Former site of the Fridley Howard Johnson's Restaurant
Photograph May 2006: Courtesy of Phil Edwards
 
Fridley, Minnesota -- 5277 Central Ave
 
Fridley was the last of the three stand-alone Howard Johnson's Restaurants to open in Minnesota. It lasted from the spring of 1966 until about 1974, and then was converted into a Ground Round. By the 2000s no trace of it remained and an Applebee's had come to occupy its spot.
 
 

rochester
 
Former site of the Rochester Howard Johnson's Restaurant
Photographs May 2006: Courtesy of Phil Edwards
 
Rochester, Minnesota -- 1201 S Broadway
 
Back in 1963 the Rochester Restaurant was among the first Orange Roofs in the North Star State. A Nims-type variant, it was the last free-standing HoJo's in Minnesota. The Restaurant was converted into a Ground Round in 1975 and then by the 2000s had been demolished. Phil Edwards discovered that a Chipoltle had been built in its place.
 
 
 

minneapolis
 
Howard Johnson's Plaza Hotel Minneapolis, Minnesota
Postcard circa 1970s
Minneapolis-Plaza Hotel, MN
 -- 315 Nicollett Mal
 

Although it was listed in official HJ directories before the Company's demise, the hotel was not an authentic Howard Johnson's at all. The downtown hotel only wore the HoJo name for a year or two during the middle 1980s whilst the Company was desperately trying to create some new wönder-concept to stave off its inevitable end. The hotel was neither converted to meet typical standards nor did it offer a Howard Johnson's Restaurant.

Prior to its brief stint as a HoJo, the site was a 300 room Sheraton. It later operated as the Minneapolis Plaza and then the Ritz Hotel before being leveled to make way for a parking lot by the middle 2000s.