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Kent L., former president of the Municipal Art Society. “There were automats right above the Statue of Liberty and Madison Square Garden,” Barwick lamented. new York Times In 1991, when the last automatic machine of the country was closed. The Automat, the precursor to today’s fast food chains, was a staple of New York City’s dining scene in the first half of the 20th century. Originally conceived in Germany, self-service restaurants featured coin-operated vending machines from which patrons could purchase fresh coffee, simple meals, and desserts at affordable prices.
Along with automats, self-service cafeterias changed the way New Yorkers ate and socialized. In his book, Kibitz and Nosh: When We All Met in Dubrow’s Cafeteria (Three Hills, May 2023), Photographer Marcia Bricker Halperin revisits one of New York City’s most popular self-service cafeterias on Kings Highway in Brooklyn. Through Halperin’s photographs from the 1970s and ’80s and essays by Donald Marguiles and Deborah Dash Moore, the book explores the story of Dubrow’s Cafeterias and the culture that flourished around these New York City eateries. Watch our book talk with Halperin in our video collection!
Here, we take a look at 8 of the city’s lost automats and self-service cafeterias:
1. Horn and Hardart
Automats are synonymous with horns and hardart. Business partners Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart opened the first Automat in the United States in 1902 in Philadelphia. They expanded to New York City in 1912, and opened the first location in Times Square. Ultimately, there would be more than forty Horn & Hardart locations in New York. A former Horn & Hardart building that still stands can be found at 2710-2714 Broadway, at the southeast corner of Broadway and 104th Street. Till 1953 it was occupied by Automat. A ghost sign at 146 West 48th Street indicates another former location. At its peak, the company had over 150 automated machines and retail shops in Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore.
In the beginning, the automats served simple foods such as buns, fish cakes, and beans. Diners could also get freshly made hot coffee every twenty minutes for only five cents. In addition to serving the best cup of coffee in town, Automats was also known for its charming Art Deco decor. As the company grew, its menu expanded to include lunch and dinner entrees such as mac and cheese. Pot pie, and steak. The company also opened retail locations where they sold packaged “to-go” foods.
The last Horn & Hardart Automat, located at 200 East 42nd Street at 3rd Avenue, closed on April 8, 1991. The Automats remains a part of New York City culture today as it was recreated as a set for the fifth and final season of Amazon’s hit series. wonderful mrs maisel, In Brooklyn, Brooklyn Dumpling Shop is bringing back the automated format of food with new technology.
2. Dubrow’s Cafeteria, Midwood
Like automats, cafeterias were waiter-less establishments. Customers will first receive a ticket with menu items and prices. They would then approach the food counter and make a selection as the server on the other side punched a hole in the ticket. Carrying their trays filled with food, patrons looked for a table, which was usually shared.
Cafeterias began on Wall Street in the late 19th century as a means for busy brokers to get a quick lunch. They soon spread throughout the city and beyond. In 1929, Belarusian immigrant Benjamin Dubrow opened Dubrow’s Pure Food, a full-service restaurant in Crown Heights at the intersection of Eastern Parkway and Utica Avenue. However, when the Great Depression hit, they needed to try a new business model. Dismissing all of his waitstaff in 1931, he converted the restaurant into a cafeteria “with refinements.” In 1939, they opened another cafeteria at 1521 Kings Highway, and in 1952, another cafeteria in Manhattan’s Garment District. Dubrow’s cafeteria served a variety of dishes, including Jewish staples such as blintzes with applesauce and sour cream, kugels, and gefilte fish.
New York City’s self-service cafeterias offered a unique “third place”, a place outside of work and home, where New Yorkers could comfortably socialize with their neighbors “for the price of a cup of coffee”. In Halperin’s book, Kibitz and Nosh: When We All Met in Dubrow’s CafeteriaDeborah Dash Moore writes of how cafeterias attracted a diverse clientele, “New York’s Jews especially embraced the cafeteria, as a fast-food option rather than a place to sit and converse.” Halperin reminisces about the people she met and photographed in Dubrow, writing, “I met wonderful people in Dubrow. Mostly they were people with whom I wouldn’t normally interact over more than a cup of coffee – ex-vaudeville performers, taxi drivers, Holocaust survivors, former prize winners and speculators. The women named Gertrude, Rose and Lillian all had tragic love stories to tell and had big hearts.”
Dubrow’s Cafeteria’s Kings Highway location played host to some historic moments. John F. Kennedy held a large campaign rally outside the restaurant in 1960. Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Jimmy Carter also attended the cafeteria during their presidential campaigns. It was here that Sandy Koufax announced his decision to join the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Eastern Parkway location closed in the early 1960s while the Kings Highway cafeteria remained open until 1978. The Manhattan location closed in 1985.
