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is the Lead Corporate Sponsor of the Lunch Hour NYC exhibition and related programming.Additional support for this exhibition has been generously provided by the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.
Support for The New York Public Library’s Exhibitions Program has been provided by Celeste Bartos, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, Mahnaz Ispahani Bartos and Adam Bartos Exhibitions Fund, and Jonathan Altman.
Media Sponsor
Steak and Pie From the Automat, Back Then
To the Editor:
The June 18 City Room article about an exhibition featuring the Horn & Hardart Automat at the New York Public Library brought back many happy childhood memories (“The Future of Lunch, as Seen by the Past”).
As a child, I lived on its food either by eating in the Automat or taking it home from the retail store. When I was in junior high, we would walk to lunch every day to the one on West 181st Street.
I would give the cashier my dollar, and she would slide 20 nickels under her window. I can still feel the smooth marble, worn down by so many coins over the years, on my fingers as I picked up the nickels.
My favorite vending-machine foods were the ham sandwiches and lemon meringue pie. I would put my nickels in the slot and turn the knob, and the door would open. After I took my food, the turntable would spin and a replacement would appear in the window.
My favorite hot foods were Salisbury steak and creamed spinach.
I plan to visit the exhibition. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it had a working version of the machine with my pie in it?
DAVID MILLER
Rhinebeck, N.Y., June 20, 2012
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