Ho Jo's

A couple years ago we lost our last Howard Johnson's restaurant. Where I live, they were famous for the best desserts especially late at night when the craving for a piece of cake or pie couldn't be controlled any longer.

I have very fond memories of my parents taking me once a month when I was weeeeeee little. I used to get a big kick out of it, b/c I was only 4 & still up after midnight & on top of that, I was eating chocolate before bed!

I need to edit my post but don't know how. I know I should have searched the past posts for more info. - What I wanted to ask in my post was, is there a Ho Jo left anywhere in the States? I thought maybe out along old Rt. 66 I might luck out & find one.

According to their website, they seem to have locations all over. Just search for Howard Johnson on Google and go to the site. Once you're there, click Locations, which will help you find what you're looking for. There appear to still be locations here in Arizona, even one in Phoenix in the west valley.

I'll try Google. The only link I've been able to find is for their motel/hotels. There was some sort of merger/buyout a few years back and the most all hotels have done away with their rest. all together. I thought for sure there would still be an original HO JO somewhere in the West. I'll make a few calls/inquiries this weekend.

Oh, I misunderstood what you were saying. I thought that the Howard Johnson restaurants would be located inside the Howard Johnson hotels, therefore finding a hotel would yield the restaurant. Were they seperate?

The Rest. used to be a place for coffee, cake and pie late at night. You used to see Senior Citizens reliving their dating years, and even younger couples bringing their kids in for icecream served in a fancy dish. The rest. was always quiet, never any noise like you have at these chain restaurants today. HO JO's served reg. food, similar to Denny's, but it was famous for their desserts. Each hotel used to have it's own rest., but quite a few years ago, the rest. part was discontinued. Reason, - hotels needed the bigger chain rests. to bring in the business to the hotel. When the last Ho Jo rest. closed here, part of me closed with it.

There used to be a HoJo's in Times Square. I used to occasionally go there for kicks when I was living in NYC because I remember going as a kid. I loved the clam strips! I stopped going though because the last time I was there the restaurant was absolutely filthy. I moved from there about five years ago so I'm not sure if it's still there.

I just saw that according to their website (franchise associates) the only HoJos are in the mid-west, on the east coast and in Florida.