Until recently, one last Howard Johnson’s restaurant stubbornly hung on in the resort town of Lake George, New York, but now the sole survivor of this once-nationwide chain of roadside restaurants and motels has folded. Howard Johnson’s made a name with sterling service, consistent food quality, and of course, ice cream. At its peak in 1975, there were more than 1,000 orange-roofed HoJo restaurants across the country, many attached to Howard Johnson motels. In the mid-1980s, the company was sold to Marriott, which sold off the hotel chain and began converting non-franchise HoJos into Big Boy restaurants (which Marriott also owned). Franchise owners banded together to preserve the remaining Howard Johnson’s restaurants, but without support from their corporate parent, it was a slow, steady decline. By 2014, only the Lake George restaurant remained. The lease for the 7,500-square-foot property? Just $10.
