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Photograph 2000: Chris Ziemnowicz
 
 
Photos May 30, 2005: Phil Edwards

Albany's Orange Roofed Restaurant remarkably survived the Howard Johnson Company's 1986 dissolution by Marriott and Prime Motor Inns.

It became one of at least three area HoJo's which all operated under the banner of the Albany Restaurant Group Inc. owned by Lynn Reickel of Boston, Mass. In October 1995 Reickel's mini-empire of Orange Restaurants collapsed, and Albany was taken over by the Motor Lodge's owner, Howard-Albany Lodges Corp., which continued to operate the HoJo's until some time during 2000. With the Motor Lodge owner's bankruptcy and sale of the property, the last Howard Johnson's Restaurant in the Capital Region was closed.

Left, Below & Lower: Originally sporting a space-aged Simple Simon and the Pieman weather vane topped cupola, Albany's Restaurant was Beaconized during the 1970s.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Photographs May 19, 2002: Kummerlowe
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Photograph 2003: Bob Venditti
 
 
Photograph March 21, 2004: Steven LJ Russo
 
Although attempts were made to re-use parts of the Restaurant, none were apparently very successful.
 
Photographs 2004: Jack Thomas
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Photographs May 30, 2005: Phil Edwards
 
 
 
 
 
End Note: In an online post from June 2011, The Indian Express reported that Ramesh Bhatia, owner of the former Motor Lodge, was duped by an astrologer and his accomplices. Suresh Shreemali, the astrologer, had befriended Bhatia while visiting New York and subsequently convinced him that the two should be partners in a series of auspicious Indian real estate investment deals. Unfortunately for Mr. Bhatia, Shreemali and company disappeared with a total of Rs 2 crore (more than USD $400 thousand) which was wire-transferred to the schemers back in India. The case has been investigated by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police.
 
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