Automat
From Free net encyclopedia
An automat was a form of a cafeteria-style restaurant in which simple foods, usually coffee, sandwiches, and other fare such as macaroni and cheese, were served to the clientele by means of coin-operated vending machines. The diner inserted the required number of coins and then slid open a window to remove the meal, which was generally wrapped in waxed paper. The food preparers inserted the product into the back of the machines, which also functioned as a wall between the kitchen and the lobby, which typically had a tile floor.
The dishes were crockery; cups had saucers. The knives, forks, and spoons were solid metal. The drinking vessels were glass. The tables and chairs were solid, comfortable, well spaced.
The automat was developed in the early 1900s, and the first American automat opened in 1902. The automat was brought to New York City in 1912 and gradually became a fixture of popular culture. The most prominent operator of this format was Horn & Hardart. In the United States, this format apparently never spread beyond major northern industrial cities and hence a "trip to the automat" became a virtual necessity for visits "up North" by travellers from southern and rural areas.
The format was threatened by postwar suburban flight and the rise of fast food establishments in the 1950s; by the 1970s their remaining appeal was strictly nostalgic. The last fixed U.S. automat closed in 1991.
Another form of the Automat, though, was used on some passenger trains, with the last example being an Automat car on Amtrak's short-lived service to Janesville, Wisconsin in 2001. Automats on trains suffered from problems, though. The intention was to save on having an employee, but someone was needed when the vending machines broke down, and these machines weren't nessescarily intended for the bumpy ride on the rails. Additionally, state laws prohibited alcoholic beverages from being sold by a machine, and those can be the better sellers.
The automat food format is still popular in some other countries. For example, FEBO stores in The Netherlands still provide a variety of freshly-made burgers, sandwiches, and krokets in vending machines that are back-loaded from a kitchen.
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Making Change
The machines in the Automat took only nickels, one or more. To make change, a lady sat in a booth in the center of the restaurant. In front of her was a wide marble counter with a number of oblong, rounded depressions in it, perhaps 5 to 8. You put your dime, quarter, half-dollar or dollar (seldom a larger bill) in one of the depressions. The cashier, serving a half-dozen people at once, took the money and, using either hand, grabbed a handful of nickels from a large drawer, and, with a single gesture, spewed the exact number of nickels needed into the same depression.
Automats in movies
Automats were featured or mentioned in a few Hollywood movies:
- Easy Living (1937) shows the workings of one.
- in The Devil and Miss Jones (1941), Charles Coburn gets his finger caught in an Automat window offscreen.
- in Ladies' Man (1947), at least according to IMDB
- in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Marilyn Monroe sings the song "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" which contains the A kiss may be grand but won't pay the rental on your humble flat or help you at the Automat line, a reference to the fact that an Automat required money before delivering food
- in The Apartment (1960), Jack Lemmon says to Shirley MacLaine that last Christmas [he] had an early dinner at the Automat (about 1:25 into the movie).
- in That Touch of Mink (1962) Doris Day’s friend Audrey Meadows stocks the machines in an automat, and there is a lengthy (humorous) scene set there.
- the characters of Tom and Charlie make plans in the Horn & Hardart in the 1990 film Metropolitan.
- an Automat is featured in the 1998 film Dark City.
