I think he had read my blog entry regarding the Candlelight Restaurant...anyway, an older friend wrote to me about eating at the Automat in the Bronx in the 1950s. We also ate at the Automat, the Fresh Meadows, Long Island branch. The Automat was operated by Horn & Hardart, which also operated retail shops ["Less Work for Mother!"] purveying their Automat-style food. We regularly had food at home purchased from the Great Neck branch of the shop. Wonderful gooey, middle-of-the-road food. Of all the dishes my mother brought home I most distinctly recall the macaroni and cheese. Don't ask me why.

This made me think of another Great Neck restaurant playing a significant role in my childhood: "Hamburger Express." This was a counter style burger spot. It's gimmick was a model railway built into the counter. Your hamburger would arrive via Lionel railway! It was rather a dazzling sales gimmick. No child could resist the sheer romance ot it! The rattle of the train, the steam whistle blowing, the crackle of sparks...the hamburger on its own flatcar gliding to rest right before you!