Photograph August
19, 2001 Henry Ford
Museum |
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Jacksonville,
Illinois
1904 West Morton |
The Jacksonville Restaurant
opened in 1955 and was likely a franchised location. It remained
a Howard Johnson's until the mid 1980s when the HJ Corporation
was liquidated. Noted sign expert, Len Davidson, rescued and
restored one half of the top part of Jacksonville's sign, and
it is displayed at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
Of the hundreds of neon Simple Simon and the Pieman signs only
a handful have survived, and only one complete sign is known
to exist--it was recently acquired by the American Sign Museum. |
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Photographs August
2004 courtesy of Phil
Edwards |
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Phil said that Jacksonville
was one of his most exciting finds! Many original HoJo's items
remained like the HJ mat, terrazzo floor, and formica tiered
display area at the cash register. |
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The alcove seen
above once featured a "chest" freezer with consumer
sized ice cream cartons and other frozen food offerings. Shelves
displaying Howard Johnson's take-home can goods and other items
were above the freezer. |
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A Simple Simon
and the Pieman figural inset should have been in the 'V' under
the black mat seen above. It is not known if it's still there
or not. |
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