Postcard circa 1977: Courtesy of Mark Ihrie
 
 
Toms River, New Jersey -- 955 Hooper Avenue
 
 
Lobby card: Circa 2001
 
 
Photographs November, 2004: Courtesy of Bob Venditti
 
 
 
 
 
 
With only 56 guest rooms, the Tom's River Motor Lodge and Restaurant complex opened in the spring of 1965. In order to accommodate increasing demand, the Motor Lodge had received an additional 40 rooms by 1980.
 
 

Remarkably persistent, the Tom's River Motor Lodge still hung on to the Howard Johnson name and to many of its uniquely HoJo's features even in 2004 while Bob Venditti played guest at the site.

Although the adjacent HoJo's Restaurant long ago gave up the ghost, the building in 2004 still served its built for purpose as a family-type restaurant. As an IHOP, the old Trapezoid sign had even been recycled!

Here is a link to their website:

http://www.tomsriverhojos.com/