Vintage neon signs

[LizzieMaine]

My girlfriend and I were both born in the '60s and can compare Howard Johnson's stories. She said her favorite meal was the fried clams (first on board above); whereas, I remember the burger, the hotdogs and the french fries. But what I really remember was the ice-cream. While that picture - based on the cars - is early than when I was going, that style sign and building were still very common into the '70s.

I didn't get to choose where we ate if we were going somewhere - we were not a kid-centric family, fewer were back then - but I did a little internal jump for joy whenever my dad said we'd be stopping at Howard Johnson's.

HoJo was the standard-issue rest stop on the Maine Turnpike for many decades, and when we went down to Boston for a ball game, we often stopped at the Kennebunk restaurant on the way home for supper. The Howard Johnson's macaroni and cheese was delectable, and long after HoJo abandoned the turnpike I was buying it in frozen form at the grocery store. It was the only frozen mac-and-cheese that has ever existed that I'd willingly eat. I still have the last package of it that I ever bought in my freezer -- it's fourteen years old, and is probably not edible, but I can't bring myself to throw it away....

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Hang on to it, Lizzie.... It might be a collector's item one day.

Rob

 

[2jakes]

Movie theaters from my youth. The signs have remained but not the movies.

The Majestic theater with an "atmospheric" ceiling.

When the movie was about to start, lights would dim, curtains would open, the blue
ceiling becoming dark with tiny lights shimmering like stars in the distance.

The whole illusion was enchanting. You felt as if you were outside in a far away castle.
I saw the premier of "Davy Crockett" starring Fess Parker & Buddy Ebsen.
After the movie,they came onstage to entertain us with stories. I was very young,
I remember Fess Parker singing a ballad. "Davy Crockett" by Walt Disney
was the rage all over the country. The BFM made sure that we could dress
like Davy including the coons cap he wore.
I never got one. My mother said it was made from cats that had died
from some strange disease. I believe it!

 

[Fading Fast]

HoJo was the standard-issue rest stop on the Maine Turnpike for many decades, and when we went down to Boston for a ball game, we often stopped at the Kennebunk restaurant on the way home for supper. The Howard Johnson's macaroni and cheese was delectable, and long after HoJo abandoned the turnpike I was buying it in frozen form at the grocery store. It was the only frozen mac-and-cheese that has ever existed that I'd willingly eat. I still have the last package of it that I ever bought in my freezer -- it's fourteen years old, and is probably not edible, but I can't bring myself to throw it away....

Okay, the last time I was in a car with my parents driving into a HoJo's like that was over 40 years ago, but just seeing this picture, I can still feel today a bit of the excitement I felt then when you were on the service road and "that close."

 

[Ghostsoldier]

"Dead cats"...gotta love moms.

Rob

 

[Fading Fast]

"Dead cats"...gotta love moms.

Rob

I can't read what's on the sign under "Tahiti," but if this place has a bar, one has to assume it's tiki to the max.

 

[Fading Fast]

HoJo was the standard-issue rest stop on the Maine Turnpike for many decades, and when we went down to Boston for a ball game, we often stopped at the Kennebunk restaurant on the way home for supper. The Howard Johnson's macaroni and cheese was delectable, and long after HoJo abandoned the turnpike I was buying it in frozen form at the grocery store. It was the only frozen mac-and-cheese that has ever existed that I'd willingly eat. I still have the last package of it that I ever bought in my freezer -- it's fourteen years old, and is probably not edible, but I can't bring myself to throw it away....

When I moved to NYC in the late '80s, there was a gigantic HoJo's restaurant in the historic skyscraper The Chanin Building on 42nd Street opposite Grand Central Terminal. It seated hundreds and, my web search says, it was the largest in the HoJo's chain. I lived five blocks from it and would go regularly with my girlfriend at that time for an after-dinner ice-cream in the summer.

It was crazy as there might be all of three or four other customers in the entire place. We'd sit at the counter and look over hundreds of empty counter stools and tables - but it stayed open like that for years. And they still served the ice-cream in those stainless steel cup-like dishes with a sugar cookie pushed into the top (I ate mine and her's as she didn't care for the cookie - I knew then and there the relationship wouldn't last).

