| Postcard circa 1960s |
Council
Bluffs, Iowa
--
3537 W Broadway |
In its first run starting in 1963, Council Bluffs lasted a little more than twenty years as a Howard Johnson's. Since the site was conveniently located near Omaha, Nebraska, it was often listed in the Corn Husker's directory section. Built in the most classic of standardized Motor Lodge and Restaurant layouts, the 89 room Lodge also offered its guests an indoor all-weather heated swimming pool--quite the modern amenity back in the early 1960s! |
| Photographs August 2006: Courtesy of Phil Edwards |
| Photographs 2005: Courtesy of Mark Shannon |
| Photographs August 2006: Courtesy of Phil Edwards |
Having
lost its way, the complex was forced to remove the HJ banner in
1984 during the middle 1980s purges, but was repatriated in 1990.
Unfortunately its return to the fold required that its signature
A-frame Gate Lodge be decapitated and squared off. Alas the Gate
Lodge mutilation was all for naught, for during 1993 the site
lost the Howard Johnson name for the last time. Converted into
a Best Western then a Quality Inn, the former Motor Lodge was
operated by an outfit called Lodging Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia
by the early 2000s. |
