Text by Patrick Bell.
Join us today as we travel around and check out various Howard Johnson Restaurants from the 1950’s and 1960’s. For decades, families traveling on America’s roads didn’t need a map to know where they were stopping—just the sight of an orange roof rising off the highway. Howard Johnson’s restaurants were less a brand than a promise: ice cream, fried clams, familiar menus, and a sense that the long drive was about to pause for something dependable. In today’s gallery, the known orange roof restaurants appear as they did in those days.
All of these snapshots are from the Dave Gelinas Collection, a favorite vintage photos source, and Paul featured them some years ago. This time, we’ll do some car ID’ing and, when possible, locations (thanks to Eric703). Climb aboard as we get this bus on the road.
Our first stop had a relatively empty parking lot so you could see all the oil stains. A 1961 Cadillac Coupe de Ville was taking two spaces, and a 1960 Chevrolet Bel Air was in the lower right corner.
The members of the red car club were meeting here today, so chosen because of the red flowers out front. In the foreground was a 1968 Chevrolet Impala, next a 1962 Plymouth Valiant V-200 4 door sedan, and a 1964 Oldsmobile F-85 Cutlass Holiday Coupe. Others were a green 1968 Dodge Coronet, brown 1967 Ford Galaxie, and a white 1968 full size Mercury.
Let’s step back about a decade where the newest car was the 1957 Chrysler New Yorker sedan in the foreground. It appeared to be a foreigner with a white (unreadable) license plate, while the rest of the plates were yellow/orange, which may have been Pennsylvania. To the right was a 1954 Buick Super 2 door Riviera.
The lone car here was a 1949 Ford Fordor Sedan with a Vermont license plate that could have been any of the odd years from 1957-1965. This one’s location was tracked by the Vermont license plate and it’s at 1111 Putney Rd., in Brattleboro, VT. Current StreetView is HERE.
A family of five was in a close to new looking 1954 Plymouth Belvedere convertible, complete with wire wheel covers and a continental kit. The clock said 3:25 so perhaps an early supper?
And the same family at a different location with their Plymouth in the left corner, this time with the top raised. In the center was a 1957 Chevrolet Two-Ten 2 door sedan, the newest one visible. The next one was a backed in 1956 Ford Fairlane, 1955 Pontiac 4 door sedan, and a green 1956 Oldsmobile. The license plates were yellow, but unreadable.
Beginning on the left of this full looking row was a 1949 Ford with a 1952 New York license plate. Following was a 1951 Mercury Sport Coupe, 1952 Chevrolet Styleline De Luxe 4 door sedan, and a blue 1947 or 1948 Buick.
Looks like this one’s location is at 1634 Barre-Montpelier Rd, Barre, VT. Current StreetView can be seen HERE. The reason I’m fairly confident about this one is because he restaurant has some unique design features, namely the angled corners and the elongated windows. The Barre HoJo restaurant (another angle is here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/
There is not much I can ID in this image from the early 1940’s. One of the newer cars is the grey 1940 Plymouth on the right. And the rest of them all appear to be mid to late 1930’s coupes, roadsters, and sedans. This is probably the oldest structure in this series, with the restaurant having opened in 1938. It’s current address is 1311 Hooksett Rd., in Hooksett, NH. Current StreetView can be seen HERE.
Now we are back in the 1950’s, where there was a maroon 1949 or 1950 Pontiac Streamliner pulling in the driveway, while on the left was a two tone green 1952 Studebaker 2 door hardtop. Facing this way on the right were a 1952 Chevrolet Styleline, and further down a black 1949 Ford.
This one’s current Address is 2826 W. 8th St., at Erie, PA. Current StreetView HERE.
Perhaps all of these gentleman carpooled together. On the left a white over black fender of a 1956 Mercury Montclair with a dirty whitewall, and on the right was a 1949 or 1950 Chevrolet De Luxe.
On the left a white over red 1954 Mercury Monterey Special Custom Coupe with a 1958 Ford Fairlane 500 Town Victoria to its right. Facing the restaurant were two green Buicks; a 1954 model with a dark top and a 1958 with a white top.
And we are stepping back up to the 1960’s for a quick visit. Beginning on the right was a 1966 Cadillac Fleetwood, a 1964 Buick Riviera with a bent rear bumper, and a 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle 300 2 door wagon. The first two on the left side were more Buicks; a white 1962 Skylark and a grey 1967 LeSabre or Wildcat 4 door hardtop.
