From 0 to 1000 to 0- What Happened to Howard Johnson's?

[@TodayIFoundOut]

This video is sponsored by the City of Quincy. To discover more about Quincy, check out the link - discoverquincy.com

[@alanbrown342]

My Quincy awareness level has increased dramatically due to this channel.

[@bitsandbobs42]

Never heard of this chain either, I'm Aussie though

[@jdkgcp]

I wish more KZbinrs could get sponsors like that. Usually I just fast forward through the in video promos but heck...now I want to visit Quincy.

[@TheGelasiaBlythe]

My great-grandmother was a cook who made the recipes for Howard Johnson during the Depression and through WWII. She said that, for her, it was an ideal job because there was always food in her house, even during rationing. She was encouraged to take home ingredients, create a recipe, test it on her family and neighbors, and - if it was a keeper - figure out how to scale it up for mass production. She liked her job, but it didn't pay well; and she needed the money, since her husband had passed away, leaving her a widow with two teenaged children. There were few job opportunities for women, and she said that she "wasn't a typist."

[@johncentamore1052]

Stopping at HoJo was a rare treat, and only when traveling to visit grandparents. When Dad wanted a break from driving, Mom wanted us to have something other than fast food, and us 5 kids wanted something fun, it was one of the few kid-friendly places that fit the bill.

[@kcant65]

Well now I want some Howard Johnson's ice cream.

[@KristianWontroba]

Their mint chocolate chip was amazing 😢

[@deborahbranham-taylor6682]

The pistachio was great, if rather startlingly green!

[@SuperJusSaiyan]

A dystopian landscape with air fresheners?? I can’t remember the last time I laughed at 5:30am. Well done that was awesome.

[@onebritishboi9892]

felt like he has personally seen my place with that description 🤣🤣

[@iarissei]

" Because the past was the worst." Oh man, that made me so happy!😂

[@NixonThr336ix]

I love how serving in France during WWI is “taking a break” 3:20

[@TodayIFoundOut]

Just lounging around in trenches playing war games. Little boys would literally do this for fun all day if they could. Lazy layabouts. 😋 -Daven

[@patraic5241]

I really liked Howard Johnson's. They had a fantastic clam boat platter.

[@rionthemagnificent2971]

I heard they had killer ice cream as well.Though I'm not clam / oyster guy. though Put me in front of a Crayfish and Shrimp boil.. and you got yourself a new friend!

[@patraic5241]

@@rionthemagnificent2971 They did have killer ice cream. All their sea food was good. When my parents took us on vacation I'd always ask if there was an HJ we could go to.

[@mikep3226]

I have an interesting story about a HoJo restaurant. The family was traveling (story takes place in late 60s) and staying at grandparents' house, there was some kind of formal event being thrown by some organization my grandfather belonged to, so the adults were all going to that. But, what to do about the kid's dinner? Eventually my parents gave me some money (I was the oldest, about 15) and all the kids would go to the HoJo a block away. Unbeknown to us beforehand they were having an "all you can eat" fried chicken special, which three out of the four of us ordered. Around the third serving, the owner came over to the table to ask about how much more we were going to order. They were starting to run out, and he had checked with the next HoJo that they had some and he was wondering if he should drive up there to get more. Coincidentally, we had just finished discussing the fact we were done with the entree and still had enough money to buy Ice Cream for desert.

[@Genetic_Memory_Farms]

I blame Howard Johnson’s for my love of fried clams. How I miss those fried bits of deliciousness…..

[@Killerplanes]

Oh yeah- once a month, my parents and their six kids broke the all-you-can-eat clam bank at HoJo! Ahhh, the good old days…

[@celticmisanthrope]

I'm currently staying in a Howard Johnson's hotel. I had no idea they used to be a restaurant chain.

[@johnstanczyk4030]

Okay, fine. If they are going to sponsor you this much, I will visit Quincy next time I am near Boston.

[@TodayIFoundOut]

If you like American history, you'll trip over it all over the place in parts of that city. :-) -Daven

[@RobSchellinger]

Based on the ad, I was thinking that I'd rather go to Quincy than Boston.

[@TheGelasiaBlythe]

​@@RobSchellingerIf you get bored, you can take the T (subway) to Boston from Quincy.

[@fearthehoneybadger]

You had a great run, Howard.

[@jasonvuolo2780]

Never again in this economy 😢

[@LegoTux]

Olsen and Gabby Johnson agree.

[@fs357mag]

I can still taste their fried clams and have a children’s menu that turned into a baseball-style cap. Great times back then.

