A hospitality empire that was started in the 1930s by the DeSantis clan began in Lake George with the Northland Cabin Court. Successful with their lodging operation through the depression and then WW II, Carl R. DeSantis convinced his father to allow him to open a Howard Johnson's Restaurant adjacent to the family's motel. The Lake George HoJo's Restaurant was opened in 1953, and remarkably turned a profit during its first year of operation!

The Northland Cabin Courts had become the more upscale sounding Northland Motor Lodge during the 1960s and included a HoJo's matching cupola atop its lobby. By the middle 2000s the Northland had morphed into a stuccoed Super 8 Motel. Note that the Northland was never a Howard Johnson's and that the nearby Howard Johnson Tiki Hotel was a conversion.

HOWARD JOHNSON'S RESTAURANT Adjoining NORTHLAND CABIN COURT on U. S. Highway #9 Lake George, N. Y. This haven of rest and good food is located two minutes from Village of Lake George and new N. Y. State Million Dollar Beach. Joe & Carl DeSantis, Owner-Mgr.

Built along the lines of Florida architect Rufus Nims' classic mid-century design, the Lake George unit proved too small to handle its ever increasing business. By the early 1960s, the Howard Johnson Company's architects and planners had devised a newer larger building to serve high traffic locations that it dubbed "Concept '65." While only three full-sized Concept '65 locations were built, Lake George was one of two pre-existing locations that were remodeled to appear similar to its three larger cousins.