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| Postcard circa
1960s: Bernert |
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Clearwater,
Florida -- 410 U.S. 19 S (20788 U.S.
Hwy 19 N) |
The
Clearwater Motor Lodge was officially opened on October 22, 1964
by Howard B Johnson himself. The gala opening served as the stage
for him to announce the Company's big expansion across the Sunshine
State. The ambitious plans included the addition of 25 new Motor
Lodges and Restaurants for Florida by 1966, and that most of the
properties would be built along newly opened stretches of the
Interstate Highway system.
As for the
Clearwater Motor lodge, it was the 169th in the chain and the
first to be owned and operated by the Howard Johnson Company rather
than a franchisee. Moreover it was the first property to have
an integrated Restaurant and Motor Lodge management structure.
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| Photographs
August, 2001: Kummerlowe |
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The
complex featured unusual designs for both its Gate Lodge and Restaurant
buildings. The Gate Lodge was a small flat-roofed structure with
an orange-roofed, spire-cupola-topped, faux-A-frame above it!
meanwhile the 139 seat Restaurant was an entirely new design for
the Company which it dubbed "the Clearwater Plan." |
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Note:
For an example of the what the faux A-frame looked like
see:
Tallahassee-West--for the Restaurant see Lake
City-North. |
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| Photographs
April 4, 2003 |
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| Photograph
August 2001: Kummerlowe |
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Above:
The original flat-roofed Gate Lodge lobby without the faux A-frame
above it was still in place. Note too that the concrete footers
remained extant. |
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| Business card
from property: Kummerlowe |
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| Photographs
April 4, 2003: Kummerlowe |
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| Postcard
circa 1960s: Bernert |
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The
Motor Lodge at some point become the unbranded and down-trodden
Sunshine Inn. After a series of unfortunate events where police
were called to the site, it was sold to Menna-Pinellas. During
2003 the former Restaurant was quickly demolished and replaced
with a mid-rise Holiday Inn Express. Following that, the former
Motor Lodge was gutted and then converted into a Motel 6. However
the old Motor Lodge soon lost it's Motel 6 moniker and became
the unbranded Economy
Inn .
Then during 2012 its owners opted to brand it again--this time
as an outlet of America's
Best Inn & Suites.
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Below:
The Holiday Inn came to occupy the site of the Howard Johnson's
Restaurant and its once expansive parking lot. Converted into
a Motel 6, the former Motor Lodge's original flat-roofed Gate
Lodge was demolished and a circa 2000s Motel 6 lobby was erected.
Note that the property had lost its brand affiliation by 2011
and was operating as the Economy Inn Clearwater only to be rebranded
in 2012 as an America's Best Inn. |
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| ©
Google Maps: image date June 2011 |
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