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Postcard circa
1960s: Kummerlowe Archive |
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Photos
May 2006: Phil Edwards |
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Rockford,
Illinois |
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3909 Eleventh Street |
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Built
with an included but detached Restaurant, the Rockford complex
was opened in 1963. The facility was built in Howard Johnson's
most classic design, and originally featured an outdoor swimming
pool. |
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Left:
Note the Howard Johnson Hotel sign included parts of signs
from different eras. The "indoor pool" and reader
board dates from the 1970s, while the "Rounded Edge"
part was added in about 1986--and the current logo was installed
after 1996. |
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Photographs
July 2005: Bob Venditti |
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While
the more than forty-year-old Motor Lodge amazingly retained its
famous Howard Johnson name and the underpinnings of what made
a HoJo's superior to other hospitality concerns, the location
had been remade into an edifice of garishness by 2005! Bob Venditti
commented that its lobby looked like the "Gate Lodge From
Another Planet." He also noted that the Motor Lodge's exterior
had been painted in an unfortunate combination of colors--"Circus
Peanut Orange and Cendant Blue." |
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Photographs
May 2006: Phil Edwards |
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The
Restaurant lost its dairy counter in the late 1970s or early '80s
when the Company removed it to increase dining room space. Generally,
sit-down dining resulted in higher profits so many locations were
remodeled without the Counters and received a bay window across
the front. At some point Rockford's Restaurant became attached
to the Motor Lodge after convention rooms were added. |
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Photographs
July 2005: Bob Venditti |
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Photographs
May 2006: Phil Edwards |
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Below
& Higher: A hint of the original "Arizona Cactus
Stone" facade remained on one side of the Restaurant. |
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