Commercial Advertiser January 25 1904 Page 7 Art Exhibit in Philadelphia

American food services visitor known for automats

Horn & Hardart
Automat at 818-820 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1904 postcard
Blazon	Privately held company
Industry	Restaurants
Founded	1888; 134 years agone (1888)
Key people	Joseph Horn, Frank Hardart
Revenue	USD
Cyberspace income	USD

Horn & Hardart was a food services visitor in the The states noted for operating the get-go food service automats in Philadelphia and New York Metropolis.^[1]

Philadelphia's Joseph Horn (1861–1941) and German-born, New Orleans-raised Frank Hardart (1850–1918) opened their first eatery together in Philadelphia, on Dec 22, 1888. The pocket-size, 11-by-17-human foot (iii.4 m × 5.two m) lunchroom at 39 South Thirteenth Street had no tables, just a counter with 15 stools. The location had housed the print shop of Dunlap & Claypoole, printers to the American Congress and George Washington.

By introducing Philadelphia to New Orleans-style java (blended with chicory), which Hardart promoted as their "gilt-edge" brew, they made their tiny luncheonette a local attraction. News of the coffee spread, and the business organization flourished. They incorporated as the Horn & Hardart Blistering Company in 1898.

Clarification [edit]

Horn & Hardart postcard, circa 1930s

Inspired past Max Sielaff [de]'s Automat Restaurants in Berlin, they were amongst the first 47 restaurants, and the first non-Europeans, to receive patented vending machines from Max Sielaff'south Automat GmbH factory in Berlin, the creators of the start chocolate bar vending car for Ludwig Stollwerck [de].^[ii] The first automat in the U.South. was opened June 12, 1902, at 818 Chestnut St.^[2] in Philadelphia by Horn & Hardart.^[iii] The commencement New York Automat opened in Times Square July 2, 1912. Later that week, another opened at Broadway and E 14th St, near Union Foursquare.

Newspaper advert from 1922 for the 25 Philadelphia locations of Horn and Hardart automats, restaurants, and cafeterias, claiming that the equivalent of 1 out of every xvi people in the city eats in one of their establishments daily.

In 1924, Horn & Hardart opened retail stores to sell prepackaged automat favorites. Using the advert slogan, "Less Work for Mother," the company popularized the notion of easily served "take-out" food as an equivalent to "home-cooked" meals.^[4]

The Horn & Hardart Automats were peculiarly popular during the Depression era, when their macaroni and cheese, broiled beans, and creamed spinach were staple offerings.^{[ citation needed ]} In the 1930s, union conflicts resulted in vandalism, equally noted past Christopher Gray in The New York Times:

In 1932 the police blamed members of the glaziers union for vandalism against 24 Horn & Hardart and Bickford's restaurants in Manhattan, including the one at 488 Eighth Avenue. Witnesses said that a rider in a machine driving past used a slingshot to damage and even pause the plate glass show windows. Glaziers wedlock representatives had complained about nonunion employees installing glass at the restaurants.^[5]

Horn & Hardart automat in Times Square, circa 1939

By the fourth dimension of Horn's expiry in 1941, the business organization had 157 retail shops and restaurants in the Philadelphia and New York areas, and served 500,000 patrons a solar day.^[6] During the 1940s and the 1950s, more than 50 New York Horn & Hardart restaurants served 350,000 customers a day.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 1953, the company dissever into 2 independent corporations: the New York company was named the Horn & Hardart Company, while the Philadelphia company was named the Horn & Hardart Baking Company. New York was traded on the American Stock Substitution, and Philadelphia was traded on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange.^{[ citation needed ]}

Operation [edit]

In their heyday, Horn & Hardart establishments were pop, decorated eateries. Their automats featured prepared foods behind minor coin- and token-operated glass windows, beginning with buns, beans, fish cakes, and coffee.^{[ commendation needed ]} Every bit tardily as the 1950s one could enjoy a large, if somewhat apparently, repast for under $1.00. Each stack of glass-doored dispensers had a metallic conveyor that could exist rotated by the staff on the other side of the vending wall while they refilled each dispenser in the stack with a fresh item. Each dispenser had a slot for coins or tokens upwardly to 75¢ for more than expensive items, which were purchased from a cashier. A knob was rotated to allow the drinking glass door to be raised and locked in position for easy removal of the food. Dispensers were cooled as appropriate.

