The first images we’ve seen of the newly uncovered Automat space since its transformation into an urgent care clinic are promising. The windows have the bright and airy feel of the old Automat, even if the view might not be as good as when people flooded 104th street and Broadway to grab a bite to eat.
Most recently, the space was occupied by a Rite Aid that covered much of the facade. It closed earlier this year. Read our story about the history of the space here.
If only the medical office sold little medicines and balms you could buy out of coin slots. We could have a whole new kind of Automat!
Thanks to Sean Geoghan for the photos.
Very nice job of a new space using and respecting the historic aesthetic. Well done.
It’s pretty and all, but if I were going there for medical care I would not feel comfortable sitting in that waiting room completely exposed to everyone on the street. So much for privacy.
I know of a few ER waiting rooms that have windows exposing everyone to the street and really who cares as long as one gets treated efficiently and with care.
If you have any kind of medical emergency, I think that whether or not passersby can see you will be the least of your problems. I know I never look in the windows of storefront medical clinics and most people are the same. I’m just grateful not be be inside.
And I think it’s a considered decision on the part of the clinics to have such a visible waiting room. It may actually make it safer and more secure.
The local zoning ordinances may actually be the reason and require open unobstructed store front windows.
They need to put screens on window for privacy. I wouldnt want my neighbors and friends to know I went to doctor.
Then don’t go there.
I won’t. Cure Urgent Care on 102 is much cozier. I do not want to be seen sitting at the doctor’s.
There is an interesting cultural split here.
I don’t feel a need for any privacy when visiting a medical professional, but clearly not everyone feels that way.
Then again, City MD use a similar set up at a number of their other facilities (including the one on Broadway in the 80s) and seem to be doing quite well. There may well be a generational aspect to how people feel on this issue.
I also agree that they have done a good job of re-purposing the space in a way that makes it much easier for contemporary visitors to imagine what it once looked like.
A few thoughts…
It certainly looks nicer than the drug store that was previously at that location.
I, and many in the neighborhood, continue to miss El Taller Latino Americano, which was on the third floor of that building until their recent eviction.
I’ve heard that other City MD locations provide fine care, but I have to put in that I had an excellent experience for a minor issue at the other new urgent care facility in the neighborhood, Care, one block south on the other side of Broadway.
Agreed, I think you meant to write Cure, not Care. 🙂