|
| |
| Postcard
circa 1940s-1950s (used as a "generic" comment/postcard
to represent the chain) |
|
| |
Canton,
Massachusetts -- 2786
Washington St |
|
| |
Like
dozens of other Howard Johnson's location in the Bay State,
the original Canton Restaurant dating from the 1930s was
replaced by a new model in the late 1940s. Pictured here,
the new building served as a prototype for the growing chain.
Researcher Nate Coggeshall-Beyea has identified several
locations that were based on the circa 1940s Canton Restaurant.
Moreover the Howard Johnson Company itself listed locations
in its in-house publications as being "Canton-types."
A
successful unit, design elements and efficiencies of operation
developed at Canton were widely adopted by Howard Johnson's
for both its licensed and Company operated units. |
|
|
|
| |
| |
| Images
circa late 1940s: From an advertisement in Life Magazine |
|
| |
| |
|
Its
Dairy Bar on the left, Canton-types were also built with a
reverse layout and later models were tweaked to have only
two dormers.
It is not known if the attic space was functional in these
smaller Restaurants. |
|
|
| |
| |
| By
October of 1949 new Canton-type Restaurants featured updated
dining room furnishings including a new and innovative type
of table that could be enlarged by a sliding panel. |
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
| |
| |
| Photographs
1991: Courtesy of Walter Mann (FAI promotional material) |
|
| |
| |
Fast
Forward to January 1990:
At the end of the Howard Johnson
Company's existence in 1985, Canton had been a licensed location.
Some time after the creation of Franchise Associates Incorporated
(FAI), the unit became the first to be owned and operated
by FAI.
Not
having received a substantial update since the 1960s, FAI
decided to remake Canton yet again into a prototype Howard
Johnson's Restaurant (it is unlikely that FAI managers knew
that it had held the prototype distinction long before). The
Canton Restaurant project would serve as FAI's only real attempt
to regain HoJo's former luster.
Addison,
a San Francisco based design firm was charged with creating
a new look for Canton and the chain. Most significantly, the
firm was responsible for putting the apostrophe S back into
the Howard Johnson name as well as creating the capital entry
arch. |
|
|
|
| |
| |
| Photographs May 2,
1999: Courtesy of Bob Koenig |
|
| |
| |
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
Canton's refreshed interior featured second
level seating, brass and wood accents as well as special etched
glass Simple Simon and the Pieman panels.
The
whole design was referred to as "high-tech," and
included an expansive Dairy Bar with a walk up area highlighted
by neon. |
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
