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| Brochure
ca. 1960s: Dan Donahue |
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Above:
Lamplighter
Room, and other restaurant facilities are connected by indoor
passage to the Motor Lodge, breakfast from 7 AM.
Below:
New Lounge [circa 1969] serving your favorite cocktails
from 11 AM.
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| Postcard
ca. 1970s: Kummerlowe Archive |
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Above:
Howard Johnson's is upgrading its restaurants to cater to a variety
of appetites and to assure a minimum volume of $500,000 per unit
per year. One change: coffee shops with table service have replaced
soda fountains. But orange roof remains. |
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"The
Howard Johnson's restaurant/motor lodge at Mystic, Conn., is a remodeling
showcase. The company spared nothing within reason, spending more
than $200,000 to convert the facility into a 106-seat coffee shop,
75-seat dining room and 100-seat cocktail lounge."
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Beginning
in 1975, and under the direction of interior designers, Edger Casey
and Kenneth Benson, the Company embarked on a large-scale remodeling
scheme focused on their Eastern Restaurants. Key among the changes
were the introduction of five new earthtone schemes, as well as
the introduction of live greenery, butcher block counter and table
tops, cane chairs, and lattice work. Seating capacity was enlarged
at many sites by removing the Dairy Bar and installing a bay window.
Moreover building exteriors received beige and chocolate brown trim.
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| Photos
ca. 2004: Dan Donahue |
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Having
spent a hefty sum to remodel and otherwise upgrade Mystic
back in 1976, the Restaurant remained virtually unchanged
as a Howard Johnson's until the latter half of the 1990s.
In the end it was owned by long-time franchisee Donald Christie.
Christie became involved in HoJo's through his in-laws, the
Carters who were the original Connecticut franchisees (see
Milford).
Mr. Christie also owned Hartford
and Waterbury.
Reportedly he moved Hartford's backbar mirror to Mystic when
it closed. However it was all for naught because not long
after the move, Mystic was converted into a Bickford's. |
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Bickford's
once boasted of having locations from New England to California.
However the brand suffered many of the hardships that befell
Howard Johnson's. In fact many of its units were once owned
by Marriott, and might explain why several former HoJo's became
Bickford's during the late 1980s. |
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| Photos
March 2001: Kummerlowe Archive |
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| Photos
ca. 2003: Phil Edwards |
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| Photo
March 2001: Dan Donahue |
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