The Automat

Philadelphia is famous for Philly cheese steaks, cream cheese, pepper pot - and (if you don't inquire as to the ingredients) - Scrapple.  But 100 years ago Horn & Hardart opened the first Automat in Philadelphia that would alter lunchtime eating habits. The idea borrowed from Europe offered prepared food placed behind glass windowed compartments and obtained by placing nickels in slots.
A piece of pie was ten cents or two nickels. Coffee was dispensed from large "silver dolphin spigots" for a nickel. The idea quickly spread to New York with the first one opened in Times Square July 1912. At their peak the Automats and cafeterias were feeding 750,000 per day - until "fast food" came along and the last Automat closed in Manhattan in 1991.  Their cafeterias with their spotless hot tables were also popular and I "lost" a topcoat in one - but that is another story. The Automat is being recreated this month at New York's Public Library on Fifth Avenue for an exhibition on lunch. An interesting history is outlined in NYTimes 6/18/12 by Sam Roberts "City Room" column. My late father-in-law was employed by Horn & Hardart for many years so there has always been a special place in our family for the period involved.
tjs
Next -A Gotcha moment.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/revisiting-the-era-of-automatic-dining/