Searching for Howard Johnson’s
Fox News,
by
Paul J. Batura
Original Article
Posted By: DVC,
3/31/2019 5:30:07 PM
If you’re over the age of 35, the sight of the orange roof and copper steel cupola weathervane were at one time synonymous symbols of either the great American road trip or a special family meal – or both. With over 1,000 dining establishments in North America in the 1960s and 1970s, Howard Johnson’s was, for several decades, the largest restaurant chain in the United States. Established in 1925 as a small pharmacy by Massachusetts native Howard Deering Johnson, the enterprising Quincy resident quickly expanded his efforts to selling ice cream, hot dogs and soda at area beaches. The enterprise
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Gordon Mills 3/31/2019 5:32:31 PM (No. 19289)
I miss Stuckey´s. They were a welcome site while on a road trip
25 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
NorthernDog 3/31/2019 5:47:21 PM (No. 19288)
I still occasionally see one of their re-purposed buildings. Now the location is a seedy part of town or along a well-worn highway frontage road.
24 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
sinic 3/31/2019 5:51:27 PM (No. 19287)
When I was growing up, we had a HoJo´s and, right next door, a Red Coach Grill which, I believe was a HoJo propertey. My folks used to bring us to HoJo´s for ice cream... but the place to go for the adult crowd was the Red Coach. A little later on in life, I had my 1st prime rib at the Red Coach. It was so good. I think I recently read where there´s only 1 HoJo´s left in the country ... not sure where it is.
27 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
RU4us 3/31/2019 5:59:07 PM (No. 19292)
Whatever happened to their Angel Chip Cake?
16 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
starboard 3/31/2019 6:23:51 PM (No. 19312)
While I was interning at a nearby hospital as a med tech during the days, I worked at Howard Johnson´s as a waitress at night. I can still remember some items on their menu.
My favorite was their fried clams. Also I remember Veal cutlet Parmigiana, Fish and chips, Chicken fricassee, Beef Stroganoff and Hot Roast Beef sandwich with mash potatoes and gravy. And the many Club Sandwich choices that were popular.
This Howard Johnson´s was right across the street from the hospital and had a great business. They also had a cocktail lounge where you could spot some of the doctors. Back then the favorite cocktails were Whiskey Sours or Beefeater Martinis.
Their desserts where also yummy with pies ala mode and of course their famous 28 ice cream flavors. They were the one of the first restaurants to over multiple Ice Cream flavors.
The restaurant clean and the food was good 50´s & 60´s retro style food.
Those were the days!
50 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Hermit_Crab 3/31/2019 6:27:49 PM (No. 19301)
I used to love Howard Johnson´s food places, and one of the nicest motel rooms I was ever in was a Howard Johnson´s too.
When I was in college in the late 70s- early 80s in a small town, we were all thrilled when a HoJo´s came to town, and whenever we had a few extra bucks we would go there for a nice meal.
After a year or so the service got bad (the food was still good) and then after another year or so, the food wasn´t much good either.
We quit going there and started patronizing a local place where the service was always fast and friendly, and the food reliably decent, if not great.
I reckon that Howard Johnson´s died out by suicide, Not murder
17 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
joseph1 3/31/2019 7:01:07 PM (No. 19296)
HOJO had a lounge in Thibodeaux,La a little combo music very entertainment
17 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
MeiDei 3/31/2019 7:16:41 PM (No. 19310)
Oh why did you mention The Red Coach Grille ... makes me sad that they´re gone but glad to have enjoyed eating there - often enough to have good memories - more about those we dined with vs remembering a favorite meal. HoJo´s went the way of Horn & Hardart & Woolworths.
22 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
ginadee 3/31/2019 7:20:01 PM (No. 19293)
OP, My husband and I would travel a bit out our way to go to HoJo´s expressly for the fried clams. I am afraid those days are gone forever.
20 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
JMJ724 3/31/2019 7:20:33 PM (No. 19299)
My favorite was their ice cream cake roll with chocolate sauce.
21 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
udanja99 3/31/2019 7:44:23 PM (No. 19307)
HoJo’s had coconut and peppermint stick ice creams decades before Ben and Jerry’s. It was a Sunday night treat to go to HoJo’s for dinner when I was a kid.
I spent my wedding night at a HoJo’s on Pensacola Beach, Florida.
30 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
FunOne 3/31/2019 7:49:57 PM (No. 19311)
I think the last three were in Bangor, Maine; Lake Placid, NY; and Lake George, NY. I notices that the only remaining HoJo´s was in Lake George, as the other two had closed. That was last year. They might all be gone by now. Sad.
