It's AUTOMAT-ic

Whatever happened to the automat?  A major advance in the movement towards convenient, casual, and cost-conscious dining, the automat was the unprecedented, and brilliant, invention of Horn & Hardart.  Yes, before McDonald's, before KFC, before Taco Bell, the biggest names in "fast food" were Joseph Horn & Frank Hardart.

Proprietors of dinettes in the late 1800's, Horn & Hardart developed a novel style of food service that had never been seen before.  In 1902, the first Horn & Hardart Automat opened its doors to the hungry residents of Philadelphia, PA.

(Source)

Reduced to its essence, the automat was a living vending machine - a wall of louvered doors behind which sat perfectly portioned roast beef, mixed vegetables, fruit salad, or bread pudding to be had for mere nickels.  On the other side of the wall was a fully-functioning kitchen and a staff of food service specialists placing and replacing food in every window.  I don't know about you, but the novelty of a coin-operated food dispenser would not have been lost on Mr. Tiny; I would have been the first in line!

Can you follow directions?

(Source)

Patrons of an automat would make a brief stop at the cashier to exchange their folding money for coins; with a handful of nickels, an empty stomach, and a dream, the possibilities would have seemed endless!

Wrong or right, I most closely associate automats with the 1930's, because warm, hearty food bought for mere change seems like a practical option during a time when many city dwellers, reduced in means by "The Crash," would have found even a nickel a pretty dear price to pay for a meal.  

By the the early 1940's, Horn & Hardart
 operated over 150 automats.
(Source)

Basically everything I know was learned by watching classic movies.  Does that leave me with a sub-public school level, Hollywood-revisionist's understanding of history?  I guess so.  Does that leave me constantly shouting, "Chuck Heston" when the correct answer to the Sunday School question is "Moses?"  Yea, it doth.  Does that leave me breaking into musical numbers every time it rains in California?  Sue me.  

My favorite classic movies that feature the function and unique atmosphere of American automats are Easy Living and That Touch of Mink.   Could you hope for two better heroines - Jean Arthur and Doris Day - I ask you?!!!  If you've never seen one or both of these movies, do yourself a huge favor and rectify the situation.

Easy Living (1937)

with Jean Arthur and Ray Milland

That Touch of Mink (1962) 

with Doris Day, Cary Grant, Audrey Meadows, and Gig Young

A fixture of America's largest cities in the first half of the 20th Century, automats began a steady decline in the 1960's, owing to post-war suburban sprawl, increased mobility of the average citizen, and the rise of America's most infamous and long-lasting culinary tradition - fast food.  I guess the shenanigans shown in both films (a pessimistic, albeit realistic, portrayal of an automat's deficiencies) probably did nothing to aid in perpetuating this particular dining innovation.

In my mind, the automat should still be a viable source for feeding hungry folks of the 21st Century.  It goes without saying that modern food could not be had for pocket change, but card swipers would be a practical alternative.  Although as I said, my mind is addled by the unholy amount of cinema I have viewed and the facts show that my theory is baseless and totally without merit.

The end of an era
(Source)

Horn & Hardart tried unsuccessfully to revive the medium in the 1980's.  As recently as 2006, a short-lived revival was underway in New York City, subsequently hammering the last nail into the automat coffin.

Bamn Automat, NYC (2006-2009)
(Source)

The inherent problem with Dutch import, Bamn Automat, was that it strayed from the original Horn & Hardart formula with menu offerings that were subpar versions of food that could be had at any number of familiar, adjacent fast food restaurants.  The beauty of Bamn's forebears was that the menu consisted of hearty, homestyle cooking.  Moreover, the originals had gleaming dining rooms with clean tables attended by uniformed employees.  The differences are glaringly obvious, making this just another edition of "Why can't things be like they used to be?"

Fortunately, in our neck of the woods we have a Great Depression survivor/holdover in the form of Clifton's Brookdale Cafeteria (see our "Chow Time" post here).  It is currently under renovation in the hands of new ownership, but we are promised a revived and restored Clifton's to be opened this year; if we can't have an automat, we'll happily survive on cafeteria fare.  Where else can you get a bowl of shimmering, shimmying, confetti Jell-O? 

"Automatic" - The Pointer Sisters

Because "The Neutron Dance wouldn't make any sense.

Cheers!

Mr. Tiny

Chow Time: Clifton's Brookdale Cafeteria

Usually, I am loathe to include anything too personal in this blog.  I much prefer adhering to the cardinal commandment of wacky tacky - "Thou shalt not take thine own self too seriously."  There is, however, no escaping the fact that I am currently laid up!  Suffering from the symptoms of an indeterminate ailment,  I should have had plenty of time to blog but my bleary-eyed, semi-conscious waking hours have been filled with prescriptions, appointments and streaming Netflix.  As I lay in what will surely become my death bed, I feel fortunate to have both the strength to type and a small backlog of material about which I can post.  The doctors say that over-dramatization is a probably the most prominent symptom of my illness - whatever that means. 

