The Howard Johnson’s Restaurant in Glenside opened in 1959 at the intersection of Church and Easton Roads.
According to local historian Chuck Langerman, it was a popular site for Cheltenham High students until its purchase by Marriott Hotels in 1986. The restaurant briefly became a Bob’s Big Boy until the concept was abandoned in 1987.
Today the former HoJo’s operates as Michael’s Family Restaurant Diner, which has recycled the roof logo street sign.
The Pep Boys in Willow Grove is the former site of a Howard Johnson’s Restaurant and Motor Lodge as well.
The second of its kind in Pennsylvania, the 99-room Willow Grove facility was opened in 1956 by the locally powerful Hankin family. It benefited from its strategic site along the PA Turnpike and its orange roof that could be seen by motorists. The restaurant remained a Howard Johnson’s even after the Motor Lodge was repurposed in 1973.
The Marriott purchased the restaurant which was intended to become a Bob’s Big Boy in 1986. According to HighwayHost.org, after having worked her final shift, an employee named Kitty Lachman, who had worked at the Willow Grove location since 1970, told a reporter:
There’s a lot of people upset…I put a lot of myself into it, a lot of my life into it–I feel like I’m losing a part of myself. We have regulars that just come in for coffee and talk to their friends. They don’t know where they’re going to go. Some of the customers were in tears because it was the only place they could get ice cream…I know it’s good ice cream. I scooped it for 16 years. I feel sorry for the customers who looked forward to the ice cream, the clams, the fish–they don’t like the ice cream at other places…
Marriott ceased the Howard Johnson’s operations on September 4, 1986, but it was never reopened as a Big Boy. Eventually the entire Willow Grove complex was demolished and the Pep Boys was built on its site.
Fun Facts about Howard Johnson’s Restaurants:
Howard Deering Johnson is the godfather of restaurant franchising.
He was 25 years old when he started his first Howard Johnson’s Restaurant in 1925 in Massachusetts. According to HojoLand.com, “He believed the automobile would change the face of America and he foresaw better roads and more people on the move who would want good food at sensible prices. He owed so much money he couldn’t borrow more, but he was eager to expand.”
By 1935, there were 25 Howard Johnson’s roadside ice cream and sandwich stands. By 1940, the number of HoJo’s Restaurants grew to more than 100 along the Atlantic coast all the way to Florida.
In the 1950s, the company expanded operations by opening hotels, then known as Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodges, which were often located next to restaurants.
The last surviving Howard Johnson’s restaurant closed in 2022. It was located in Lake George, New York.
For more Howard Johnson’s history, you can click here.
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Photos courtesy of Highwayhost.org