The Prytania Theatre at Canal Place is the exclusive venue in New Orleans for the screening of a new documentary, The Automat, through Thursday, May 26. Iconic, elegant, and populist all at once, the Automat (a.k.a. Horn & Hardart) revolutionized American dining a century ago, long before there was fast food or hipster coffee shops. An eclectic mix of New Yorkers inserted nickels into slots, and slices of lemon meringue pie, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, and creamed spinach magically appeared from a grid of gleaming chrome windows.

The futuristic eatery was also known for its signature five-cent coffee, cascading from ornate dolphin-headed spouts. Automat cofounder Frank Hardart worked in restaurants in New Orleans, which was where got the idea to bring the city’s incredible, but not yet famous coffee to Philadelphia and later New York City. The documentary includes interviews with Mel Brooks (who sings an homage he wrote specifically for the film), Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Colin Powell, Carl Reiner, and others who pay effusive tribute to this communal Art Deco home away from home. Says Brooks: “You didn’t need a lot of money. You needed a lot of nickels.”

Debut filmmaker Lisa Hurwitz gathered rare artifacts, images, and memorabilia to create a love letter to a New York City institution that many still remember.

The Automat had its world premiere at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival. Joe Morganstern of The Wall Street Journal writes, “Lisa Hurwitz memorializes a chain of eateries like no other in The Automat, a beguiling little film.”

For more information and screen times, visit here.