
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 11, 1991                   TAG: 9104110671
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

AUTOMAT GOES WAY OF DINOSAUR, DO-DO BIRD

The automat - once heralded as the restaurant of the future - now exists only in a museum exhibit and memories.

Horn & Hardart on Tuesday closed its last automat, at 42nd Street and Third Avenue. The waiterless cafeteria that opened in 1957 was among about 40 the company operated before it announced it was getting out of the restaurant business.

Many New Yorkers have fond memories of the days when they could drop a few coins in a slot at the automat and pull a slice of pie out of a windowed compartment. Coffee spilled out of dolphin-shaped spouts and hot entrees were served buffet-style at a steam table.

The Smithsonian Institution in Washington has on display a windowed wall that came from one of the original automats.

-Associated Press

by CNB