The Automat

Once upon a time … Americans sipped coffee and ate pie around communal tables at the Horn & Hardart’s iconic Automat, where they could share their struggles and dreams with strangers they had never met before (and would never see again). Lifetimes ago, these largely working-class palaces nourished a sense of unity and community that bridged diverse social classes, languages, genders and races in the increasingly rising urban melting pots of the East Coast.