[@slandgsmith]

Seeing this video reminded me of another well-known restaurant from the 1970s. Arthur Treachers, a fast/casual seafood restaurant, had 826 locations in the 1970s, but shrunk to just 1 location in Akron, Ohio in 2021. A second location was opened last year near Akron with the owner saying he wants to open additional locations in Ohio.

[@HoodbillyPreacherman]

I only live 30 mins from akron definitely gonna check it out!

[@robertneal4244]

There is a Howard Johnson's Hotel by Windham in Rapid City, South Dakota. It is something of a landmark there.

[@derekstein6193]

I stayed there once after making a delivery there. Pretty good room. Too bad I had to be back on the road about 7 hours after getting into my room and hitting the hay.

[@aaronbeaupre909]

My grandfather ran one in Connecticut in the 80s and early 90s. Fond memories.

[@lochnessspeedwerkz6557]

Theres was still a howard johnson hotel down the street from my childhood home. I think its still in business but never served food in my lifetime. My dad always regailed me with stories of their bounty everytime we passed by. 😂

[@leannevandekew1996]

The fried clams!

[@DanaRArwen]

My family was crazy about Howard Johnson's, especially my grandmother. We went to the restaurants & they were our first choice for hotels when we traveled too. Miss them, great food & great memories. Great video too, thanks for the trip down memory lane.

[@jeremyortiz2927]

Talking about familiar foods when outside CONUS, when I was in South Korea, it was a little weird running into an Outback Steakhouse where the menu had everything expected except one teeny, tiny detail: all food items (i.e. EVERY-FREAKING-THING) was served on a bed of Kimchi. The one thing I never quite liked. 😂

[@intothenight756d47]

Your narrative was both informative and humorous, as intended. Did Dylan Thomas ever dine at HJ's?

[@tinastitzer6200]

I loved their Chicken Croquettes. I still miss them.

[@sarahwisniewski6722]

Looking forward to listing to this when I have time after dinner. I was just thinking about Howard Johnson's last week for some reason.

[@TodayIFoundOut]

I'm not saying we can read your mind, but I'm also not not saying that. 😋 -Daven

[@TitularHeroine]

This was wild; what a great story! Now I want to read an alternate history novel in which Howard Johnson is President. Thank ya, Daven, always a pleasure!

[@kevinporter-s5l]

Ahh... Long drives across the USA with all of us yelling in the BACK backseat (facing backwards in the wagons) to stay 'at the Orange Roof places!" And... love the reference to So I Married an Axe Murderer...!

[@royvogel2023]

I remember them from traveling the Turn Pike before I 70 through Kansas,Missouri 🗝🧙🏻‍♂️

[@yobgodababua1862]

My grandparent's used to take us to HoJo's when we visited and went out for dinner. That's an unexpected and not unpleasant flashback.

[@agentofashcroft]

I live in Quincy. It's fine. Not sure if it is much of a tourist destination.

[@tinyb610]

"cause the past was the worst" Whistler and his legal team entered the room

[@odysseusrex5908]

What a wonderful sense of nostalgia this brought on. When I was a small boy in the 1960s, we used to dine at HoJo's fairly often. I used to think it was so grown up and sophisticated to order the fried clams.

[@JamesKlas]

A strangely engrossing story and a great vifro. Thanks!

[@davidrubenstein6129]

We used to go to hojo's for ice cream.

[@BrianCrockerVermont]

I grew up close to Lake George. Rachel Ray’s mom ran the HoJo there.

[@maryrowe3981]

Not that this has anything to do with the subject of the program - except that it took place at Howard Johnson's, but the musician/singer-songwriter known as Rockwell ("Why Do I feel Like Somebody's Watching Me?") sued Howard Johnson's in Los Angeles (a few miles north of Los Angeles Airport) because an altercation took place when Rockwell accused a Howard Johnson security guard of LOOKING AT HIM. [insert headsmack emoji here] A destructive round of fisticuffs ensued. Poor Howard Johnson's!

[@zacboulier5573]

My hometown of Waterbury, Connecticut had the third to last of HoJo’s in exists.

[@auro1986]

in another dimension there is a reality where howard johnson, kodak, motorola, ibm, atari etc are present day rich brands

[@nasaboy87]

3:04 why he left school after the eight grade, everyone that was from a working class family did. Only the wealthy kids got to go for the full 12 years. 8th grade was the legally required minimum.

[@thedrytortuga7421]

The tendersweet fried clams were out of this world. I ordered them every time I ate there. Who else remembers the chocolate lollipops that were made with various images on them?

