Posted on 02/16/2017 8:07:30 AM PST by 11th_VA
“DOES HoJo still serve fried clams?” asked a Howard Johnson’s patron, using the nickname for the restaurant chain. He recently ate there for the first time in nearly 40 years. Back then, “HoJo” could be found on almost every highway and byway and felt as ubiquitous as McDonald’s or Starbucks are today. At its height in the 1970s, Howard Johnson’s had more than 1,000 restaurants and was the biggest food chain in America. Only the army fed more people. Now, only one is left. The last one standing is in Lake George, a summer tourist spot in New York’s Adirondacks.
Howard Deering Johnson, the chain’s founder, started his food empire in 1925 with an ice-cream shop outside Boston. He was an early pioneer of franchising. At one point in the 1960s, a new restaurant opened every nine days. Growth coincided with the rise of the car, the highway system, the middle class and family holidays. Each franchise had to adhere to the “Howard Johnson’s Bible”, which dictated everything from decor to the amount of tartare sauce; and each had to use food prepared by central commissaries, which was delivered to the restaurants for final cooking. The large menu included 28 ice-cream flavours, tender sweet Ipswich fried clams and butter-grilled “frankforts”...
(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...
Absolutely remember driving from NJ to Detroit in the ‘56 Buick, going thru the Penna (using the period-correct abbreviation!) turnpike tunnels (now all closed...Kitatinny Mountain, Blue Mtn, Rays Hill) my Dad hated HJ’s because it was the only place to eat on the road back then and he was not a fan of their food nor the captive kind of situation of having no choice.
Good ice cream, never understood their obsession with clams though.
Oh, how RIGHT you are my fellow Connecticadian.
Road trip...d'uh.
If somebody had half a brain, the industry know-how and financial backing, I think it could be revived. So many people are absolutely nuts about anything Mid-Century Modern, and those orange-roofed HoJos are about as Mid-Century Modern as you can get. So many people have good memories associated with them, the bad years of decline can be overcome. Keep the good (those fried clams, etc.), bring in fitting modern menu items that fit the theme, lose the bad, find a cool way to cater to the hipsters and moneyed older people who love the style. Put in a full service bar.
The last one here in my area was semi-attached to a high rise Howard Johnsons hotel. The HoJo restaurant building became a Hooter’s and still is to my knowledge. The hotel is under another name. That whole area was once very popular and very busy, but has gone downhill as the big mall across the way went downhill.
I was at Howard Johnson’s a lot during my college days and whenever I travelled as a young man. I believe the last time I stopped at one was about 20 years ago in Kentucky.
They loved it because they served an awesome Veal Parmesan. First time I ever ate the dish and have craved it ever since.
For the ride back to their house, they would buy dozens of containers of HoJo ice cream to stock their freezer until their next visit.
And I would usually stock up on the individually wrapped sugar cubes at the table.
I used to love the fried clams at HoJo’s.
We had one on Concord Pike in Wilmington DE when I lived there during the 1970’s.
Spent many a Friday night during college days eating All U Can Eat fried fish at the HoJo!
When we first moved to MA when I was a kid we stayed at a HoJos in Concord , MA (on route 2) for a while until my dad rented a house in the town. I remember getting my big toenail ripped off my the steel and glass door when I was going out to the pool.
Stuckey’s granddaughter was my state rep.
A complete libtard eggsucker.
Every waitress was at least ten months pregnant!
I had sent in coupons 25 cents for the Howard Johnson’s Birthday Record when a wee lad. It was a 7” 33rpm disc. I played it a lot as it was one of the first things I bought with my own money, and a MUCH better deal than the Bazooka Joe “Walkie-Talkies”.
We used to eat at the HoJo in Wytheville VA when I was a child. For breakfast, I always had oatmeal with sliced bananas, brown sugar and real cream. Theirs was the best!
Your Dad was right, turnpike food used to be the worst. No choices and since there was a captive clientele the food quality was always low.
The past couple of decades has shown a marked improvement in food quality and choices on the turnpikes, although the chains do run limited menus.
Sounds like the place where I grew up ... The HoJo Restaurant is still there in form, but it has another name now, and the Orange roof is wood shingle now.
I had a crew working in Florida. They found a HoJo’s in Jupiter that served all you can eat clams on I believe Tuesdays.
They took me one time........ they could put away mega quantities of fried clams.
The waitresses knew the boys from Tennessee and just kept hauling out the fried clams.
We used to eat at the HoJo in Wytheville VA when I was a child. For breakfast, I always had oatmeal with sliced bananas, brown sugar and real cream. Theirs was the best!
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According to the article, during their glory years, they placed an emphasis on high quality food that the middle class could afford.
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