RIP Howard Johnson’s

[ChrisLong]

I haven't seen a Howard Johnson's since I watched "Mad Men."

 

[The Big Ragu]

We were a Friendly's family when I was growing up.

 

[MisterCreosote]

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. View attachment 13470

There used to be one right across the street from the King of Prussia Mall, right off the turnpike.

It’s been a while since I’ve been over that way, but the HoJo could not have looked more out of place there. Same goes for when it closed and became a Best Western. Like a white-trash beacon in a sea of glitz and glamor.

 

[Liut]

I haven't seen a Howard Johnson's since I watched "Mad Men."

I haven't seen a Howard Johnson's since I watched Blazing Saddles a few weeks ago. RIP John Hillerman.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I recall HoJos running the overpass oases along the Illinois Tollway in greater Chicagoland. This website places their concession in the '70s and '80s -- my memory suggested it was earlier, but in my '60s childhood the Old Man didn't like to pay the tolls so we took the stoplight route from Wisconsin down Highway 41.

One of the oases was the backdrop for this scene from "The Blues Brothers" where Carrie Fischer tried to incinerate John Belushi with a flamethrower (scroll to the bottom of the page). Howard Johnson's on the Illinois Tollway

 

[da man]

There used to be one right across the street from the King of Prussia Mall, right off the turnpike.

It’s been a while since I’ve been over that way, but the HoJo could not have looked more out of place there. Same goes for when it closed and became a Best Western. Like a white-trash beacon in a sea of glitz and glamor.

Thank you for spelling “glamor” without the U. I fought that battle for years before finally being overrun and giving up.

 

[da man]

I haven't seen a Howard Johnson's since I watched Blazing Saddles a few weeks ago. RIP John Hillerman.

That was the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title.

“Howard Johnson is right!”

 

[ChrisLong]

Not dead yet:

View attachment 13467

One of the better Lasorda rants in 1987 when HoJo was on the way to 36 homers and 99 RBI: "We could had him for Joe Beckwith ... Joe ****ing Beckwith." Of course, Beckwith had a world-class wife, which probably was important to Al Campanis. Incidentally, Beckwith and fellow pitcher Ted Power were married to sisters who were both stunning beauties.

 

[User 149557]

I haven't seen a Howard Johnson's since I watched "Mad Men."

 

[heyabbott]

Megan was a *****.

 

[User 149557]

Ted Power without a mustache looked like he could attract a dime.

Ted Power with a mustache looked like he could fix the carburetor on your 77 Impala in a jiffy.

 

[User 149557]

Megan was a *****.

I always wondered who watched that show and missed the point entirely. Of course, it was you.

 

[heyabbott]

I always wondered who watched that show and missed the point entirely. Of course, it was you.

Mad Men in general or Don’s fascination with middle
Class kitch? Sorry Megan, but how do you not love Orange sherbet. Hot dogs on buttered rolls, fried clam strips and the original smash burgers? HoJo, like Bob’s Big Boy, Hot Shoppes were actually clean and the ingredients in the late 50s thru early 70s we’re good

I remember summer camps in upstate Pa and the highlight of August was going to Honesdale Pa and stopping at a Big Boy. I bet Megan didn’t like a chocolate dip from DQ

 

[maumann]

As a kid, put a Howard Johnson's Clam Roll in front of me and I would be a happy camper for the rest of the day. Dad and I probably wiped out four of those in a three-day period on a trip between Fort Lauderdale and Detroit one time, when he was on the IBM business account.

We still rate fried clam strips on a scale of "as good as Howard Johnson's." Even though we haven't actually had Howard Johnson's in 40-something years.

 

[cyclingwriter2]

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. View attachment 13470

Crap in a hat, that brought back some memories. We hit wildwood every few years and stopped at a Howard Johnson’s every time.

 

[cyclingwriter2]

Mad Men in general or Don’s fascination with middle
Class kitch? Sorry Megan, but how do you not love Orange sherbet. Hot dogs on buttered rolls, fried clam strips and the original smash burgers? HoJo, like Bob’s Big Boy, Hot Shoppes were actually clean and the ingredients in the late 50s thru early 70s we’re good

I remember summer camps in upstate Pa and the highlight of August was going to Honesdale Pa and stopping at a Big Boy. I bet Megan didn’t like a chocolate dip from DQ

I caught a pickerel off a bridge in honesdale one time.

A few years later, I was at a football camp with a lot of their team. They were the biggest bunch of oddball rednecks we had ever seen. It was the early 1990s and each of their linemen still had mullets and full beards. They bragged about wearing foil under their arm pads like they were the hansons of football. They also put Vaseline on their jerseys.

I decided not to mention my fishing exploits.

 

[Slacker]

I know it ain't hard for a diner to make a good grilled cheese sandwich, but HoJo always had the perfect one when I was a kid. I can't recall ever ordering anything else there.

I also can't recall ever eating at a HoJo's again after age 12 or so.
It was a great place, but it was sorta the place your parents (or grandparents) took you to.

 

[tea and ease]

My drinking girls and I ate early breakfasts at late night HoJo's, where we always referred to the waiter/waitress as "Howie". Good times. Always respectful and well received. But as @Slacker just said, it was better received as a Grandpa place. My grandkids love the story of a first date story at HoJo's where the nervousness of eating sent rubbery, bouncy jello cube onto the floor and sent a caned man falling. That part not so funny.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

The HoJo in Lawton, Oklahoma housed the go-to nightclub in the whole city back in the day called Fizz, IIRC. My first massive exposure to late-80s, early-90s house and techno.

 

[tea and ease]

The HoJo in Lawton, Oklahoma housed the go-to nightclub in the whole city back in the day called Fizz, IIRC. My first massive exposure to late-80s, early-90s house and techno.

What?? A dual purpose HoJo? Corporate should have jumped on that.