This is the forest primeval!  Walking through the front door of Clifton's Brookdale Cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles, one is immediately transported into a Depression-era dreamer's vision of the great outdoors.  It might not be what Longfellow was scribbling about, but it is pretty great by wacky tacky standards!

Clifton's Brookdale

The history of Clifton's Brookdale Cafeteria goes back to 1935 and is best described by the Clifton's website:

"In 1935 Clifford Clinton purchased the lease of the former Boos Brothers Cafeteria and began to transform the dowdy interior into an imaginary wonderland rivaled only by his other cafeteria, the legendary Clifton's Pacific Seas.

As a youth, Clifford spent his summers in the Santa Cruz mountains among the coastal redwoods, not far from the famous Brookdale Lodge.  This mountain feeling was the theme Clifford wanted for his new location.  Working with rock sculptor Francois Scotti, Clifford created a 20 ft. waterfall cascading into a quiet stream that meanders through a dining room.  Redwood trees were used to conceal steel columns and a renowned L.A. muralist, Elinar Petersen, created a life size forest on canvas covering one wall.  A Little Chapel perched high amongst the crags fulfilled Clifford's desire to feed the soul as well as the body of depression weary Angelinos."

The Clinton family's recent sale of Clifton's had foodies, history nerds, downtown enthusiasts and regular customers alike a little more than worried about the fate of the grand institution.  After a recent visit I found that in fact there is very little about which to worry.

The deco-style, terrazzo entry is the same.

The signs are the same.

The food is largely the same.
(Source)

In something as simple as the trays, the noticeable changes might even be seen as improvements.

It may seem like niggling, but the one devastating change is the new computerized registers.  In days of yore the women at the check out knew every price and product by heart and rang each guest on vintage, push-button cash registers with lightning speed and the accuracy of Swiss watchmakers.  The new system may benefit Clifton's bookkeeping but it sure slows down the line and takes away some of the fun!

The old tray
(Source)

The new tray

Mary puts the new tray to good use

Normally - and to everyone's great surprise - I am not a buffet/cafeteria type of guy.  Call me self-conscious, but as one of larger proportion, I just don't feel quite comfortable shuffling along, testing the tensile strength of my heavy-laden tray.  I like to sit down, order and have a genial person set my food before me.  If there is one giant exception to this rule, it is Clifton's.  Cafeteria food has a rather-dicey reputation and in most cases this reputation is justified; Clifton's notices range from sublime to mediocre to scathing.  However, I must say that every time I have eaten there, I have found the food quite good and I left feeling fat and sassy.  Although, it must be said, I came in feeling pretty fat and sassy.

It's not what it looks like...okay, it's exactly what it looks like!
Mmmmmm, Clifton's meatloaf is good!

Because Clifton's is the type of landmark with which people feel such a personal connection, theories and rumors about the "changes" abound - especially about the Clifton's third floor which until recently looked like a mix between Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe Saloon and a small-town museum.  The most persistent of these rumors is that the third floor is being remade into a Polynesian paradise reminiscent of the long-since-closed Clifton's Pacific Seas Cafeteria.  On our most recent visit, the third floor was still shrouded in both drop cloths and mystery.

The famed third floor
(Source)

Views of Clifton's Pacific Seas

Happily, the remainder of the cafeteria appears to have weathered the change in ownership unscathed.

The amazing, cow hide, hearthside chair still
beckons guest to take a load off and set for a spell.

Bears are still fishing

A postcard view of the chapel and the main dining room
(Source)

The Chapel is still chapel-ing
We should have taken video of the spiritual message delivered
at the push of a button inside the chapel but perhaps that is
just the incentive one needs to get to Clifton's Brookdale!

An additional dining nook still carries the theme

"By a waterfall, I'm calling you..."
The water is still falling.

The country cabin still welcomes visitors.

 And taxidermy, always taxidermy!

Again we must bastardize paraphrase the great poet Longfellow:

"...List to a Tale of Love in (Brookdale), home of the happy."

As luck would have it, there is a fitting Disney cartoon for every occasion.

"Morris the Midget Moose" (1950)

Clifton's Brookdale Cafeteria
648 South Broadway
Los Angeles, CA
(213)627-1673

Hours of Operation:

Tuesday - Sunday: 6:30am - 10:00pm
(Please verify hours before making your way downtown and paying to park.  Due to the renovation, the hours may vary.)

cliftonscafeteria.com


Cheers!

Mr. Tiny