Lobby card circa 1980: Dan Donahue
 
 
Newspaper: 2-21-1980
Monrovia, California (Pasadena)
 -- 700 West Huntington Drive
 

Built on the site of Budget Liquors, owned by Byrna and Ralph Albert, the Monrovia Howard Johnson's was to be completed by December 1979. The $3+ million Motor Lodge and Restaurant project was quickly approved by the Monrovia Redevelopment Agency and heralded as a sign that life and business activity had returned to the Monrovia area.

City fathers were overjoyed that the complex would send an estimated $100.000 in new property taxes into Monrovia's coffers.
 
 
Newspaper: 3-20-1980
 
 
Lets all go Disco Dancing!
Monrovia was developed and owned by William Morrow who with over 25 properties was one of the largest Howard Johnson's franchisees. Built at the end of the 1970s, Monrovia employed standardized HJ room design, but featured an in building lobby and "bountiful" restaurant facilities. An advertising brochure claimed that "Howard Johnson's has brought an adventure in luxurious living to the foothills of Monrovia. A majestic new 152 room high-rise hotel now overlooks the beautiful Sierra Madre Range."
Newspaper: 9-25-1980
 
 
Brochures: Dan Donahue
 
 
Below: Operating as a Howard Johnson until 1994, it had adopted HoJo's upscale "Plaza Hotel" to its name in the 1980s.
 
 
 
 
 
Hotel website circa 2004
 
By the early 1990s the Howard Johnson brand was seen as a liability and the nine-story high rise property was eventually remodeled and converted into a Four Points by Sheraton.
 
 
 
Photos January 1, 2005: Phil Edwards
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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