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[Rodzinski]

Notes invested. Cashed.

[Rodzinski]

Early vacation memories are Howard Johnson’s kids meals where you got a metal cup of orange sherbet for dessert. I regret never visiting the Times Square one when it was lingering.

[John G.]

https://www.onstageblog.com/editorials/2025/10/29/08rtihlye30bswdfx6l630m8vvspau

Interesting

[John G.]

Here's a casual question that anyone may answer, or not. It was inspired by a couple of posts seen on Facebook which triggered some memories.

It's been a couple of decades since any were around, but did you like Howard Johnson's restaurants, or maybe just the ice cream or something else about them, back back when they were everywhere? As a family, we ate at them fairly frequently - in Columbus, on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and other such highways, in Fort Lauderdale, and finally in Cleveland and Cincinnati.

When I moved to L.A., I was into everything else and didn't go to one for years...not even the one that was at Hollywood and Vine for most of the years I lived there - which is surprising, but I wasn't into it then. But while in Florida for a short time in 1980, there was one near where friends and I were staying, and we sort of rediscovered the goodness of certain menu items and the desserts. I got hooked, and when I returned to L.A. I stopped in now and then at one near the 405 and Marina Freeway interchange, behind the Fox Hills Mall, and that was a nice one where I'd sometimes eat or just pick up a pint of the ice cream.

Moving east, I again rediscovered them by coming across a few of the older ones in Connecticut, and the Times Square one. We visited that one a couple of times when it was about to close. That was 20 years ago. I now look back on them in much the same way I view the great L.A. coffee shops and other such places everywhere, as the kind of wonderfully ubiquitous thing that has largely disappeared from the landscape.

Annabelle seems to think some days that I am just one more HoJo's on the turnpike of life.

Annabelle would never call you a ho. To your face.

[Jrand75]

I used to like Howard Johnson's when we were traveling....but I can't think of any details.

[Jrand75]

Facebook poster says that she has never known a man to be as obsessed with a ballroom as our "president".

He sounds more like one of Cinderella's ugly stepsisters.

[Jrand75]

The print for House Of Dark Shadows on TCM last night was excellent....maybe it was the Blu-Ray.

It was nice to see everyone on film in color....and not the flat video tape I'm used to.

[Freddie]

https://www.onstageblog.com/editorials/2025/10/29/08rtihlye30bswdfx6l630m8vvspau

Interesting

Awful!  (assuming the allegations are true)

[Jrand75]

I'm not sure this is even real...but it is funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HRsV3dHEpY

[Freddie]

I'm not sure this is even real...but it is funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HRsV3dHEpY

Very funny!  Thanks for the link.

[Jrand75]

I guess it's a real movie coming out on MR BK's birthday.

[Freddie]

Good description: If Downton Abbey and Airplane! had a love child

[Jane]

DR Singdaw:

We refer to each other by first/last initials, but the person joining has the same initials as someone already on the team, so not sure what we're going to do about that.

Interesting.

Maybe add a middle initial for the new person.

[Jane]

Wordle 1,593 3/6

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Well done.

[Jane]

The summer before I met Keith he went on a teen tour and had Howard Johnson's ice cream on the East Coast.  Neither of us ever had it in L.A.

We were driving in Northern California, possibly on our honeymoon, when Keith suddenly pulled into a Howard Johnson's telling me that had very good ice cream.  I had the peppermint stick and found it to be excellent. 

Not that we traveled much back then, but when we did see a Howard Johnson's outside of LA we often stopped and I always got peppermint stick.

[ChasSmith]

The ice cream was superb. People are always wishing for their recipe to be brought back.

My favorite, and my standard for excellence, is vanilla. Everywhere. In fact, I think that started with my loving their dessert items in 1980, because it was always vanilla that I'd buy there to bring home. And here at home, the few times I've pulled out the little ice cream maker and made vanilla, my goal is that it taste like Howard Johnson's, whether or not my taste-memory of it is accurate.

[MichaelG]

Yes, Howard Johnson's was a go-to spot for our family when I was a kid. My favorites were the hot dogs and the fried clams.

[MichaelG]

Of course those were just clam strips. When I moved to Boston and discovered whole fried clams that was a revelation!

[Freddie]

The Howard Johnson's on 46th Street across from the TKTS booth was really excellent, and a regular go-to place when in the Broadway theater area!

[ChasSmith]

The Times Square one had the bar in the back, something a lot of people liked about HJ's. My family weren't drinkers at all, but it felt like we were in a slightly more "sophisticated" place because so many HJ's had the cocktail lounge. I know people now who feel the same about the NY/NJ/New England diners that serve cocktails, and I always remember this family I knew in California who commented about going to Johnnie's (see: Miracle Mile) for that very reason. It's a funny thing.

[ChasSmith]

I ate a lot of things there over the years, but something that always stood out for me was the "ground steak" plate, or whatever they called it. Basically, hamburger meat or slightly better, and it might also have been "charbroiled".

[elmore3003]

Here's a casual question that anyone may answer, or not. It was inspired by a couple of posts seen on Facebook which triggered some memories.

It's been a couple of decades since any were around, but did you like Howard Johnson's restaurants, or maybe just the ice cream or something else about them, back back when they were everywhere? As a family, we ate at them fairly frequently - in Columbus, on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and other such highways, in Fort Lauderdale, and finally in Cleveland and Cincinnati.

When I moved to L.A., I was into everything else and didn't go to one for years...not even the one that was at Hollywood and Vine for most of the years I lived there - which is surprising, but I wasn't into it then. But while in Florida for a short time in 1980, there was one near where friends and I were staying, and we sort of rediscovered the goodness of certain menu items and the desserts. I got hooked, and when I returned to L.A. I stopped in now and then at one near the 405 and Marina Freeway interchange, behind the Fox Hills Mall, and that was a nice one where I'd sometimes eat or just pick up a pint of the ice cream.

Moving east, I again rediscovered them by coming across a few of the older ones in Connecticut, and the Times Square one. We visited that one a couple of times when it was about to close. That was 20 years ago. I now look back on them in much the same way I view the great L.A. coffee shops and other such places everywhere, as the kind of wonderfully ubiquitous thing that has largely disappeared from the landscape.

Annabelle seems to think some days that I am just one more HoJo's on the turnpike of life.

Annabelle would never call you a ho. To your face.

HoJo is what Pennsylvanians I knew in 1971 called Howard Johnson.

[George]

Annabelle, Thatch, and Stella wanted to remind you!

Very cool!

[George]

A rare plug for another lyricist.

Also not widely known is that those same songwriters also mentioned another songwriter in "Steam Heat" with "Shovel more Cole in the boiler."

Shades of Sweeney Todd?

[elmore3003]

Facebook poster says that she has never known a man to be as obsessed with a ballroom as our "president".

He sounds more like one of Cinderella's ugly stepsisters.

Well he does have Malaria. And Ivanka.

[John G.]

Got news this week that a friend of mine died. It was very sudden. She was a very life-affirming friend who really had some nice words for me when I needed them. On several occasions. Well, the rumor is that it was suicide, which has hit hard.

[John G.]

The cold front did move in. Temperatures are in the 60s. People are wearing heavy winter coats and pullover sweaters.

[John G.]

It’s been slow today but steady at elections.

[John G.]

Only 5 percent of the registered voters have voted early.

[John G.]

Page turn!