Eventually the chain served lunch and dinner entrees, such every bit beef stew and Salisbury steak with mashed potatoes. The self-service restaurants operated for near a century, from 1902 to 1991.

Carolyn Hughes Crowley described the appeal of the Automats:

In huge rectangular halls filled with shiny, lacquered tables, women with rubber tips on their fingers — "nickel throwers," every bit they became known — in glass booths gave customers the v-cent pieces required to operate the dispensers. After depositing the advisable corporeality the compartment opened to present the desired food to the customer through a small glass. Diners picked up hot foods at buffet-style steam tables. The word "automat" comes from the Greek automatos, meaning "cocky-acting." Still, the Automats were heavily staffed. As a customer removed a compartment's contents, a worker quickly slipped another sandwich, salad, piece of pie or coffee cake into the vacated chamber.^[7]

Promotions [edit]

The Horn and Hardart Children'due south Hour [edit]

Radio plan [edit]

Beginning in 1927, Horn & Hardart sponsored a radio program, The Horn and Hardart Children's Hr, a diverseness testify with a cast of children, including some who as adults became well-known performers (such every bit Bernadette Peters and Frankie Avalon). The program was broadcast first on WCAU Radio in Philadelphia, hosted by Stan Lee Broza. It was broadcast on NBC Radio in New York during the 1940s and 1950s. The original New York host was Paul Douglas, succeeded by Ralph Edwards and finally Ed Herlihy.^{[ citation needed ]}

Idiot box program [edit]

The goggle box premiere of The Horn & Hardart Children's Hour appeared on WCAU-Boob tube in Philadelphia in 1948, succeeded by WNBT in New York in 1949, telecast on Sunday mornings. Stan Lee Broza hosted in Philadelphia, and Ed Herlihy in New York.^{[ commendation needed ]}

Reject [edit]

Automat at 104 West 57th Street near Sixth Artery showing areas for beverages and pies at right of dining area

The eatery chain remained popular into the 1960s, featuring non only automats simply sit-down waitress service restaurants, cafeterias, and bakery shops. In the late 1960s, consultants attempted to develop automats with interior ornamentation relevant to surrounding neighborhoods; thus, the Automat on 14th Street was decorated with psychedelic posters. The eateries began to close with the ascension of fast-food restaurants, which offered fare over the counter with normal greenbacks transactions.

By the mid-1970s Burger Rex franchises replaced the automats at some locations.^[8] Horn & Hardart further expanded its fast food operations in 1981, with its acquisition of the Bojangles' Famous Chicken n' Biscuits restaurants, which it sold to a California investment company in 1990 for $20 million.^[ix]

In 1979, Horn & Hardart agreed to buy the Royal Inn in Las Vegas for $seven.4 1000000.^[x] Past late 1980, the sale had been completed, and the belongings was rebranded as the Royal Americana Hotel, with a New York theme.^[11] A $3.v one thousand thousand renovation^[12] increased the room count to 300.^[xiii] By 1982 though, the hotel was experiencing substantial losses, and Horn & Hardart decided to close it.^[12] They reportedly agreed that Dec to sell the property to an investment grouping for $fifteen.4 one thousand thousand.^[14]

The last New York Horn & Hardart Automat (on the southeast corner of 42nd Street and 3rd Avenue) closed in April 1991.^[xv] Horn & Hardart continued to ain a catalog sectionalisation; it renamed itself Hanover Directly in 1993. That yr the visitor bought Gump's; it sold it to an investment group in 2005. Hanover Direct purchased International Male in 1987 when founder Factor Burkard retired.^{[ commendation needed ]}

