Kind of a sad tale for some of us seasoned citizens! Had one in Shreveport near the airport, eating ice cream after drinking heavily one night in high school with a chickadee and backed my Mom's car into a utility pole in the HoJo parking lot.
Howard Johnson's Last Restaurant Puts HoJo's on Brink
The closing of one of the last two Howard Johnson restaurants means no more fried clam strips, ice cream and other menu staples that nourished American baby boomers and leaves the orange-roofed restaurant chain teetering on the brink of extinction.
The slice of roadside Americana will no longer be served up in Bangor, Maine after Sept. 6, reported The Associated Press.
I remember when they were everywhere. Yeah, there's a certain nostalgic sense of loss. But HoJo's is a victim of itself. Once upon a time, every travel stop, every roadside restaurant, every gas station was somewhat unique. HoJo was among those corporations that rushed to provide the public with a comfortable sameness. People do find the familiar comfortable and safe, but when you build a ubiquitous product, eventually people get bored with it. Somebody opens up a new and shiny place, your sales drop, then you have to cut costs, the employees become second-rate, the food quality goes down because you have to start using cheaper source materials....yadda, yadda, yadda.
HoJo's came to symbolize a particular time, place, and experience in America. The turmoil of the 60's and the stagnation of the 70's poisoned that experience. The downfall was inevitable.
