It's Back To The Future With Jersey City's New Automat Kitchen
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Long ago, automats were considered as quintessential as our bodegas and slice joints are today. There were more than 50 automats scattered around town during their heyday in the middle of the 20th century, the stacks of windowed cubby holes devouring nickels by the score and spitting out slices of pie, or cups of hot coffee, or plates of bacon and eggs. By the time I ate at one in the late 1970s, the pseudo-retro Horn and Hardart near Grand Central, the format, and food, were way past their prime.