I wonder if Edward Hopper’s portrayal of the ’20s automat is correct. Was it really a place a young woman could go at night… alone? Unless you are Angelina Jolie, (who apparently sneaks out to bars solo in New York and New Orleans) late night options are pretty much limited to movie theaters, indie rock shows, or Netflix at home. Don’t get me wrong. I have no problem getting lunch at the bar with a journal, or even a drink up til about 8 or so. But after that one is opening oneself up to the possibility of unwanted attention. And the point of going out alone is to be alone. I suppose if Horn & Hardart were around today, it would get same kind of rowdy crowd as a late night falafel place. Maybe the contemporary equivalency of an automat is a sushi bar where you pick the plates off the train and they charge you at the end by numbers of plates. (Was thinking about this while reading Coolhunter on Minibar, the Amsterdam “automat”-style self-serve bar.)