Two ladies were heading in to the restaurant when apparently, something behind them caught their attention. From the right was a 1951 Ford Custom Fordor Sedan with the new Fordomatic Drive and a New Jersey license plate, and two 1953 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eights; a blue 4 door sedan, and a green Holiday Coupe with a license plate that was not New Jersey, so it and/or the Ford were visiting.
On the left edge a youngster was enjoying one of the 28 flavors of ice cream after dining in this rolling hills area. To the right of him two cars were facing away; a blue 1952-1954 Ford and a white over gold 1955 Chevrolet 4 door sedan. On the row facing the building beginning on the left was the roofline of a grey 1948-1954 Hudson sedan, a black 1951-1953 Packard sedan, coral and white 1955 Ford Customline Tudor Sedan, two Dodge’s; a black 1946-1948 2 door sedan, and a grey 1950 4 door sedan, and on the end was a white 1954-1956 Cadillac sedan.
It looked like a damp day when this photo was taken. Heading away on the road to the left may have been a 1959 Chevrolet Impala convertible, and to the far right was a 1959 Impala Sport Sedan. On the left side of the parking lot was a blue 1959 Ford Custom 300, and hiding behind the bushes near the sign post was a 1964 Dodge Dart.
This one building’s location is easy to identify due to the route markers in the photo. This building is still standing, and still in use as a restaurant. Current Address: 63 Route 6A, Orleans, MA. StreetView can be seen HERE.
There is only one vehicle I can ID here, the gold one in the center, and it appeared to be a 1964 Chevrolet Impala Sport Sedan. This Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge first opened in 1953, though the motel component was originally called the Driftwood Motor Lodge. Current Address: 2475 Cleveland Ave,, Fort Myers, FL. Current StreetView, HERE.
Our final shot today was in the early 1950’s on a nice summer day. I will start with the black 1951 Chevrolet Styleline De Luxe 4 door sedan on the left by the couple walking towards the entrance. Heading to the right was a gold 1950 Chevrolet Styleline De Luxe Sport Coupe, black 1950 Plymouth De Luxe 2 door sedan, green 1950 Oldsmobile, and a white over green 1950-1952 Pontiac De Luxe Catalina. In the right foreground was a maroon? over tan 1951 or 1952 Chrysler Imperial Newport, one of just over 2,000 made in both years. To the right was a partially hidden black 1950-1952 Pontiac Chieftain De Luxe 4 door sedan.
Thanks for riding along and have a great day!
Note: If you wish to see your vintage photos featured at Curbside Classic, send them to us at [email protected].
“THE HOST OF THE HIGHWAYS” Everyone – tells us what you liked the most. For me: Fried Clams and Black Raspberry ice cream. Thanks for the presentation.
Moi aussi, fried clams for sure. Many don’t realize that Jacques Pepin was Ho-Jo’s r&d chief at one time, one of his first jobs in the US after arriving from France.
We had a HJ restaurant in my home town of Wooster Ohio. If we were good in church (minimal squirmin in the pew) dad would take us out to eat after church. I remember the managers name was Dave and he would always come up to us and say hello. My favorite meal was always the fried clams. Made me think I was close to the ocean. When we went on vacation, Mom and Dad usually would stay in the Howard Johnson motor lodges. The restaurant closed in the early 70s but the building is still there the last time I visited.
I don’t know how you find the current pictures but I love them .
Indeed, from the 1950’s through the 1960’s Ho Jo’s was a treat for children, I of course only had eyes for the fried clams .
They also had all you can eat fried chicken one day a week, Pops hated it because he said they only ran out the trolley full of chicken every 45 minutes or so making it impossible to get all you wanted .
They built a new one in the late 1980’s in Arcadia, Ca. , my then wife was stymied as to why I wanted to go there for the clams every Friday .
Wonderful car spotting here too .
-Nate
I can explain stopping at a Howard Johnson’s at 3:25 in the afternoon–to get ice cream.
I loved when we took the turnpikes from Pennsylvania to New York on a holiday because the drive back was stop and go (but mostly stop and idle) traffic. That long idling caused our 1960 car to overheat, which caused my father to pull off at a Howard Johnson’s rest stop to let it cool down. While we waited we all got ice cream.
I fixed that car’s overheating problems as an adult, but will never “fix” my nostalgic desire for mid afternoon road trip ice cream stops. Alas, there is no Howard Johnson’s mocha chip any more to fully re-enact my childhood ritual.