30 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
DVC 3/31/2019 7:56:31 PM (No. 19309)
OK, thanks, staff.
I copied the headline as it was presented at Fox News, thought changing it would be somehow rewriting the article.
19 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
twinkles 3/31/2019 8:19:04 PM (No. 19297)
Loved the hot fudge sundae with black raspberry ice cream and whipped cream. The shape of the scoop was so unusual.
18 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
John C 3/31/2019 8:59:33 PM (No. 19291)
HOJO was purchased by a British company and substantially over paid.
15 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
PostAway 3/31/2019 9:42:11 PM (No. 19294)
Jacques Pepin is a renowned French chef and used to appear on Julia Child’s show quite often. I read his autobiography and was surprised to find that he was, in the 1960’s, their corporate head chef and was responsible for developing their menu. I don’t remember ever eating or staying at a Howard Johnson’s until I moved to Massachusetts at the age of 19 and I don’t think I particularly cared for them. That was the early 70’s and I thought they were subpar then. It makes me sound so old to reminisce about them but someday 20-somethings will ask the elderly what Sonic and IHOP were and Molten Lava cakes will be the Grasshopper Pie of the future. If the world evolves to my way of thinking, then black licorice will be the most popular dessert flavor and clam strips will be available everywhere-even at Chik-Fil-A. A girl can dream, can’t she?
19 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Thos Weatherby 3/31/2019 10:05:51 PM (No. 19306)
There´s a Howard Johnsons, want to eat some clams?
Words immortalized by Zappa. BTM
I always got the clams there.
25 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
coldoc 3/31/2019 10:26:02 PM (No. 19305)
Hojo for the fried clams. A great childhood memory.
19 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
snakeoil 3/31/2019 10:27:36 PM (No. 19304)
I´m with #1. Miss Stuckey´s. One of the reasons I have Type II diabetes. Not to go off topic but when planning a trip I will do almost anything to not drive on an interstate. Speeds vary from 5 to 85, full of 18 wheelers, no one will let you change lanes, and one finger waves. Give me those 2 lane roads and bring back the Burma Shave signs.
31 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
Penney 3/31/2019 11:51:02 PM (No. 19290)
Be sure to stop by a Buc-ee´s when driving I-35 in Texas! What a neat place for travelers!
17 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
Lawsy0 4/1/2019 12:00:36 AM (No. 19298)
Never again in my lifetime will there be a cone of Mint Chip Chocolate ice cream on this fairest of all planets. (HoJo called it chip chocolate, not chocolate chip). And a clam roll? Fuggidaboutit.
23 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
Shells 4/1/2019 12:20:28 AM (No. 19300)
This reminiscence made me smile which makes it a lovely article.
Does anyone else remember Hojos frozen macaroni and cheese? It was sold in lots of supermarkets up until maybe fifteen years ago.
It was awesome! And, it made me fat as a teenager.
Weight watchers cured that, but I’d give anything for a tray of that mac and cheesy goodness right now.
Oh, and I could right a dissertation on the joy of the Woolworth’s lunch counter. If there’s one of those in heaven I’m going to meet my mom there.
21 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
ladydawgfan 4/1/2019 1:25:57 AM (No. 19308)
I remember eating at HoJo´s as a child. I loved the clam strips with cocktail sauce in a little glass bowl for dipping and a pile of crinkle fries and a scoop of coleslaw. Always followed by an ice cream sundae.
We also at lunch at the counter at Kresge´s as a child and then, later on, at the Woolworths.
Stuckey´s still exists, though not in the same numbers as they once did. But their nut roll is still divine!
The Howard Johnson´s label is now owned by Windham so if you see one, it probably isn´t the genuine article.
14 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
49 Ford 4/1/2019 2:40:47 AM (No. 19295)
"Tendersweet" fried clams, that´s how they were billed. Like many posters I loved ´em. Of course, that was back in the days before cholesterol and transfats were invented.
18 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
nina584 4/1/2019 8:12:29 AM (No. 19302)
Fried clams and the best onion rings followed by Swiss chocolate almond ice cream. What a meal !!!
11 people like this.
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Comments:
Some fun on a Sunday, the lighter side.
When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s, my family traveled a lot by car, and HoJo was one of our regular stopping places for lunch and dinner.
I loved their fried clams and their unusual hotdogs, described perfectly by the author. The little cardboard trays they came in kept the mess down a lot.
As an adult, I sought out HoJo´s as late as the early-mid 80s to get their fried clams. Sadly, I think they are almost all gone.
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