Burlington

Photographs fall 2003: Courtesy of Rick Briley

Burlington, Iowa

-- 2750 Mt. Pleasant Street

Located near U.S. 61 on the former U.S. 34, Burlington opened in late 1964 and lasted until 1974 when it was converted into a Ground Round. When Rick Birley spotted it, the restaurant was called Gator's Restaurant and Lounge and retained many of its Ground Round elements (even popcorn in a basket when you're seated). He said that its proprietor had worked in the restaurant when it was a Ground Round.

Photographs 2006: Courtesy of Phil Edwards

Burlington's once excellent location on an outparcel of a vintage shopping plaza eventually served as its undoing once the area entered a period of economic decline. By the middle 2000s Gator's was moved into another location and the former HoJo's with its still towering light standards became Casa Fiesta Mexican Restaurant.

Although the Burlington unit remained easy to spot as having been a Howard Johnson's with its light standards and Nims-type shape, the location was extensively renovated in 1974 to become a Ground Round which rendered its interior most un-HoJo like.