treated their employees like family. The architecture often incorporated the jazzy art deco of the day. People of all races and financial backgrounds had an equal place at Horn & Hardart's, which was also called The Automat in some of the locales. Providing the public with fresh cooked food for a nickel during the depression and times money was tight and creating an envionment that supported racial equality in a time when racism was rampant is no small feat. I enjoyed learning the history of this remarkable, historic, humanitarian eatery by watching the documentary The Automat.
Well known people includng Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Eliot Gould, and Colin Powell share their fond memories of The Automat in the film. I learned after I watched this well made movie that my father loved to eat there, I suppose when he was a student at NYU. I wonder if his family went there when he was growing up in Brooklyn? Oh, to have been there!
If you like a heart warming, educational documentary as much as a good cuppa coffee, I recommend The Automat. I saw it on Amazon.
The first location was in Philadelphia. Other locations around Manhattan and other cities followed. Horn and Hardart believed in quality. They did not cut corners. They treated their employees like family. The architecture often incorporated the jazzy art deco of the day. People of all races and financial backgrounds had an equal place at Horn & Hardart's, which was also called The Automat in some of the locales. Providing the public with fresh cooked food for a nickel during the depression and times money was tight and creating an envionment that supported racial equality in a time when racism was rampant is no small feat. I enjoyed learning the history of this remarkable, historic, humanitarian eatery by watching the documentary The Automat.
Well known people includng Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Eliot Gould, and Colin Powell share their fond memories of The Automat in the film. I learned after I watched this well made movie that my father loved to eat there, I suppose when he was a student at NYU. I wonder if his family went there when he was growing up in Brooklyn? Oh, to have been there!
If you like a heart warming, educational documentary as much as a good cuppa coffee, I recommend The Automat. I saw it on Amazon.