| Photographs
circa 1939: Courtesy of Bob Koenig From the collection of the Mineola Historical Society |
West
Harford, Connecticut --
831 Farmington
Ave |
While the first three historical photographs on this page may not depict the West Hartford Howard Johnson's Restaurant, they do accurately represent what it looked like not long after it was opened in 1938. Constructed and designed in a grand style with little expense spared just prior to WW II, not many in the style were built. Once the War was under way and rationing was in effect most HoJo's were shuttered, and Howard D. Johnson declared that after the War there would be no more roadside palaces like West Hartford built. |
| Hartford Courent September 16, 1979: Courtesy of Dan Donahue |
Featured
in the business and finance section of Hartford's newspaper,
a nighttime view of the West Hartford Restaurant accompanied
an article about the sale of the Company to Imperial Group Ltd.
for $630 million. "I'm not much for nostalgia. You don't have time for that when you're trying to run a business. You worry more about tomorrow than yesterday. I've been president of the company for 20 years. That's 80 quarters of trying to beat last year." |
Perhaps
the 47 year old Son-of-Johnson had had enough? It's too bad though
that he did not realize how significant a role his company had
played in shaping the hospitality industry and roadside commerce--a
quick study of history and a little nostalgia might have saved
the empire that his father had created and that he had overseen. |
| Photographs December 2001 & September 2006 |
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