3. Garden Cafeteria, Lower East Side
The Garden Cafeteria at 165 East Broadway at the corner of Rutgers Street was a hotspot for Jewish intellectuals and writers. Founded in 1941 by Austrian immigrant Charles Metzger, the eatery has a storied history on the Lower East Side. Located next to the offices of The Forward/The Jewish Daily Forward, the cafeteria was frequented by the newspaper’s writers. Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer and photographer Bruce Davidson were among its patrons. Singer set his short story “The Cabalist of East Broadway” in the Garden Cafeteria.
The cafeteria closed in 1983 and became a Chinese restaurant. When one of the original signs was discovered during construction work in 2005, it was given to the museum on Eldridge Street for safekeeping. The sign has appeared on display in the museum and in an exhibit on The Jewish Daily Forward at the Museum of the City of New York.
4. Belmore Cafeteria, Kips Bay
The Bellmore Cafeteria was once at 28th Street and Park Avenue South. Opened in 1929, it was founded by Philip Siegel and run by his family until it closed in 1981. Billed as “New York’s most luxurious self-service restaurant”, this establishment attracted some interesting characters.
Members of the notorious Murder Inc. gang reportedly ate there, but the clientele the cafeteria was known for were taxi drivers. It was a common sight to see queues of taxis parked outside on the roadside. Appropriately, the cafeteria appears as a location in the 1976 Robert DiNero film,taxi driverAn estimated 5,000 people a day passed under the cafeteria’s glowing red neon sign and through its turnstiles each weekday, In 1981, Siegel sold his building and a condominium tower was built on the site,
5. Garfield Cafeteria, Flatbush
In a 1971 New York Times article, Garfield’s Cafeteria on Flatbush Avenue was described as a “grand old cafeteria” where you could “stop for a drink at midnight, or grab a bite to eat after leaving the Albemarle dance parlor, or recover from the fun of vaudeville at the Flatbush Theatre.” Like Dubrow’s, the cafeteria served blintzes, bialys, matzoh-ball soup and more.
Since the cafeteria was open early in the morning and late at night, it attracted different crowds at different times of the day. Families and elderly people usually came for breakfast and lunch, while at night the crowd came after the theatre. Times It is written that some elderly patrons would bring their own food and would sit in the cafeteria purely for the social aspect and have a cup of coffee and talk with their neighbors for hours.
6. Hoffman Cafeteria, Brownsville
Another famous Brooklyn cafeteria was Hoffman’s Cafeteria on Pitkin and Saratoga Avenue in Brownsville. This cafeteria is often mentioned as one of the most popular, along with Dubrow and Garfield. Like Dubrow and Garfield, it closed in the 1970s. Hoffman came into the limelight in the 1940s for a butter robbery. It was discovered that two countermen had been stealing food, mostly butter, from the establishment for a period of three months. The value of the stolen goods was $15,000!
7. Hector Cafeteria, Times Square
Hector’s Cafeteria had several locations in Times Square since the 1930s. The last remaining cafeteria was inside the Claridge’s Hotel building on Broadway at 44th Street. This lasted until 1970.
Before Hector was discontinued, it made its way into pop culture. The cafeteria is mentioned in Jack Kerouac’s novel on the way When Dean Moriarty first arrived in New York and was “looking for a place to eat,” “went to Hector’s, and ever since then Hector’s Cafeteria has always been a big symbol of New York for Dean.” You can also catch a glimpse of Hector in this Dennis Stock photo of actor James Dean.
8. Stewart’s Cafeteria, Greenwich Village
Stewart’s Cafeteria occupied the first floor of an Art Deco building at 116 Seventh Avenue South in Greenwich Village. Opened in 1933, it was part of a chain of cafeterias. Stewart’s was only open for a few years before closing and reopening as Life Cafeteria. The building still exists today (it houses a Bank of America and a CVS pharmacy) and is considered an LGBTQ+ history landmark.
The Life Cafeteria attracted a bohemian clientele, including gay and lesbian patrons. Unlike most places in the city at the time where homosexuality was hidden, the Life Cafeteria’s large windows displayed everything happening inside. Crowds of tourists often gather outside the windows to take a peek inside. Tennessee Williams and Marlon Brando were known to visit, and scenes inside have been captured in paintings by Paul Cadmus and Vincent La Gambina.
Next, check 9 Old Fashioned Soda Fountains in NYC
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