Posted on 05/16/2005 11:06:24 AM PDT by raccoonradio
BANGOR, Maine (AP) -- The orange roof is long gone and the Simple Simon plaque is history. The famous "28 flavors" of ice cream have dwindled to 16 varieties.
But at least the Howard Johnson name sits atop the building, which is a lot more than hundreds of one-time Howard Johnson's eateries can say.
The venerable chain once had more than 800 restaurants from coast to coast, but these days you can count them on two hands. Some fear that HoJo's, as it is affectionately known, and its trademark orange roofs, fried clams and timeless air will soon go the way of the Studebaker, a victim of modern times and increased competition.
If that happens, an icon of American dining and one of nation's the first full-service restaurant chains will disappear.
Waitress Kathe Jewett has watched sadly as other HoJo restaurants nationwide have been shuttered, torn down or converted into other restaurants, a fitness center, a gift shop, a bank and even a car dealership.
She started working here fresh out of high school 39 years ago, and has seen generations pass through these doors.
"It's a way of life," said Jewett, who calls her customers "dear." "Now there are chain restaurants on every corner."
The decline began after the company was sold to a British conglomerate 25 years ago, said Walter Mann of North Haven who runs a Web site devoted to Howard Johnson's.
It was then sold off twice more before ending up in the hands of Franchise Associates Inc., which has been the franchisor since 1986.
The last HoJo's in Massachusetts - in Greenfield - closed in 2002.
With this month's closing of a HoJo's in Springfield, Vt., there are now only eight left in Maine, Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, Maryland and New York, Mann said.
The Howard Johnson's in New York City's Times Square is reportedly going to close in June.
"It's definitely twilight time for Howard Johnson's," Mann said.
Howard Deering Johnson started the business that bears his name in 1925, when he inherited a small soda fountain from his father in Quincy's Wollaston section, just south of Boston.
Customers started flocking his way after he began serving ice cream with twice the usual butterfat.
Johnson added other easy-to-fix foods like hot dogs and fried clams to the menu, and three years later opened the first Howard Johnson's restaurant.
In the decades to come, the Howard Johnson name spread as hundreds of franchises opened across the country. About 20 restaurants opened in Maine, including six on the Maine Turnpike.
The Howard Johnson hotel chain - which is separate from the restaurants - came later.
The first motor lodge opened in 1954, and there are still 464 Howard Johnson hotels around. They are franchised by New York-based Cendant Corp. but are not affiliated with the restaurants.
At the peak, there were 850 or so Howard Johnson's restaurants, as well as close to 200 company-owned Ground Rounds and a couple of dozen Red Coach Grills, according to Rich Kummerlowe of Spring Hill, Fla.
Kummerlowe has a Web site that pays tribute to Howard Johnson's, and has studied the chain as a board member of the Society for Commercial Archeology, an organization devoted to the 20th-century commercial landscape.
Johnson did for roadside restaurants what Holiday Inn, the first national lodging chain, did for roadside hotels.
HoJo's is also credited with being one of the first companies to package its buildings - the orange roofs, cupolas with weather vanes, and the Simple Simon and the Pieman plaques - to market its product, much the way McDonald's later used the golden arches.
Over time, the chain suffered from aging restaurants, a stale menu, lack of marketing or new ideas, and increased competition from other chains such as Applebee's, Chili's and Ruby Tuesdays, Kummerlowe said. And one by one, the restaurants began closing their doors.
"There was no vision, and there was no capital that was reinvested," he said.
If the chain goes under, it will be a loss for generations of Americans who still have warm and fuzzy memories of the restaurants, said Ron Nykiel, the founder and president of the Hospitality Hall of Honor at the University of Houston.
Howard Johnson, who was inducted posthumously in 1999, is one of 32 inductees. Nykiel remembers as a child piling into the family Buick for the annual summer vacation drive from New Jersey to Canada, stopping at Howard Johnson's along the way for hot dogs and ice cream.
For others, it conjures up blueberry and corn toastees, salt water taffy and old-fashioned waitress uniforms.
"You don't have a bad memory of Howard Johnson's," Nykiel said. At the Bangor Howard Johnson's, the waitresses call the noontime customers "hon" or "dear" or by name.
The original lunch counter is still here, as is the milkshake machine and the stainless-steel coolers behind the counter.
Marjorie and Ernest Melvin come here nearly every day. Now in their 80s, they like going to a place where the food is good, the prices are moderate and where they feel like family.
