Remember Stucky’s? Loved those places too.
You can probably buy fried clams as good as I used to buy at Howard Johnson’s. When I find out where I can buy them I’ll let everybody know.
Loved the beans and franks....
I think they started going downhill when Consumer Reports(?) showed on National TV that HoJo’s was cheating their customers with a ‘Large’ soft drink and ‘Small’ soft drink having the same amount, but served in different glasses that made it appear one was larger than the other................
Yes, indeed. Breakfast with Simple Simon.
By the mid-seventies there was nobody insuring that bathrooms were kept clean across the chain.
My memories growing up were that whether you were in Little Rock or Denver, the food would be merely okay and the men’s room would be filthy.
The chain lacked uniform quality control.
I loved HOJO’s fried clams when I was a kid. Every rode trip we ever took included at least one stop at a HOJO’s.
As a kid, we’d help my friend’s older brother deliver his Sunday newspapers (he was 18, we were 11 and I learned later, he’d be hungover from partying the night before) , and he’d take us for pancakes at HoJo’s
They never served fried clams. Clam strips, which almost sacrilege. The bellies are what make the fried clam a fried clam.
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.
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.
Every waitress was at least ten months pregnant!