Horn and Hardart Automat - (A day spent with my dad)

The New York City streets were crowded and, from my six year old vantage point, with giants, but I had the biggest giant with me holding my hand, so I didn’t have to worry.

My dad and I walked along towards our favorite place in the city, the Horn and Hardart automat.

We walked inside and over to the tall booth where a lady was sitting behind a glass window. It was the change booth, and my dad changed several dollars for nickels.

We took those nickels to the wall of glass doors that had Sandwiches written above them and my eyes feasted on all the different kinds that were behind those glass window doors.

I picked the sandwich I wanted and my dad dropped in the proper amount of nickels and the door magically popped open. I watched as he took the sandwich out for me and placed it on our tray but I didn't care about the sandwich, my eyes were glued on that door, because when he closed it back up, the inside revolved and instantly, there was another sandwich there.

This amazed my six year old eyes and fired my imagination.

How did they make that sandwich appear so quickly? Are there elves in there?

I wanted to keep putting nickels in to every door just to watch this trick again and again.

After my dad picked his sandwich out, we walked to the neatest ever coffee server for him to get a cup of coffee.

On the wall there was a silver lion's head and my dad put the nickels in and out of its mouth poured the coffee, it poured right into his hand held coffee mug.

This made me laugh and my dad laughed with me.

Then I took a glass and put it under the cow’s face, on the same wall as the lion, and it gave the milk from its mouth, pouring it right into the glass, and it never overfilled.

Is this a wonderland or what? I thought.

We found a table and happily ate our lunch, I rushed through mine because I knew that next we’d get our dessert. Pies, cakes and cookies of every kind awaited us behind another wall of glass doors. 

This time my dad lifted me up so I could put the nickels in the slot myself.

When the door magically popped open I quickly grabbed my chocolate cake from inside and closed the door so I could watch in fascination as it spun around, I looked really hard but I never did see a hand and yet there it was, another chocolate cake was back behind that glass door.

My eyes grew wide in disbelief, how was it possible?

I truly believed it was magical elves back there replacing everything in lightning speed.

Ah but for those innocent days of youth again, and for those times spent with my dad.

I didn’t need a Disneyland back then; all I needed was my Dad and the Horn and Hardart Automat for lunch.