Revivals [edit]

818 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, site of first U.South. Automat, with original Horn & Hardart sign in July 2020

In 1987, Horn & Hardart opened two 1950s themed Dine-O-Mat restaurants in New York. They closed less than ii years later.^{[ commendation needed ]}

In the early 1990s, 2 entrepreneurs bought the Philadelphia company (Horn & Hardart Blistering Co.) out of bankruptcy. While they did non open any restaurants, they reproduced a dozen of the most famous nutrient items, including macaroni and cheese, Harvard beets, tapioca pudding, and cucumber salad.^[16] The food was packed fresh, refrigerated, and sold in supermarkets throughout Philadelphia and New Jersey. The food was still bachelor up until 2002.^{[ commendation needed ]}

The Horn & Hardart name was used for a now-dormant chain of coffee shops in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Horn & Hardart Java Co. closed its last java shop in 2005.^{[ commendation needed ]}

Currently the Horn & Hardart – Bakery Buffet is the proper noun of a java store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[17]

The assets of the company were purchased in 2015 as Horn & Hardart Java. They recreated the original East Declension Metropolis Roast and branded coffee was offered as of 2016 on their website. They besides offered a subscription service called The Automat Social club.^[18]

A company called Horn & Hardart Brands had as of 2018 a website, with a 2014 copyright, offering coffee online and at food stores in the Philadelphia area. ^[xix]

In popular civilization [edit]

Literature [edit]

In Paul Auster's 2017 novel 4 3 two 1, Ferguson visits the eating place, which is described as a identify of "twentieth-century American efficiency in its craziest, most delightful incarnation".^[twenty]

Museum exhibits [edit]

On June 22, 2012, the New York Public Library opened an exhibition on June 22, 2012, titled "Lunch Hour NYC". The exhibition "looks back at more than a century of New York lunches, when the city'south early on power brokers invented the 'power luncheon' ..... and visitors with guidebooks thronged Times Square to eat lunch at the Automat." Amongst many educational and entertaining items is a fully restored wall of Automat windows. The showroom was scheduled to run until February 17, 2013.^[21]
The Smithsonian'south National Museum of American History previously had displayed in its cafe an ornate 35-human foot Automat section, consummate with mirrors, marble and marquetry, from Philadelphia'south 1902 Horn & Hardart^[22] although this exhibit has since been removed. In 2006 Paul and Tom Hardart donated the business records for the Horn and Hardart concatenation of restaurants and retail stores to the Smithsonian Athenaeum; the records include annual reports, business correspondence, operating manuals, photographs, sales materials, and printed materials such as employee newsletters and clippings.^[23]

Music [edit]

Concerto for Horn and Hardart is a classical music parody written by Peter Schickele, one of many which he attributes to the fictional composer P.D.Q. Bach.^[24]

Stage productions [edit]

In the vocal "Colored Spade" from the musical Hair (1967), the character Hud (a militant African-American) satirically assigns to himself diverse racial stereotypes including "Table cleaner at Horn & Hardart".^[25] ^[26]
The original Broadway set for the musical The Producers (2001) incorporated some of the Automat.^[27]

Goggle box [edit]

Jack Benny held a promotional black tie party to launch his tv set show, The Jack Benny Program, on October 29, 1950, at the New York City Automat.^[28] Playing on his reputation as a cheapskate, Benny greeted his guests at the door and handed each one a curl of nickels so they could get what they wanted to consume.