My childhood involved driving past Howard Johnson’s more often than eating in them.My mother preferred Friendly’s and I liked the Fribble better anyway. My local HoJo was a low slung Mid Century one on Tarrytown Road in Elmsford NY near the Greenburgh Public Library and per Google it was subsequently a library branch before being demolished in 2008
For reference the square high roofed building in the second and thirteenth pictures are motel offices rather than restaurants.
My first job was at the HoJo in Kingston NY washing dishes in the summer of 1988. The first pic really strikes me as the HoJo on the edge of Lake Placid heading to Saranac Lake. IIRC it was the final operating one in the country as of 20ish years ago.
The last one was on Rt 9 in Lake George (NY), about 4 years ago 2022.
We took our first big road trip from the Midwest to Florida was I was three – HoJo’s was part of that trip and had a menu for me!
Cover
We grew up in howard johnsons. My mom was the manager there for 27 years. Our favorite was the frozen fish fillers and peppermint ice cream. The building is still there occupied by a different restaurant chain in johnstown pa. We have photos of us in the restaurant as well as treasures we collected over the years. My mom still tells stories of the restaurant. When you walked in there u
Was the 28 flavors of ice cream sign behind the front counter. The ice cream floats were also the best. I remember also reading the placemats which I have put away. Also the dinnerware with the pie man logo. What a place to grow up in. I remember the day my mom came home to tell us they were closing. My mom still tells us, thank Mr. Johnsons for all the memories.
I’m endlessly intrigued by the arcs of businesses that have meteoric rises to the top of their fields, seemingly able to do no wrong, only to completely lose the plot and shrivel into irrelevance before disappearing altogether. It’s painful to observe, yet fascinating. HoJo’s was a great example of such a business. Innovative, fast-moving, loaded with great ideas that resonated with customers. They seem to have peaked in the mid-’70s, based on both online info and my own memories. Howard Johnson’s had a restaurant at nearly every major exit or rest stop along major east coast freeways, and I associated HoJo’s with holidays and vacations since that was our most common food stop. I’d order off the kid’s menu, sometimes the Fearless Fido hot dog-based dinner. One time we also stayed at their motor lodge, which was far more upscale than the no-name motels we usually stayed at. But by the late ’70s, service started getting really spotty and slow, and after waiting over half an hour for my food on two occasions, I never ate at a HoJo’s again. Apparently, it wasn’t just me – lots of unsuccessful cost-cutting caused problems.
Then came the painful contraction. Check out their Wiki page and just try to keep track of all their post-1978 sell-offs, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, spin-offs, conversions, and buyouts without a flow chart. Unsurprisingly, the restaurant couldn’t break free from their death spiral with new ownership and new management strategies every few years. The Howard Johnson’s hotel chain split off from the restaurant in the ’80s and survives, though with about 1/3 the locations they once had. Some of these have restaurants but their architecture, design, and food are unrelated to the former HJ restaurant chain seen in these photos, the last real one which closed a decade ago.
HoJo’s didn’t know how to react to the two ’70s gas shocks which pared down long-distance holiday travel that was so crucial to their business model. Plus, fast-food chains were growing quickly in the ’70s, offering familiar fare at low prices without the long wait for table service.
When I was in elementary school, so, the mid-to-late 1960s, we took nearly annual summer road trips from where we lived in the mid-Atlantic to New England. It has always seemed to me that virtually the only place we’d eat along the highway was HoJos.
Seeing all of these New England locations in these photos I guess points out that HoJos must have had a lock on turnpike service areas and just off the Interstate eating establishments. My dad, who was always reluctant to stop on these trips so something either right on the highway or just off was the best my mom and we kids could hope for. Dad was a just keep on driving kind of guy, as were all of his brothers. At least my mom could advocate for stopping “just a little”. She generally prevailed; unlike the mothers of my various cousins whose stories from this time include details such as having to carry mayonnaise jars to accomplish what me and my sister were reluctantly allowed to do indoors at the rest area, just before tucking into clam strips.
The link to the Hooksett, NH location that was turned into a Ford dealership helps to answer something that I always wondered, and that’s if whatever business that purchased an ex-HoJos was required to repaint the roof. Apparently not, as the Ford dealer still had the orange roof. Probably though many wanted to repaint the roof of repurposed restaurants as they likely got sick of travelers stopping by and demanding hot dogs and clams and those copper-colored thermal pots of coffee instead of pizza, Fords or bait or whatever the new place was selling.
It is entertaining and nostalgic to encounter an ex-HoJos, as one often does throughout New England. They’re slowing being lost. One that existed close to me for years on Rt. 2 in Concord, MA (very close to the also soon to be lost Concord State Prison) was recently plowed under for the ubiquitous bank and Dunkin’s. As if we don’t have enough banks and Dunkin’s here in Mass….
