[rlmorel]

How I miss them.

You know, it isn’t that they were that great, but...they were oh-so-American.

My father was career Navy and both of my parents were from Massachusetts, and we spent much time with our family of eight crammed into a station wagon in the sixties driving up and down the Eastern Seaboard between Washington DC and Massachusetts to visit family.

Passing motels with yellow bug lights above the door to the office...neon signs on the highway. And that orange and turquoise Howard Johnson’s sign...it was inviting and familiar.

Sigh.

I often thought I must have singlehandedly put them into Chapter 11 when I would visit them on the “all you can eat-clam strip” nights. I would tell the server: “I don’t want any french fries. No rolls. No cole slaw. Just clam strips.”

They knew the score. How I loved their clam strips.

I will always remember the back of the station wagon...no seat belts, the seats folded down flat...all of us in the back in our pajamas with blankets. The street lights above the road flashing by as I looked up...the glare of headlights of oncoming cars filling the inside of the car with fleeting light. I would awake, everyone asleep, I would look ahead and see my father driving through the night, like a machine, driving, the car droning...droning on through the endless and wonderful night of my childhood. I felt so content and safe in that car.

And Howard Johnson’s. And Howard Johnson’s. So American.

[Dr. Sivana]

All you can eat clam strips, mmm...

I forgot another Howard Johnson's memory. Sixth grade class field trip in 1975. We stayed at the Howard Johnson's in Washington, D.C., the one Nixon's team used to listen in on the McGovernites in the Watergate Hotel complex across the street. The HOJO rooms had communicating doors so there was no end of trouble caused.

I nearly ran out of money, having spent it in the game room at the Marriott in Philly, and had to spend my remainder on a loaf of bread and a small jar of peanut butter at the Safeway that was at the ground level of the Watergate. The restaurant there provided me with plastic utensils, so I could eat my peanut butter sandwiches on the way back to Connecticut.

[Chode]

100%... after eating and staying in sooo many of them, i think part of it was the familiarity of them that made them feel so comfortable

one more piece of Americana from our youth gone

[Iron Munro]

How I miss them.
You know, it isn’t that they were that great, but...they were oh-so-American.

Nice post, thanks.

The 1940's, 50's and 60's were a time of mostly two lane roads when most roadside places were mom and pop cabins or motels, cafes, diners and restaurants.

Some were fine places to eat and sleep, others not so nice.

Howard Johnsons was sort of like the McDonald's of the motel/hotel and restaurant industry back then.

They were places that offered travellers some uniformity and consistency in quality, cleanliness and service. When you saw the distinctive orange roof and rooftop spire you knew what to expect.

[bus man]

I will always remember the back of the station wagon...no seat belts, the seats folded down flat...all of us in the back in our pajamas with blankets. The street lights above the road flashing by as I looked up...the glare of headlights of oncoming cars filling the inside of the car with fleeting light. I would awake, everyone asleep, I would look ahead and see my father driving through the night, like a machine, driving, the car droning...droning on through the endless and wonderful night of my childhood. I felt so content and safe in that car.

My monitor is getting blurry . . .

[Mears]

“I will always remember the back of the station wagon...no seat belts, the seats folded down flat...all of us in the back in our pajamas with blankets. The street lights above the road flashing by as I looked up...the glare of headlights of oncoming cars filling the inside of the car with fleeting light. I would awake, everyone asleep, I would look ahead and see my father driving through the night, like a machine, driving, the car droning...droning on through the endless and wonderful night of my childhood. I felt so content and safe in that car”

—

What a lovely memory.

Same with us,although there were only seven,not eight,and it was my kids an the back,not me.

.

[exit82]

Great memory.

Reminds me of this clip from National Lampoon’s Vacation 1983:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv_XGZ6Chwk