Like many Howard Johnson's complexes, Vernon's Restaurant was opened prior to its adjacent Motor Lodge. The Restaurant first appeared in a HoJo's 1964 directory and the Motor Lodge not until a 1968 edition.

The Restaurant prospered as a Howard Johnson's until at least just past the middle 1980s. During the 1990s it had been converted into an eatery called the Pie Plate and by the early 2000s had been transformed into the Vernon Diner.

Above, Right & Below: Amazingly recognizable from the outside, the Nims derived Restaurant building retained many familiar features such as its stone facing and garden wall, Porcelain Enamel roof tiles, name banner, decorative concrete block wings, and Trapezoid sign!