Lobby card circa 1970s: Dan Donahue
 
San Luis Obispo, California --1585 Calle Joaquin
 

A peak year of expansion for the Howard Johnson Company, 1969 was marked by San Luis Obispo's opening. The complex was highlighted by its A-frame Gate Lodge and West-style Restaurant. The guest buildings offered standard HoJo's amenities and had sliders with abbreviated patios and balconies.

By the 2000s the former Motor Lodge had been converted into the Rose Garden Inn which offered affordable lodging.
 
 
 
 
Photos February 2005: Phil Edwards
 
 
 
 
Photo 2002: Glenn Wells
 
 
 
 
Photo Aug 8, 1985: Marcus & Stephen Nauman
 
The San Luis Obispo Howard Johnson's was a stop for the Nauman brothers back in the middle 1980s on one of their cross country adventures! Their photograph above shows the property from behind the Restaurant.
 
 
 
 
Photos 2002: Glenn Wells
 
 
 
A design used primarily in the West, the San Luis Obispo Restaurant was based on the Howard Johnson Company's ambitious "Concept '65" plan. However unlike the large Concept '65 Restaurants, the Califronia or West-style was considerably smaller and perhaps a hybrid design. Likely its most interesting exterior HoJo's cue was placement of the cupola tower at the center of the structure on the roofline (only one East coast example of this feature is known to have existed, and it was on the modified Nims-type Paramus Restaurant).
 
Photos February 2005: Phil Edwards
 
 
 
 
 
Even as the 1970s approached, Howard Johnson's designers continued to incorporate decorative concrete block "wing" walls.
 
Photog 2002: Glenn Wells
 
 
Photo 2005: Phil Edwards
 
 
 
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