Even then, in the late '80s, it felt nostalgic and I knew it would soon close. NYC real estate is way, way, way too valuable for a place that big to survive on so few customers. It closed (forget exactly when) and that was that. Now it's a clothing store that I can't even look at as the space - when it was HoJo's - had been a very cool blend of Art Deco (owning to the pre-war skyscraper it was in) and HoJo '60s kitsch (probably the last time it was remodeled) - now it's generic-clothing-store ugly. Glad I was able to catch that tail-end of a Golden Era classic.

Edit Add: After wasting way too much work time on searching, I could not find one good interior or exterior shot of the HoJo's in The Chanin Building. That seems crazy to me as it was there for decades and was (supposedly) the largest HoJo's in the chain. Oh, and NYC is a tourist mecca, so there always seems to be a few historic pictures that pop up of everything that was once here.

 

[BobHufford]

We had quite the Ho-Jo City here for a time. Most of it still exists in the form of a Ramada now.

 

[2jakes]

I can't read what's on the sign under "Tahiti," but if this place has a bar, one has to assume it's tiki to the max.

Sign says:

 

[3fingers]

There was a HoJo built near here in the '70's. It was a pretty big motel with the cafe and ice cream in the front. Unfortunately it was a terrible location downtown far from the interstate and it didn't last long. It has been various flea bags since and I'm not sure it is even operating now.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[1mach1]

When I moved to NYC in the late '80s, there was a gigantic HoJo's restaurant in the historic skyscraper The Chanin Building on 42nd Street opposite Grand Central Terminal. It seated hundreds and, my web search says, it was the largest in the HoJo's chain. I lived five blocks from it and would go regularly with my girlfriend at that time for an after-dinner ice-cream in the summer.

It was crazy as there might be all of three or four other customers in the entire place. We'd sit at the counter and look over hundreds of empty counter stools and tables - but it stayed open like that for years. And they still served the ice-cream in those stainless steel cup-like dishes with a sugar cookie pushed into the top (I ate mine and her's as she didn't care for the cookie - I knew then and there the relationship wouldn't last).

Even then, in the late '80s, it felt nostalgic and I knew it would soon close. NYC real estate is way, way, way too valuable for a place that big to survive on so few customers. It closed (forget exactly when) and that was that. Now it's a clothing store that I can't even look at as the space - when it was HoJo's - had been a very cool blend of Art Deco (owning to the pre-war skyscraper it was in) and HoJo '60s kitsch (probably the last time it was remodeled) - now it's generic-clothing-store ugly. Glad I was able to catch that tail-end of a Golden Era classic.

Edit Add: After wasting way too much work time on searching, I could not find one good interior or exterior shot of the HoJo's in The Chanin Building. That seems crazy to me as it was there for decades and was (supposedly) the largest HoJo's in the chain. Oh, and NYC is a tourist mecca, so there always seems to be a few historic pictures that pop up of everything that was once here.

I, too, grew up staying at HoJos on vacations, and eating at the restaurants. And you are correct about the ice cream. It was a kids heaven. I also ate at many a truck stop back in the day. The HoJos restaurants were like truck stop food for families. Good stuff. Sadly, road cuisine is now nothing more than low grade institutional food. Sad.

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[Frunobulax]

I, too, grew up staying at HoJos on vacations, and eating at the restaurants. And you are correct about the ice cream. It was a kids heaven. I also ate at many a truck stop back in the day. The HoJos restaurants were like truck stop food for families. Good stuff. Sadly, road cuisine is now nothing more than low grade institutional food. Sad.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

You can still find a good truck stop here and there, though. Good as any diner, in my book.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[BobHufford]

Jackson Hole, Wyoming. 1948.

 

[3fingers]

^^^ Why in the world did such publicly available art for the masses go away?

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Fading Fast]

Rob

What's so wonderful about this Vegas shot - beside the film noir awesomeness - is that you can feel a touch of seediness / a touch of living-on-the-edge that modern Vegas - with its glitz / its marketing ("what happens in Vegas, stays...?" puke) / its mainstreaming - has lost.

Oh, and did I mention that fan-freakin'-tastic neon train sign.