RIP Howard Johnson’s

[2muchcoffeeman]

I guess nobody goes HoJo anymore.

The last Howard Johnson’s restaurant still operating closed this week. Located in Lake George, New York, it had only sporadically been open since March. This closes a restaurant chain that those on a summer road trip fondly remember seeing for almost exactly 100 years. It was the first and, for a time, only franchise restaurant chain in the U.S., and a slice of Americana.​

Road-Trip Icon Howard Johnson's Closes Last Restaurant

 

[jr/shotglass]

We had one of the last holdouts on the outskirts of Harrisburg, but never went there.

I remember I always liked their Seafood Newburg when I was a little kid in Newburgh, N.Y.

 

[heyabbott]

Stuckey’s is apparently Making a come back and I’ve seen commercials for Friendly’s. But the Bob Evans restaurants near me have closed. Can’t find a Dennys. There’s an IHOP around somewhere, but it’s in a strip mall with a Wings n Things, not a free standing store.

all of these places were just variations on the Diner. And there aren’t many Diners anymore. The best places.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

I liked the hot dogs at HoJo as a kid. In high school, we'd hit the one near us in Wilmington, Del. and play fried clam roulette. Someone would order the (execrable) clams and see what other food items were served that'd been incidentally fried back in the kitchen. The younger brother of one of my friends retired the trophy when he discovered a deep fried rubber band in his order.

 

[Woody Long]

I liked the hot dogs at HoJo as a kid. In high school, we'd hit the one near us in Wilmington, Del. and play fried clam roulette. Someone would order the (execrable) clams and see what other food items were served that'd been incidentally fried back in the kitchen. The younger brother of one of my friends retired the trophy when he discovered a deep fried rubber band in his order.

Reminds me of a college party where, upon discovering a deep fryer in the fraternity house's kitchen, we took turns battering and deep frying random items, including someone's Air Jordan.

 

[Tighthead]

Stuckey’s is apparently Making a come back and I’ve seen commercials for Friendly’s. But the Bob Evans restaurants near me have closed. Can’t find a Dennys. There’s an IHOP around somewhere, but it’s in a strip mall with a Wings n Things, not a free standing store.

all of these places were just variations on the Diner. And there aren’t many Diners anymore. The best places.

This is from the Canadian side, but in the last six months I tried a local Denny’s and a local Perkins and a decent breakfast was $20 before tip. Just not worth it.

 

[Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.]

Remember seeing these every so often on I-95 in Connecticut, usually right around the toll booths, on our way to see cousins in Rahway, N.J. Still can picture the orange pointy roofs.

 

[heyabbott]

This is from the Canadian side, but in the last six months I tried a local Denny’s and a local Perkins and a decent breakfast was $20 before tip. Just not worth it.

That’s what it costs these days. The diner $15 for an omelette, as long as it’s not lox and onions. $3 or more for coffee, unlimited refills. Our Diner has the big breakfast. New owners took it off the menu. It had to bring it back. 2 eggs, 3 pancakes, hash browns, 2 bacon, sausage and a small Ham steak. About $18.00. Toast is extra on this one.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Not dead yet:

 

[Songbird]

Growing up, we went to Palm Springs a few times a year.

We'd eat at the HoJo's in Palm Springs, still 100 degrees at 10 at night, and order ice cream sundaes that they served in small plastic MLB helmets.

 

[goalmouth]

It was HoJo's from my earliest days visiting Nanny and Poppy in Chestnut Hill, Mass. In college our favorite was Tendersweet™ Clams at NJ Turnpike rest stops. There are still a few ex-HoJo motels around, with the remains of the famous orange roof and check-in office with white spire. The chain was the first to cook food at a central commissary and ship it out to restaurants. For a time in the early Sixties this was under five-star chefs Pierre Franey and Jacque Pepin. I won't mention the tragedy of New Orleans.

And there was this, and I still have mine (and still available today):

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

As a kid growing up in Pennsylvania in the 1980s, you only really experienced Howard Johnson’s on the Turnpike, which we did every summer when we drove to Philadelphia to visit Uncle Mike and Aunt Ann and go “down the shore” to Wildwood for a couple of days. We were always discouraged from wanting anything from there when we were traveling because they held a monopoly at that time and basically had stadium prices. Plus, it was six hours plus across the state in those days (55 mph speed limit and much windier roads through the mountains) and a sit down meal was going to add to that. By the 1990s, they’d all but vanished and were replaced by Roy Rogers and Burger King. A lot of the old stone buildings still remain but many have been demolished or repurposed since we don’t need a rest stop every 60 miles any longer.

 

[justgladtobehere]

It was HoJo's from my earliest days visiting Nanny and Poppy in Chestnut Hill, Mass. In college our favorite was Tendersweet™ Clams at NJ Turnpike rest stops. There are still a few ex-HoJo motels around, with the remains of the famous orange roof and check-in office with white spire. The chain was the first to cook food at a central commissary and ship it out to restaurants. For a time in the early Sixties this was under five-star chefs Pierre Franey and Jacque Pepin. I won't mention the tragedy of New Orleans.

And there was this, and I still have mine (and still available today):

View attachment 13468

Where was the HoJos around Newton? I think there was one on 128.

 

[Brian J Walter]

I liked the hot dogs at HoJo as a kid.

Yes! On family road trips way back when, hotdogs were the only things I would eat at restaurants. HoJos and Dutch Pantry were the only places that had them. It’s been years since I’ve seen either.

 

[Batman]

Stuckey’s is apparently Making a come back and I’ve seen commercials for Friendly’s. But the Bob Evans restaurants near me have closed. Can’t find a Dennys. There’s an IHOP around somewhere, but it’s in a strip mall with a Wings n Things, not a free standing store.

all of these places were just variations on the Diner. And there aren’t many Diners anymore. The best places.

Waffle House is still going strong.

 

[goalmouth]

My parents for years drove between Florida and New Jersey, and Waffle House was the one place they absolutely, positively would never set foot in. Ever.

 

[Slacker]

Waffle House is great.
As was Howard Johnson's.

 

[Neutral Corner]

HoJo's and Stuckey's beside the interstate were icons when I was a kid.

 

[dixiehack]

HoJo's and Stuckey's beside the interstate were icons when I was a kid.

Stephanie Stuckey is a decent Twitter follow.

 

[Neutral Corner]

The pecan divinity at Stuckey's wasn't as good as my grandmother made, but it was still pretty damn good.