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Friday, September 8, 2017

No Mo Ho Jo

No Mo Ho Jo
I recently read that there was only one more Howard Johnson restaurant in business.  I felt a twinge of sadness.  In the fifties and even in much of the sixties there were no fast food restaurants, no Mc Donald’s, no Burger King’s, there were no Motel 6’s or Holiday Inns. 
If you went out to eat, you ate at a fancy restaurant that required a coat and tie, even for children, a local Mom and Pop’s, or a “Greasy Spoon” diner. 
The fancy restaurants were no place for children, too expensive and they did not serve burgers or mac’n’cheese.
The Mom and Pops could be very good, or they could not.  The Greasy Spoon was generally great for truckers, not so great for families.
If you were on the road and needed a place to stay there were only local motels.  These were crappy rooms with a bath and a bed.  Some were OK, some were The “Bates” Motel.  All had a sign outside indicating Vacancy, or No Vacancy and listed the amenities they provided…TV was a big deal, Pool was a really big deal and Air Conditioning was…I don’t remember any having air conditioning.  Some motels were OK, some not so much.  If you were tired and the sign said “Vacancy,” you took your chance.
Then there was Howard Johnson’s with the big orange roof.  HoJo’s were all over the United States, though I only remember them on the east coast.  When we traveled across the country following my Pop’s job, we did not see many HoJo’s.  When we did we knew what we would get.  A nice room, clean sheets, good service and a good restaurant for a family.
I have a few memories of HoJo’s.
They were famous for their ice cream, and claimed they could make almost any flavor milk shake (actually I believe there were 28 flavors).  At a stop one day on one of our long family trips, my brother asked what flavor milk shakes they had.  Not wanting to recite all 28 flavors the waitress said they had whatever he wanted.  My brother, Chris, ever the difficult one, thought long and hard and then ordered a Black Raspberry milk shake.
We thought that was impossible, who would carry black raspberry ice cream, but the waitress wrote down the order without batting an eyelash.  When the meal was served Chris had his black Raspberry shake.  At least it was the color and flavor of what you might expect a black raspberry shake to taste like, but since no one had ever had a black raspberry shake we did not know if they had one or made up a facsimile.  Either way, with that shake we had great respect for HoJo’s. 
Years later, when I was in college, HoJo’s was where you booked your weekend date if you expected to get lucky.  Mention HoJo’s to a college student and you got a knowing wink. 
I never booked a HoJo’s for a weekend date.
I do know some that booked a HoJo’s got unlucky as they were married not so long after.  Actually one got lucky twice as the marriage has lasted over fifty years.
The last time I went to a Howard Johnson’s was around 20 years ago.  My wife and I were traveling through Podunk Maryland.  We were tired and hungry.  I spotted a HoJo’s and pulled in. I expected good food and good service.
The restaurant was serving many locals who were dressed in their Saturday night finery.  It was apparently the place to go for a night out in Podunk Md.  It reminded me of the good old days, except the food was crap and the service Greasy-spoonish.  It was not the HoJo’s I remembered.
Except for a few motels, HoJo’s is gone now, at least the HoJo’s I remember.  The first successful franchise of its kind in the country, at one time an institution, it did not keep up with the times and has been displaced by other franchises that do the job better.
A pleasant memory, but with all the fine motels and fast food restaurants around today I will not morn its demise.
I do admit to having a hankering for a good black raspberry shake.

18 comments:

  1. It was kind of a Friday night tradition, when I could get off work on a Friday, to go thete for the fried clams.

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  2. With a name like Howard Johnson's I expected to be reading about a hardware store.
    It's nice that you have god memories of the establishment. I don't remember any chain motel/restaurants from when I was little, but later there were Travelodges dotted around the country and now there are all kinds of places that do the same thing.

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  3. I too have very happy memories of HoJo's! i was even a regular at a rather famous one in Washington, DC-- i was across the way from the Watergate!

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  4. The first time I ever went to a Howard Johnson's was with my future in-laws. As Catholics, we didn't eat meat on Fridays and Howard Johnson's had all you could eat fried fish on Fridays.

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  5. We traveled a lot and I do remember Howard Johnson's. We kids use to beg to eat there mainly for the 28 flavors. The uniformity of their standards was welcome to travelers.
    Had to smile at the motels with a pool. If we saw one advertised, Dad would drive many extra miles for us to enjoy.

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  6. I've been to many HoJo's, but never on a date!!

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  7. I don't think I've ever been in a Howard Johnson's.
    Why do I always miss ou on the good things?
    At least you have the fond memories.

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  8. Nice memories for you. Black Raspberry shake, hmm sounds good!

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  9. Their Toasties and coffee ice cream were and still are unexcelled.

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  10. There is still a Howard Johnson hotel in Winter Haven, less than 20 miles from us. Is that the same as the restaurant? I'll have to check the next time I drive by there!

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  11. I remember the restaurants well.

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  12. I've never been to a Howard Johnson's. So I can't be accused of being anybody's "luck."

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  13. We had a HOJO's by us growing up in Chicago. I babysat for a lady who took me there many times. Mostly to help with her rotten kids because she liked to drink a bit..before leaving for HOJO's and somebody had to be in charge. I remember the icecream and she always ordered the fried clams. It's not there anymore but my memories of it will always be there! (and memories of those kids! Gosh they would be in their late 40's now..man I'm old)

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  14. There were not too many in Ohio and west of here. I guess we got the Holiday Inns and Best Westerns. The only time I stayed at a HoJo was in Erie, PA. Our high school church youth group would stay there when we went skiing at Peek N Peak in Clymer, NY. I remember it being a bit shady and in later years, we stayed at the Ramada Inn,

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  15. Howard Johnson's isn't one that I have used very much, but it's a shame to see a business like this go down the tubes, especially one with that many great shakes.

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  16. I remember when Howard Johnson played for the Tigers. . . ;)

    I don't know if we ever stayed at a HoJo's, but we certainly ate there enough to remember it, and the 20-odd flavors of ice cream. In fact, the first time I went to a Baskin-Robbins (in high school), I thought it was a HoJo's, because of the large, closely-delineated number of flavors. . .

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  17. We lived at Ho Jo Hotel in Mobile in 1980 after Hurricane Fredrick. I was down there with the phone company putting the city back together. We ate at the restaurant some but mostly Jilda cooked for our crew and we ate supper by the pool every night that summer.

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