Standing for more than 70 years, locals were hopeful the restaurant would reopen during the Memorial Day weekend as the start of summer normally brought tourists to visit the historic site, but reality set in when the Howard Johnson's doors remained shut. 'Lake George is officially dead,' Alyssa Kelly, of the HoJoLand fan group who has been documenting the restaurant's struggle for years, wrote on Facebook. 'Plastic tables, chairs removed.
All memorabilia removed (that is not original, that stays with building). Cobwebs on the door.' The Lake George location was the one of three Howard Johnson's that had survived into the 2010s, and although it was no longer affiliated with the franchise, it was the last to bear its name and iconic orange roof after the Lake Placid, New York, location closed in 2015 and the Bangor, Maine, site shut down in 2016. Howard Johnson's was founded in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1925, established its first franchise in Orleans in 1932, and quickly expanded across the nation, including a location in Times Square by 1955.
Howard Deering Johnson opened his first location in 1925, in Quincy Massachusetts, and the restaurant gained fame for its 28-flavor ice cream selection using butter fat.
Although Johnson first expanded by opening an adjacent ice cream stand where he reportedly sold 14,000 cones, the popularity of the Howard Johnson's named allowed him to franchise his business. Coupled with the expansion of the American Interstate Highway system, Howard Johnson's franchises quickly popped up in the East Coast and across the nation, typically placed near gas stations to take advantage of traveling American's looking for a place to stop and eat.
By 1954, the company opened its first motor lodge as it expanded into the motel business, which is still alive today as the Howard Johnson Inns, operated by Wyndham Hotels. The restaurant eventually peaked in the early 1970s with more than 1,000 restaurants and 500 motor lodges.
Now they're all gone, along with great childhood memories...
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My wife and I remember all too well HOJO 's. They were all over here in massachusetts. Clams were great but the all you could eat fish fry was even better. Our kids knew the place as well they are now both over 45. Thanks for the memories keep them coming.
ReplyDeleteThere is still a motel on Route 22 west in North Plainfield that bears the name Howard Johnson's Motor Inn. But alas, the associated restaurant is gone these many years . . . . .
ReplyDeleteSteve the Engineer