Gold Rock's Restaurant was one of the last three HoJo's in North Carolina-- making it until the middle 1990s. As recently as 2001 the Restaurant's dining room included the eight sided HoJo's salad bar and had seen few renovations. A poster advertising the Big Blue breakfast was on the door leading from the Motor Lodge lobby, and was a remnant of the Restaurant's last days as a Howard Johnson's.

Unfortunately employees seemed to be unfriendly, unwelcoming, and upset by my interest in their restaurant. The manager went out of his way to forbid photography of the amazingly intact interior. Their outlook may have changed since my visit, but given the state of race relations in the interim, I tend to doubt it.