With Queens facing a massive housing shortage due to the return home of World War II veterans, the Metropolitan Life Insurance company built a huge complex of buildings complete with a shopping center to help ease the crisis. The new planned community was called Fresh Meadows.
To help feed the new residents, Horn & Hardart opened an automat at 61-40 188 St. in 1949. Automats were the forerunner of today’s fast food. Customers went to a locked glass window, chose their desired item and put in their nickels and dimes.
At its peak in 1950, H&H fed 350,000 New Yorkers a day at restaurants in all five boroughs. Eight were in Queens: Fresh Meadows, three in Long Island City, two in Jackson Heights and two in Forest Hills.
The manager of the Fresh Meadows facility was J. Michaels, who served food made according to a strict H&H manual. One of the restaurant’s secrets to success was that the food was steamed.
Frank Hardart lived in a 4,693-square-foot home at 64 Dartmouth St. in Forest Hills Gardens. Since Joseph Horn’s death in 1941, Hardarthad been running the business. He must have had an affection for Queens, as he had only three locations in downtown Brooklyn compared to the eight here.
The Fresh Meadows store was closed in 1971 due to the rise of fast food. A year later, upon the death of Hardart, his heirs closed the last remaining branch in Queens, located at 37-57 74 St. in Jackson Heights. The very last Horn & Hardart, at 42nd Street and Third Avenue in Manhattan, closed in 1991.
The Fresh Meadows location became a health food store in 1973, Parade Shoes in 1993 and then a restaurant again. Today it is a Qdoba Mexican Grill, serving the 13,000 residents of Fresh Meadows and anyone else with a yen for Mexican.
Corrections
The above column contained some errors. The firm that developed Fresh Meadows was misidentified. It was New York Life Insurance. The Horn and Hardart restaurant’s location, business model and successors were incorrect. It was at 61-09 190 St., was not an automat but used servers, became a bagel shop and diner and is now Hooters. The H&H at 61-40 188 St. was a retail store and is now Qdoba. We regret the errors.
DebraInNYC posted at 12:28 pm on Thu, Jan 19, 2012.
According to Smithsonian.com http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/object_aug01.html?c=y&page=1, the Horn & Hardart chain actually served 800,000 a day, not the 350.000 cited here.
Furthermore, all the food was NOT steamed. Some of the most popular and famous dishes were macaroni & cheese, chicken pot pie, Salisbury steak, and of course the pie!
clearken posted at 1:38 am on Sun, Jan 15, 2012.
There was only an H&H retail outlet store at 61-40 188th St. not a restaurant The H&H resturant in the photo was near the movie theater at 61-09 190th St. That H&H became a Bagel Nosh, Future Diner, Hooters, and other eating establishments in between.
When I was a child I used to eat at H&H with my parents before or after a movie.
Fresh Meadows Lee posted at 11:52 am on Sat, Jan 14, 2012.
Ron...I agree with Debra, you have received some erroneous information. It was New York Life Insurance Company, not Metropolitan Life. The restaurant which is now Hooters is at 61-09 190 Street. After H&H closed a Bagel Nosh opened. The restaurant that you mention is on 188 Street. Otherwise, it's always nice to reflect on old Fresh Meadows.
UsetoliveinFM posted at 10:19 am on Fri, Jan 13, 2012.
I agree with Debra.
You wrote in this article: >
Your address is wrong for where H&H use to be.
DebraInNYC posted at 1:06 am on Fri, Jan 13, 2012.
There are several factual errors in this article.
1. Fresh Meadows was built by NY Life Insurance Co., not Metropolitan Life.
2. The Horn & Hardart in FM was not an Automat. It was, in fact, the chain's very first restaurant with waitress service.
3. The location is now Hooters, not a Mexican restaurant.
4. I believe that Bagel Nosh, not a health food restaurant replaced H & H.
More information and photos on this H & H, and on Fresh Meadows can be found in the recently published book "Fresh Meadows" by Fred Cantor and myself.
Debra Davidson
NYC