Howard Johnson's
Howard Johnson's was a chain of restaurants that was started by Howard Derring Johnson in Wollaston, MA in 1925. In 1954 the company began operating motor lodges. Johnson turned control of the company over to his son, Howard Brennan Johnson in 1959.
Howard Johnson's reached a peak of around 1,000 restaurants and 500 motor lodges in 1975, after which competition and unsuccessful business adaptations resulted in a slow decline in business and locations. In 1979 H.B. Johnson sold the company to Imperial Group PLC, which in 1986 sold the restaurants to Marriott and the hotels to Prime Motors Inns.
Prime Motors Inns sold off the hotels to an organization of franchisees which merged with a number of other companies over the next 20 years to form Cendant. In 2006 Cendant split into four companies, with Wyndham Worldwide keeping and operating the Howard Johnson lodges and brand.
After acquiring the company-owned restaurants in 1986, Marriott subsequently converted Howard Johnson's restaurants to Marriott's Bob's Big Boy chain. The franchise owners organized with the blessing of Marriott, but after numerous unsuccessful attempts to redevelop the brand, sold the brand rights to Cendant (which owned the hotel chain) in 2005. This coincided with the closing of the Times Square restaurant and subsequent closing of most of the remaining restaurants.
Over my time in New York I spotted the Howard Johnson's brand in a number of locations, including a restaurant in Times Square on the ground floor of the Duffy Theatre (demolished 2006), a hotel on 34th Street across from Penn Station (demolished 2010), and a small hotel in Flushing, Queens.