[@deborahbranham-taylor6682]

We went them for a “fancy” dinner a couple of times a year, when I was a kid in the 60’s/early 70’s. I always ate the clam strips, and sometimes was allowed to split the pistachio ice cream with my mother.

[@JPriz416]

Howard was the best.

[@thepax2621]

Never heard of this restaurant chain

[@MrHappygolfer]

I remember my family going to Howard Johnson's for the clams, at least once a month.

[@brianne8258]

Thank you for the "little human parasites" 😂 glad to see someone sharing my humor 😊

[@derekstein6193]

I once stayed at a Howard Johnson's hotel in Rapid City, South Dakota several years ago. I didn't have much chance to get a real good look at the place, because I only had time to hit the sheets before I had leave immediately on waking. I needed to leave because I was working as a courier at the time, and after dropping off my delivery, I had to get back to home base the next day to drop off the company vehicle before it closed for the day. A 10 1/2 hour drive is nothing to sneeze at. I did get to stop by Wall Drug for a slice of pie on the way back, though.

[@OnTheRocksTalks]

This was a great episode

[@OnTheRocksTalks]

I also now want to visit Quincy. Awesome sponsor

[@callabeth258]

I’m Australian and a millennial so besides the time i stayed at a Howard Johnson hotel when i went to Disneyland I had no idea that it was from such a big legacy!

[@jozefklasen4319]

My wife and I recently stayed at a Howard Johnson hotel in Kamloops B C Canada and it was not a very pleasant experience

[@anthonyfrench3169]

Well Today I did find out, that Ground Round was owned by Howard Johnsons!

[@BruceBoyde]

I've never heard of this business (I'm guessing it never made it to Washington), but I'll watch it for Quincy!

[@jimmythompson1979]

He was such a good player for the mets! So sad!

[@charlescrocco7896]

Nice HoJo reference!! Here’s to a deep playoff run this year and hopefully our first WS title since ‘86!!

[@ScionOfLiberty]

Those clams were fantastic.

[@likebot.]

I'm familiar with HoJo's for over 60 years and never once knew they were resaurants. I knew them as motels and never noticed their demise.

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

..Thank you..

[@SRW_]

Simon looks really different in this video

[@cicichambers3887]

My stepfather and mother used to take us to Washington DC every summer from south of Pittsburgh , a little town called Washington. Would stay at Howard Johnson's along the way, alternately we would sometimes stay at red roof Inn, but I remember Johnson's restaurant and my mother choosing for us off of the kids menu and always getting us spaghetti. And it was never good.

[@djdrack4681]

I heard Quincy and didn't think "JQA'...nope I thought of the Quincy Mineshaft for some reason.

[@musclesmouse]

We had a Howard Johnson in Houston at 6161 Gulf Fwy, Houston, TX 77023. The roof and spire identifies it. I ate at the location once in the 90s. It was a buffet restaurant that used the old building. The spire was gone after one hurricane. You can still see the building and it is now a Red Carpet Inn. I never got to eat at any Howard Johnson

[@Music-AsLife]

It's so weird seeing my city on this channel. You're pronunciation is pretty good. You're getting there. We pronounce Wollaston with an "a" at the beginning instead of an "o"

[@CanuckMonkey13]

You crave it fortnightly, not nightly. Still, I got the reference! ;-)

[@TodayIFoundOut]

It's the little things. :-) -Daven

[@Maxwell_Cain]

I used to drive a taxi back in the day, and I will say, Howard Johnson was a type of call nobody wanted. They were the type of call that if you found out the person who took the pickup spent 4 hours giving a statement to police you would not be surprised, but to be fair, this was in Florida. I guess what I'm getting at is Florida sucks.

[@finleyedwards]

What about Quincy, IL.

[@joshuagibson2520]

Back when America was still a great country.

[@RobSchellinger]

We would have frequently stop for the night at HoJo's when traveling. I always got the Pronto Pup hot dog from the kids menu. I don't remember what it was called, but they had a sundae with 5 scoops of ice cream that we once tried. The cupola roof was Biscayne Bay Blue and the main roof was Sunset Orange.

[@bradlevantis913]

In just a few years Howard Johnson will be far enough in history that a re boot has a good chance of success

[@SamBroadway]

In the late 70s and early 80s it was always at hojo's where we would get our late night snacks

[@jphilb]

I was expecting some authentic frontier jibberish but that was really interesting. 👍

[@tanyawade5197]

Interesting. I think there’s a restaurant in Palmdale, Ca called Howard Jonhson’s🤔.

