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Howard Johnson's Landmark: August 1965, page 1
 
Boston-Southeast, Massachusetts -- 5 Howard Johnson's Plaza
 
Brochures 1970s: Courtesy of Dan Donahue

Proposed in 1965, the Boston Southeast Expressway Motor Lodge was to be built adjacent to an existing Restaurant and would be the first Lodge in the Boston area. Featuring a "mid-rise" design, the complex was constructed on 2-acres.

Built with office space on the top floor for Howard Johnson's New England Division's administrative personnel, the Motor Lodge had more than one hundred guest rooms and an olympic-size swimming pool.

Note that once the Lodge opened in 1967, it was built without the Gate Lodge canopy that was shown in the architect's rendering.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Screen Captures from TheBostonChannel.com August 17, 2004
 

Reported in August of 2004, Boston news outlets ran a story about Angel Toro who had been convicted of robbing and killing a desk clerk at the Boston-Southeast Howard Johnson's on Easter Sunday back in 1981. The clerk, 47-year-old Kathleen Downey, was a Worcester State College English professor working part time at the HoJo's. An investigation revealed that evidence which may have swayed a jury to doubt Toro's guilt in the case had been withheld prior to his trial. Since key witnesses had died and evidence had been lost since the 1983 trial, local prosecutors did not contest Judge Mitchell Sikora's decision to toss out Toro's first degree murder conviction.

Note that Mr. Toro remains imprisoned for a 1979 murder that took place in Florida--he will be eligible for parole in 2011.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

To the right is an image of Michael Hostage, President and CEO of the Howard Johnson Company for its last five years, toasting with ice cream to a new beginning with the president of a newly hired advertising agency in front of Boston - Southeast. A little less than two years later the Howard Johnson Company would cease to exist -- some new beginning...

G. Michael Hostage was Howard B. Johnson's replacement.  He was the third and last man to head the Howard Johnson Company (contrary to an entry in Wikipedia, he was never CEO of Marriott nor could he have owned the Howard Johnson Company since it was publicly held prior to its sale to Imperial Group in 1979). During 1985 it had become clear that HoJo's was a sinking ship with no more backing from its British parent, and Hostage desperately attempted to put together a buy-out plan of his own to save the American Icon. Unfortunately he failed to attract backers and the Company was sold by Imperial to Marriott which then sold the brand to Prime Motor Inns. Should anyone in Wiki-land need details, references, facts, documents, etc., I will be happy to be of assistance since I do not base what I write on merely personal opinion!!!

Howard Johnson's Landmark: Dec. 1983, page 5
 
 
Photograph courtesy of Lawrence Cultrera July, 1992
 
 
 
 
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