150
Fotomat (date unknown) (lemmy.nz)
submitted 3 weeks ago by EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca to c/vintageads@sh.itjust.works
17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Fotomat was a chain of drive-up film developing kiosks. You would drop off your negatives, and pick up pictures the next day. They were eventually overtaken by one hour photo labs in the 1980s and went out of business. Some of the structures have been repurposed to sell coffee or other products, but most are gone.

Here is an undated photo of one. Maybe late 60s / early-mid 70s, from the cars?

Fotomat

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[-] OldChicoAle@lemmy.world 16 points 3 weeks ago

I miss the days when I wasn't alive.

[-] real_squids@sopuli.xyz 9 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

fiat 850 spider was made from '65 til '73, considering the (older) background cars, seems like a solid guess

edit: and im not good enough at distinguishing series1/2 cars to give a tighter date

[-] EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca 4 points 3 weeks ago

Excellent, thanks. I figured someone would probably know exactly what kind of car it was!

[-] Gatospazio@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

At the bottom of the bold text. Trademark, you see 1977 in the ad.

[-] EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca 7 points 3 weeks ago

That's certainly the ballpark, although that date in the ad appears to be when the "picture pickup promise" phrase was trademarked, which could possibly be years before the ad. But at least the ad must be 77 or later.

I'm always a little cautious about using trademark dates since I've seen cases where a trademark or copyright date predates the ad itself by decades.

[-] Tower@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 weeks ago

Understandable, but I would think "Introducing" in the ad copy would constrain it pretty closely to the trademark year.

[-] Gatospazio@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

I'm sort of agreeing that this might be closer to a 1973 timeline because of the Camaro R2 or potentially AMC Javelin in the illustration, however it could just be some graphic design of both/similar vehicles... mid to late 1970s seems close enough.

[-] NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I used to work in the photo department at a store, that was genuinely a pretty fun job. I got to see some fun and weird and cool shit.

You have to look at every picture for legal and picture alignment/color reasons, and my favorite thing was just how often I’d be going through regular stuff, birthday party, barbecue, the usuals, then BAM one picture of dad naked in the mirror, full dong, then right back to the standard affair. I always tried to make a note of who picked up those pictures, and more often than not it wasn’t the dude in the photo, and I’ve always wanted to be a fly on the wall for those moments of discovery.

[-] toynbee@piefed.social 5 points 3 weeks ago

Are you Robin Williams?

[-] LemmyUser0909@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 weeks ago

Sy the Photo Guy!

*Haunting movie (One Hour Photo, 2002), worth watching fyi

[-] NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

They were tied to the job, sure, but no, I was murdering people that had their pictures developed by me for entirely different reasons than in One Hour Photo, the work was really the only parallel.

[-] LemmyUser0909@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 weeks ago

When I was a kid I found in a field in a forest a whole mess (50/60 of them) of these Fotomat booths. I was maybe 11yo, it was like coming across Narnia in real life. All overgrown with grass, man I wish I had a camera to share the visuals. It was other worldly.

[-] greatwhitebuffalo41@slrpnk.net 3 points 3 weeks ago

This explains a very weird building that's in the old part of town near where I used to work!

[-] toxicbubble@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

nowadays the closest film shop is a 3 hour drive from me

[-] miked@piefed.social 3 points 3 weeks ago

I recall many of these turning into cigarette shops.

[-] Psythik@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

Where did they fit the photo lab in the kiosk? Or was that just the drop-off point?

[-] EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca 1 points 3 weeks ago

I think it was the 2nd option: just the drop off and pick up point. The negatives were sent to a lab, then photos returned to the kiosk for you to pick up a day later.

this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2026
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