Howard Johnson's Restaurant St. Paul-Roseville, Minnesota
Photographs May 2006: Courtesy of Phil Edwards
 
St. Paul, Minnesota --2100 (2050) N Snelling Ave
AKA Roseville
 

The last of the surviving free-standing Howard Johnson's Restaurant buildings in Minnesota, the St Paul-Roseville location was built on an out-parcel of the Har Mar Mall in 1963. The Nims-type Restaurant probably did a good business for its first few years, but by the early 1970s it didn't meet projections and was converted into a Ground Round. Like most Ground Round conversions, the Restaurant was completely remodeled so that only its general shape tells observers what it had been.

The Howard Johnson Company did very well with the Ground Round concept--especially in the middle northern part of the United States, and many Orange Roofed HoJo's were converted during the 1970s. The unit at Roseville operated for about thirty years before it was closed. By the middle 2000s a former Ground Round manager had reopened the restaurant calling it the Backyard Bar and Grill.
 
Howard Johnson's Restaurant St. Paul-Roseville, Minnesota
 
 
 
Howard Johnson's Restaurant St. Paul-Roseville, Minnesota
 
Howard Johnson's Restaurant St. Paul-Roseville, Minnesota
 
 
Howard Johnson's Restaurant St. Paul-Roseville, Minnesota
 
 
Howard Johnson's Restaurant St. Paul-Roseville, Minnesota
 
 
Howard Johnson's Restaurant St. Paul-Roseville, Minnesota
 
 
Howard Johnson's Restaurant St. Paul-Roseville, Minnesota
 
 
 
 
Howard Johnson's Restaurant St. Paul-Roseville, Minnesota
Aerial image © Microsoft Corp.
 
Above: Note the typically extra-large parking area that complimented the former Howard Johnson's. While the large lot afforded plenty of parking, the large parcels of land that HoJo's usually occupied later became a factor in their destruction since the land was usually prime real estate and considerably more valuable than the Restaurants themselves.