Still, Marjorie Melvin says, the restaurant could stand to change.
"Right now I wish they'd change their menus a little bit," she said. "I like their food, I'm just a bit tired of it."
The chain's future is unclear. Franchise Associates Inc. in Shelton did not return several phone calls left on its answering machines. Its Web site is dated with an old phone number and old information.
Some still hold hope for the chain. Other chains, after all, have teetered on the brink and come back stronger than ever. "The key is, who is the white knight for HoJo's?" Mann said.
Even when I was young the store was like an "antique." But it was nice.
Service wasn't too great at the one (and only) my dad ever stopped at when I was a kid.
Every time we drove past it after that (it was about half way between Oakland and Redding, CA) he would mention that their slogan should be "Get stuck at Stuckey's," as in, "getting it stuck to you."
Me too! I still have all their little Flexidiscs that they offered as part of a promotion for the original Star Wars.
McDonald's actually stole the Happy Meal concept from Burger Chef.
"McDonald's actually stole the Happy Meal concept from Burger Chef."
That's the American way.
Never even saw a HoJo's down here, but I remember seeing "Stuckey's" all along I-20 headed to Dallas a few years ago. Never stopped at one, though.
As for "Burger Chef", I remember them from when I was a kid (remember the Burger Chef and Jeff commercials?). Used to love to go there. They got bought out by another chain, "Mr. Cook", around 25 years ago, and the burgers were just as good, and they made nachos to die for, the quality and flavor was better than you'll find in a lot of good Mexican restaurants, and much cheaper. Then, sadly, they went belly up in the early 90s.
The world as I knew it was over when the Howard Johnson in N. Miami Beach closed down. That and the Coppertone girl billboard nearby which was also taken down were my last links to a bygone era that is now...Gone With The Wind.
While we are getting sappy over the days of yesteryear we have to pay homage to "Nickerson Farms". Remember the "Red" roof? I remember their fried chichen...crispy, moist and just darn good. They finally bit the dust in the early 1980's.
Anyone here remember Happy Chef?
There's still one in Mankato, Minnesota. It's got the giant chef statue outside that's been there for almost 40 years. You pushed a button at the base and the chef would 'talk' to you. Creeped me out as a kid.
Someday, I'll have to stop there and see if the button still works. My eight-year-old might get a kick out of it.
I loved Howard Johnson's familiar orange roofs and ice cream. It's sad to them going away.
Thanks for posting this thread. It's nice to take a walk down memory lane.
I had those I think. Wasn't that fried clam strips heaped onto a toasted buttered frankfort bun, served in a plastic basket? Along with tarter sauce of course.
From the internet:
As a guy who worked in a HOJO's in the mid-60's I remember the menu items fairly well. The sandwich you referred to was the Clam Roll. It used the same roll as was used for the hot dog(Franfurt) and the Lobster Roll. It was that type of roll that made the New England 'style' Hot Dog a step above (IMHO) those of other locations where the "normal" bun is the holder of the Dog. The standard Clam Roll contained 2 oz. of clam strips, dipped in canned milk and the flower/batter/breading then deep-fried The roll was buttered on the outside then grilled while the clams were being prepared...so all was toasty hot when combined and served (we hoped!) Price in 1963 was 75 cents.
For me the ice cream of choice was "Buttercrunch" with "Burgandy Cherry" running a close second. Mocha Walnut was another favorite, but it never was a big seller.
Remember "Sandy's?" 10 burgers for a buck??? I remember the one in Denton Texas back during my days at NTSU.
http://www.geocities.com/sandyshamburgers/
I don't recall much about the food at Nickerson Farms, other than the fact that my grandpa loved their fried liver and onions. (:
The part I found fascinating was the working beehive under glass in the lobby at their Adrian, Minnesota location.
I'm deathly afraid of bees and kept a wary eye on the display throughout my meal. I believe it had something to do with selling their own house brand of honey.
Not just the fried clams... onion rings! And hot chocolate. Sadly, somewhere along the line the clams got rubbery and the onion ring batter lost it's lightness: dunno about the hot chocolate.
Can't say I remember Sandy's.
I'm a born and bred northerner. Maybe they never had them in the upper midwest. Sounds tasty though! (:
> i ate at Howard Johnson's once as a kid... i thought the food was quite bland...
I think *most* American Food used to be quite bland...in fact, my parents preferred it that way. HoJo's had Good Bland Food, and part of the reason they are almost out of business is they never brought in the bada-bing (tm). Except for the ice cream, of course.
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