"...Or help you at the automat"

One of my all time favorite film numbers, Marilyn Monroe’s “Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend", also makes reference to one of my quirky loves - automats. I don’t know what it is about them, but there’s something nostalgic about buying hot food through a coin-operated sliding partition. Almost the ultimate in self-service, other than going behind the counter and making the food yourself. Sadly, I never had the chance to actually eat an entire automat meal because in 1992, the last standing Horn & Hardarts closed down on 42nd St. I was a few years out of high school and not even thinking about coin operated meals. Sad.

I got to feel the nostalgia of automats allover again in Amsterdam last year, where they are called "automatieks" and are commonplace. The one we saw everywhere was a chain called FEBO. The only problem is that one of the items they served was frikandel, which contains horsemeat; a huge turnoff for me.

Imagine my surprise when an automat opened up on St Marks Place, diagonally across from my all time favorite egg cream joint - Gem Spa. I think I’m going to be buried with a Gem Spa egg cream, but that’s another post all together! Anyway, BAMN! as it’s known, is a concoction of neon and pink cuteness. They boast that they're open "25 hours", which works well for drunken nights out. The setup closely resembles its relative in The Netherlands more than its US ancestor. The selections are out and out fried fast food junk, but I just can’t get past the novelty.