Now I want some “Fried Butterfly Shrimps” (loved that pluralization) and sherbet.
HoJo’s might be the ‘50’s and ‘60’s version of In’n’Out Burger. Just another chain for those who grew up with them, but more special to folks who lived in a normally HoJo-free area, like me. As a Californian it’s one of those bits of Americana that I’m aware of, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never stayed or even eaten in one. My mom who grew up on the east coast told me that the ice cream was good, though.
PS I just checked and there’s a “Howard Johnson by Wyndham” about a mile from my house. Live and learn. Thanks CC!
Sadly, it seems that Wyndham just managed to acquire the brand name. I’ve stumbled upon some of those Howard Johnson by Wyndham properties from time to time, and no, they’re not the HoJos of my youth.
Not that anyone other than me is actually looking for – or would accept in the 21st century – the HoJos of my youth.
I can recall them from 1960-1966 when the family lived in New Jersey and then Maryland. When living in Maryland we needed to drive north to Garfield, NJ or the Bronx to see grandparents so passed by on the highway. Then when moving to the San Fernando Valley, in 1966, my father elected to drive cross-country with the five of us packed in a 1964 Galaxie 500. Saw HoJO’s along the route for maybe half the trip. Apparently HoJo’s started to build out in California starting 1967-69 at various spots in the state. I only recall the one on Waring Rd. in San Diego. Waring was the exit before mine at College so it was passed for a few years. The list below shows their locations but many didn’t have that classic look. Lots of pictures of other locations when clicking on Home.
http://www.highwayhost.org/Stategateways/california.html
The first Howard Johnson’s that I was aware of as a child were at the service plazas along the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the 1960s. My father made frequent business trips to various places in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York City, Maryland, and DC. All these would involve travel on the PA Turnpike. He would often take my mother and I along. The various vehicles he had at the time must have had small fuel tanks because he had to stop often to refill. My mother liked HoJo’s food so we would always eat there too. I forget what her favorite was but I always got the fried chicken. We didn’t have a HoJo’s anywhere near to where we lived so it was always a treat.
My family lived in the DC area from 1956 to 1961 when I turned 7.
I don’t recall any Howard Johnson”s there but do remember the very similar Hot Shops. A Marriott company.
A grilled cheese sandwich, s few onion rings from someone else’s plate, a junior chocolate milkshake. a connect the dots place mat and I was a very happy boy!
Hot Shoppes was largely a drive-in restaurant. Several in the DC area remained that way nearly to their closing in the late 1970s. The one at Wisconsin Avenue and East-West Highway in the center of Bethesda was my family’s go-to restaurant of choice, when we were home.
Marriott ultimately purchased Howard Johnson’s in the 1980s, mostly for their real estate (and the lucrative turnpike concessions). This accelerated the closing of many HoJos, turning them into Roy Rogers (which is what Hot Shoppes had turned into in the 1970s and 1980s), Big Boys, or another Marriott property.
Here’s a great article on Hot Shoppes (and it gets into the HoJos acquisition as well) –
http://www.streetsofwashington.com/2013/04/the-hot-shoppes-teen-twists-mighty-mos.html
The “current” photos are plainly ugly. We’ve progressed (?) to this? Wow. Glad I lived to see when many things were seemingly better.
Pretty sure the first photo is the PA Pike west bound almost to Harrisburg.
As a kid, HoJos was the beacon of light on an otherwise boring car ride. I don’t recall the clams in the Midwest, probably wouldn’t have touched them anyway, I was there for the double burger, kind of a precursor to the Big Mac, and of course the ice cream. Howard Johnsons Oasis’ graced the Illinois Toll road in the 70s, and one of the few places one could pull a semi into, no sleeping though, 2 hour limit. Most HoJos were not truck compliant however. Not many places scream Americana like Howard Johnsons. If you traveled, you stopped at a HoJos. The last one closed in 2022.
For a musical take on Howard Johnson check out “Oranges and Blues” on YouTube:
Love the Belvidere convertible… Cape cod pic also, my favorite place in the world…
Ah, memories!
We traveled alot thru the 70s with my grandparents. Our longest was Boston to Anchorage, almost 3 weeks. Anyway Ho-Jo’s was my grandfather’s favorite. Was always a cheeseburger and fries for me.
Thank you for bringing back the memories
Dang, I could go for some Blueberry Toastees and grapefruit sections right about now…