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Photograph 2001
 
 

When I paid the venerable Waterbury Howard Johnson's a quick visit in March of 2001, the bickering partners had not yet reached a settlement. The situation was unbeknownst to me, and as soon as I arrived began to snap a few pictures before heading inside to have dinner. Only a moment after I took the above shot from across Main Street up a treacherous snow covered embankment, Kristina Bakes (current owner) came screaming out of the restaurant's front door. She demanded to know what I was doing and for me to put the camera away!! Ms. Bakes refused to believe that I was taking pictures merely to document the restaurant, and moreover I informed her that I was not violating her "rights" by snapping photos from the public right-of-way. She must have assumed that I was a spy gathering evidence for her rival, and simmered down only a bit as I walked with her inside the restaurant to be seated.

Dinner was uncomfortable at best, as she and her entourage kept a watchful eye on my every move. Ironically her business has received much FREE publicity both directly and indirectly from my photos and visits to her establishment.

 
 

 
 
Photograph 2005: Courtesy of Steven LJ Russo
 
 
Photographs: Courtesy of Phil Edwards
Of the hundreds that were once installed in the Roadside Empire of Orange Roofed Restaurants, Waterbury's etched mirror showing Simple Simon and the Pieman as well as HoJo's food specialties, is the very last one to still be found under an Orange Roof in a Howard Johnson's.
 
 
Unfortunately the Restaurant's current owners prop all manner of items in front of the fabulous mirror, rendering much of it hidden from view. Note that the more traditional looking brass-trimmed warehouse inspired 1980s style lamps were all replaced in 2004 by the type seen in the last photograph on this page.
 
 
 
 
Photograph 2005: Courtesy of Steven LJ Russo
 
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