Postcard circa 1960s: Kummerlowe
 
Shreveport, Louisiana -- 5101 Monkhouse Drive

Located at the entrance to Shreveport's airport, the Shreveport complex opened in 1966, and was a Howard Johnson's for 22 years.

Some time after 1988 the site was converted into a Richmond Inn and Suites Best Western. Like the former HoJo's converted into a Richmond Inn and Suites in Lake Charles, the Shreveport property's Gate Lodge was demolished in 1999. Having fallen on difficult times, the former Motor Lodge changed owners by the early 2010s and became a lowly Baymont Inn.
Above: Note that the postcard which purports to depict Shreveport does not--it shows some unknown location.
 
Brochure circa 1990s: Kummerlowe
 
 
 
 
Lobby card circa 1990s: Kummerlowe
 
 
Diagram 2002: Scott Greer
 

Keen observer, Scott Greer first took note of the Shreveport Motor Lodge & Restaurant complex back in 1979 while he was on a grade school field trip to the Shreveport Regional Airport. He said that while on that outing the place caught his eye and imagination because they were replacing the HoJo's highway sign with a new model--the Roof-Logo type!

Scott Remembers Shreveport
 
When this was constructed, there were only 3 of the 5 wings you see now, the short one behind the gate lodge, the wing that ran parallel to the interstate, and the wing that made the L off of it. I do not believe the south wing was original. I know the wing closest to the interstate was constructed in 1992 or so, because I drove past the location weekly, and watched the progress. The owners of the Richmond Suites made great strides to match the architecture of the motor lodge.

The Gate Lodge was a sight in its day. It was situated so that motorists coming off I-20 on Monkhouse from the eastbound lanes saw only it and the restaurant. If you were westbound, you got a photogenic picture coming across the interstate. I remember around 1999 or so that when the new office was being built, the gate lodge was still in place. It was demolished when the office was completed. The new office faces the interstate with the wing just to the east of it.
 
Postcard circa 1960s: Kummerlowe
 
 
Photograph August 2000: Kummerlowe
 

Above, Below & Lower: Views of the area where the A-frame Gate Lodge and Restaurant once stood
Scott Greer ate in the Restaurant after it had been converted into A Waffle House, but said that they "left very little HoJoness about the place. They covered the open ceiling, and all of the walls." Mr. Greer also said that he believes that possibly a fire was the restaurant's undoing. In about 1998 the original building was razed and a new Waffle House building was erected at the edge of the Motor Lodge property.
 
Photographs 2003 : Phil Edwards
 
 
 
 
 
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