I Remember When,Arnold Fine

Every time I hear how somebody made a million dollars, I?m curious to learn, HOW?

I am indebted to a real friend, Mr. Bernard Fradkin, for suggesting the following column on automats, which he remembers only too well.

When I said I always wanted to find out how somebody made a million dollars, I realized that the first really ?fast food? enterprise in New York City was not McDonald?s, but the Horn and Hardart Automat. I wonder how many old timers remember that food chain.

This was a wonderful place. The walls were lined with little windows behind which was an array of sandwiches, cookies, cakes ? you name it, and it was there.

When I was a kid, Mama used to make a cream cheese and jelly sandwich for me for lunch every day when I was working downtown as a delivery boy for a dress house.

The only place I could afford to get a cup of coffee while I ate my sandwich was the Automat. Listen, on a $7.00 a week salary, I really couldn?t eat at the Waldorf!

In those days, there were Automats all over the downtown part of the city. It was a great place and the food was wholesome and cheap.

I?ll never forget when Jack Benny, the famous comedian of our day, celebrated his birthday. He invited all the big shots in the entertainment industry to his birthday party which he held at the Horn and Hardart Automat. He rented the place for one day and handed out nickels to all his friends, so they could get food.

You have to understand, Jack Benny always portrayed himself as a cheap guy, so holding the birthday party at the Horn and Hardart Automat was supposed to reinforce that image.

The automat had the usual fare behind those little glass windows, and Benny handed out nickels to all his friends so that they could eat to their heart?s content.

It was a really cute idea.

There were women who stood behind a little booth who gave you change in nickels. If you put down a dollar bill, these women would give you change, all in nickels, without so much as a blink. They knew just the feel of how many nickels would be a dollar?s worth of change.

Everything was based on five cents. For example, a cup of coffee was five cents. You put a cup under a little figure of a lion?s head with its open mouth, and then put a nickel in a slot next to the lion?s head. You pulled down on a little lever that looked like a lion?s paw, and the coffee would come flowing out of the lion?s mouth! That was how you would get coffee or a hot chocolate for five cents in our day!<

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For a glass of milk, they had a goat?s head with an open mouth, and when you put the nickel in the slot and turned the handle, the milk came pouring out.

If you wanted ?real food? like baked beans, (vegetarian) there were little windows with a glass door on a hinge. You would walk along the row of little windows, and when you saw the baked beans, you had to put two or three nickels in the slot. The coins would drop down, and the little glass door would swing open. You had to move fast to take the baked beans out of the little shelf, because there was always a worker behind the little glass doors ready to replace the food that was purchased.

Later on, some of the Automats had hot plate sections where a real human being would give the customer whatever they had in the little trays. It was cafeteria style. They had all kinds of cooked vegetables, pastas, pancakes ? you name it they had it. And that was really fast food.

If you passed an Automat at lunchtime, you would see the place was jammed, but the food line was always moving at a nice pace.

I have to say their coffee was absolutely delicious, and they were considered the world?s largest restaurant chain. In fact, one magazine claimed they served 800,000 people a day!

Doing some of the research on this article, I learned that the first automat made its debut in Philadelphia in 1902, not far from Independence Hall.

They even had a 35-foot piece of an Automat in the Smithsonian?s National Museum of American History! How?s that for class?

Most New Yorkers believed the Automat started here in downtown New York, but that is not accurate. The Automat was founded by Joseph Horn and German-born Frank Hardart. There had been something similar to the Automat in Germany, and that?s where Horn and Hardart got the idea and improved on it. It was the restaurant industry?s first attempt to emulate the assembly line!

The place was outfitted with a number of shiny lacquered tables. The ?Nickel Throwers,? women who changed your paper dollar bill into nickels, wore rubber tips on their fingers to control the number of nickels they gave out.

Later on, they had steam tables where customers could order a complete meal. They still had to put nickels in a little glass unit in front of the steam table counter.

The big advantage and the success of the automat was, you could see the food before you purchased it. If you wanted a piece of apple pie, you saw the piece behind the little glass shelf.

You sat where you wanted or where you could get a table. You sat down at a table where someone else might also be eating. So you never knew if you were sitting with a banker or a pauper. I might say, a number of old timers met their sweethearts by accidentally sitting at a table and striking up a conversation with whoever was sitting there.

The restaurant claimed never to keep food for more than one day. It was always fresh.

The ?Day Old? Horn and Hardart shops were located in the poorer neighborhoods and sold the food for a fraction of what it cost elsewhere. They promoted their food as ?Less Work For Mother.?

The Automats were always spotless. They had men and women going around picking up the dishes left on the table and then washing the table. In fact, there was a leather bound book each store manager had to use which told them precisely how many times a table had to be washed before it was considered ?clean.?

Some of the coffee dispensers had a dolphin?s head and others a lion?s mouth. They sold about 90 million cups of coffee a day from 1912 to 1950 for just five cents.

They even had ?Perpendicular? stand up counters similar to those little stands in banks where they have the deposit slips. This was for people who couldn?t find a table or were in such a hurry they preferred to stand.

They never bothered anyone who just sat at a table with their own lunch like me.

Even people who were down and out, on a freezing winter?s day, would find warmth and comfort for a day sitting in the Horn and Hardart Automat.

Each Horn and Hardart Automat was in a certain section of the downtown market. In the garment center, there were Automats for those in the garment center trade. In the jewelry district there were Automats for jewelers. In the theater district, the Automat was always loaded with wannabe actors and actresses.

Unfortunately, the Automat fell victim to the changing tastes. Some people tired of the cafeteria style food and many did not eat a full meal at lunch. They would grab a sandwich or bring one from home.

A great part of America moved to the suburbs and didn?t come downtown as often. I remember when we were kids, a big thrill was to go downtown and sit in an automat munching on a cookie and having a glass of milk we could get ourselves from the little Lion or Dolphin or Goat?s head all for five cents. Watching the food come out was half the fun.

In 1970, Horn and Hardart replaced its dying restaurants with Burger King franchises. I guess the generation that ate at these new fast food outlets didn?t miss the charm of the Automat?s fancy fixtures and diverse menu.

The last Automat closed in New York City in 1991, and was lamented by those who grew up with the Automat.

When I had just graduated from high school, I worked for a firm called Abrams and Norman. I was their delivery boy. I had to bring dresses to certain dress shops in the area. When the salesman went out to show the company?s line of dresses with the firm?s model, he would select about fifteen or twenty dresses, put them in a large garment bag and my job was to schlep along with those dresses and the salesman to whatever buying house he would visit.

He would select one or two dresses, tell the model to put on a certain dress while I sat in a corner waiting. The model would come out and show the buyer how the dress looked. The salesman was as smooth as glass. It was usually a lady buyer. No matter what the buyer would say, the salesman would look dejected and pout. Then the buyer would say, ?Okay, okay, I?ll double your order! But they better sell.?

His face would brighten and he would say, ?Ah gezunt oif dine keppeleh!? (May you little head be blessed.)

It was the same routine at each buying house. If the salesman had a successful day, he would turn to me and say, ?Let?s go to the Automat. The coffee is on me!?

I wonder how many can remember the Horn and Hardart?s children?s hour on WEVD every Sunday where kids would sing and perform. If you opened a window that faced the courtyard, you didn?t even have to turn on the radio. Every radio was tuned to the Horn and Hardart Children?s Hour!

The Barry Sisters, one of the greatest singing duos started on the Children?s Hour went on to become two of the best Yiddish songsters.

Horn and Hardart?s Automat was as well known as today?s McDonalds. But these new fast food places lack the grace, charm and warmth of those old automats. Well, it?s a new world!

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