[@Lngbrdninjamasta]

I remember when the HoJo's closed in my town lol

[@rionthemagnificent2971]

I was lucky to see a remenant of a Howard Johnson on the interstate in 2006. Its no longer there. (It was somewhere in the KY-northern GA region of the US, i.e. eastern hill / smoky mountain country.

[@kims.schinkel8212]

On the road trip from Kansas City MO to New Jersey for my brother's wedding, I had never eaten at a Howard Johnson's. By the time we got back home, I never wanted to eat there again. MORAL: Make sure of some culinary variety. It's safer that way.

[@hkbabel]

When Adam Ant played at the Milford CT Jai Alai fronton, he first ate at our HoJos. Bizarre but true, and sadfully (but thankfully!) only Adam survives

[@chargermopar]

It goes to show how understated real inflation is today. No one could start a business in food today with 20-30k maybe 10 times as much!

[@taggah2000]

Not so much inflation, but the cost of doing business has gone way up.

[@chargermopar]

@@taggah2000 Due to debasement of the currency

[@otacon5648]

100 times as much. Look how much it costs to start a McDonalds franchise and that’s just a franchise, not bankrolling your own business from scratch. Starting a business today off your own back without major financial backing is near impossible.

[@ScionOfLiberty]

The waitstaff wore uniforms. I miss that.

[@PacesIII]

Were the Johnsons from Rock Ridge, by any chance?

[@abc-coleaks-info]

They built a Howard Johnson Hotel in my city in the early 90’s. It was converted when the chain sold out. The one here had the dubious reputation of having hookers trolling the parking lot.

[@mattlewis8889]

HOJO! - Avgn

[@robertbe2520]

I don’t want to see 6 LandGlide ads in your video!

[@keithzatkalik5805]

We used to stop at HoJo's every time we went to visit our Grandparents. I always had the SuperSailor and a chocolate milk. Ans a hot fudge sunday for desert.

[@williamsudbrink4187]

Not surprised, but a little disappointed, that there was no mention of the Earthlight Room franchise, opened in 2001 on Space Station V.

[@douglasfenbert1020]

Fried clams was my favorite n item on their menu

[@SafetySpooon]

"Hay-gers-town", not "Haggerton" Maryland Also, "Grennich", not "Green Witch" NY (It's a British pronunciation)

[@TodayIFoundOut]

I'll be cold in my grave before I let King George III tell me how to pronounce things! 😋 -Daven

[@maxdanielj]

I recently saw a hojo...sign in an antique store

[@timmywashere1164]

me @ 2:51 suddenly realizing it wasn't a red lobster in the thumbnail

[@jwilliam822ify]

OK, call off the dogs. We visited Quincy. It was nice.

[@TodayIFoundOut]

I was just there myself for a couple weeks. :-) Beautiful in the fall. :-) -Daven

[@joeebear]

You sound like Jack McBrayer, Kenneth from the show 30 rock.

[@DaveSlate-q9x]

I don't remember HoJo's in California. Did i just not see them or were they not on the west coast.

[@tylerwood8710]

It's pronounced "BANG-gore" Maine. Yeah, it's a funny name. Trust me on this one.

[@RobSchellinger]

It's pronounced Mainuh. 🤣

[@DaveSlate-q9x]

The term domestic servant completely sent shivers down my spine and killed my buzz. You have a talent, sir.

[@redstonewizard523]

I have a howard johnson hotel in bangor ME USA. Good video.

[@Surpriseattackninja]

They made a good grilled cheese

[@JoshMowery-42088]

When I hear quincy I think of BLEACH thousand year blood war.

[@JessicaMcCauley-u3d]

I live in Quincy. But the Washington one.

[@TodayIFoundOut]

I have driven through the Washington one dozens and dozens of times from Bellingham to Spokane. :-) -Daven

[@JessicaMcCauley-u3d]

@@TodayIFoundOut drive safe. It’s getting colder. The pass is going to be a pain soon.

[@William-B]

Here my millennial ass thought HoJo was always just a budget motel chain

[@phhdvm]

Let's go HoJo!

[@thechipmunkandtheotter]

I was born in Quincy, MA .. South Shore whooh.!! You should do a segment on the 'Quincy curve' ..if you know you know... Also, the Quincy shipyard could be a whole deep dive video ..Kilroy was there 😋

[@RealSaintB]

They got out-Howard Johnson'sed and then torn apart by vulture capitalists.

[@s2meister]

So you are saying Howard Johnsons came and went like they were on a "Blazing Saddle"? Go ahead laugh, I know you want to.

[@anthonytippett5997]

Crazy