Derby
 
Photograph courtesy of Phil Edwards
 
 
Derby, CT
 -- Rt 36 @ Derby Ave (5 Main Street)
 
A classic middle 1960s stand-alone location, Derby likely opened in 1966. By the 2000s it had been remade into a local hot-spot called Tailgators Sports Bar.
Photo circa 1970s: Courtesy Of Dan Donahue
 
 
Photographs courtesy of Phil Edwards
 
 
 
 
EastNorwalk
 
Photographs courtesy of Phil Edwards
 
East Norwalk, Connecticut -- East Ave Exit @ I-95
 
Another 1960s classic, the East Norwalk Restaurant was opened in about 1964. Apparently a high volume location, it remained a HoJo's for a little more than twenty years. A Corporate unit, it was closed at about the time that the Howard Johnson Company was dissolved in the middle 1980s. Unfortunately it never had a successful afterlife and its demolition was carried on a local television station in the early 2000s. By Phil's visit, only the circa 1970s "roof logo" road sign remained at the site.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fairfield
 
Photo circa 1930s: Courtesy of Nate Coggeshall-Beyea
Fairfield, CT
 -- 750 Post Road
 

Believed to have been a Dutchland Farms location, Irving Carter converted the building into a Howard Johnson's in 1935. Not only was it the first HoJo's in the Constitution State, but it was significantly the first franchised Restaurant outside of Massachusetts!

Extremely long lived, the site flew the HJ banner until 1997. Subsequently the original building was demolished and another came to occupy its site (below).

 
 
Photographs courtesy of Phil Edwards
 
 
Groton
 
Photographs October 2004 courtesy of Phil Edwards
 
Groton, Connecticut -- 652 Long Hill Rd @ Drozdyk Dr
 

The Groton Restaurant was opened in early 1964 during the heady days of Howard Johnson's expansion from coast to coast. During 1973 and in a bid to increase unit sales, Groton was converted into the Howard Johnson Company's then new Ground Round concept. Upon conversion, the classic Orange Roof restaurant was completely gutted and transformed. Nonetheless the change did not completely disguise its classic Nims appeal, and four decades after the Restaurant had been built Phil Edwards discovered that even its original Orange Roof tiles remained--just painted green!

Not long after Mr. Edwards visited the site in 2004, the Ground Round was closed, and the old HoJo's was gutted once again. However its conversion into a Webster Bank branch will have significantly reduced its recognizability.