References [edit]

^ Klein, Christopher. "The Automat: Nascence of a Fast Food Nation". HISTORY . Retrieved 2020-06-ten .
^ ^a ^b Automat-Restaurants – Automat GmbH, 23 Spenerstrasse, Berlin, N.W. :: Trade Catalogs and Pamphlets – OCLC
^ "Horn & Hardart Automat, 968 6th Ave. between 35th & 36th Sts. (1986)", 36th Street, New York City Signs – 14th to 42nd Street.
^ Hardart, Marianne and Lorraine B. Daily The Automat: The History, Recipes, and Allure of Horn & Hardart's Masterpiece. Clarkson Potter, 2002.
^ Gray, Christopher (2001-06-03). "Streetscapes/Readers' Questions; The Hamlet Site of Eugene O'Neill's 'Iceman' Saloon". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-07-03 .
^ "Joseph V. Horn, Automat Concatenation Co-Founder Dies," The Washington Post, October 15, 1941, p. 23.
^ "Smithsonian Mag | History & Archaeology | See Me at the Automat". March 19, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-03-19.
^ "Closing the Automat Door," by Peter Mikelbank, The Washington Post, September seven, 1975, p. 135.
^ Acquisitions, The Washington Post, August 30, 1990, pg. C2.
^ "Horn & Hardart to buy Royal Inn in Las Vegas for well-nigh $7.4 million". Wall Street Journal. June 20, 1979. ProQuest 134453315. (subscription required)
^ "Hotel'due south proper noun change most complete (Advertisement supplement)". Los Angeles Times. October 12, 1980. ProQuest 162939339. (subscription required)
^ ^a ^b "Horn & Hardart to close hotel". New York Times. March 2, 1982. Retrieved 2012-05-16 .
^ "Royal Americana Hotel and Casino renovated (Advertisement supplement)". Los Angeles Times. March i, 1981. ProQuest 152714896. (subscription required)
^ "Las Vegas too feeling sting of recession". Lawrence Periodical-World. New York Times News Service. December 16, 1982. Retrieved 2012-05-sixteen .
^ "Slices of History: At New York'southward Concluding Automat only the Ambiance is the Same," by David Streitfeld, The Washington Mail service, April 24, 1988, p. 66.
^ Michael Klein (8 August 1994). "Horn & Hardart Foods Are Back". Philadelphia Inquirer . Retrieved 3 Jan 2013.
^ "Horn & Hardart – Bakery Buffet". AllMenus.com. Retrieved Apr viii, 2016.
^ "Horn & Hardart Official Website". HornandHardartcoffee.com. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
^ "Horn and Hardart Coffee | Official Website | Buy Coffee Hither". Hornandhardartbrands.com. Retrieved 2018-04-16 .
^ Paul Auster: iv three 2 1 Henry Holt and Company, New York 2017, e-ISBN 9781627794473, ISBN 9781627794466, p.353 affiliate 3.4.
^ "Lunch 60 minutes NYC". The New York Public Library. Retrieved three Jan 2013.
^ Crowley, Carolyn Hughes (August i, 2001). "Meet Me at the Automat: Horn & Hardart gave large city Americans a taste of skillful fast food in its chrome-and-glass restaurants". Smithsonian Magazine.
^ Hardart, Paul; Hardart, Tom (donors). "Horn and Hardart Records, 1921–2001". SIRIS (Smithsonian Institution Research Information System) Archives.
^ Schickele, Peter (1976). The Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach. Random House. pp. 173–174. ISBN0-394-46536-nine.
^ "Hair – Colored Spade". allthelyrics.com . Retrieved Oct 27, 2011.
^ "Hair Cast Lyrics, Colored Spade lyrics". Retrieved Oct 26, 2011.
^ "Put a Nickel In, Have Your Food Out". Wired. June 9, 2010.
^ 'The Automat' – a great read for those interested in convenience services, past, present and future Vending Times. Retrieved March 29, 2021.

External links [edit]

The official website of the new owners of the Horn and Hardart make.
The 2017 Horn & Hardart documentary moving picture THE AUTOMAT directed by Lisa Hurwitz
Horn & Hardart Automat sign at 968 sixth Avenue, Manhattan, 1986
In Praise of the Automat – slideshow by Life mag
"The Last Automat," by James T. Farrell (New York, May xiv, 1979)

foustchreash96.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horn_%26_Hardart