The Restaurant was sited in front of the Motor Lodge and enjoyed excellent visibility with its perch high above the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Wyoming Valley Interchange. The unit prospered and by the 1980s was owned and operated by the Howard Johnson Company. As a corporate location, Marriott acquired it along with more than 400 others in 1985 when it purchased HJ from IMPS. Unlike most of the units, Pittston was not converted and continued to operate as a HoJo's. Thus after Marriott disposed of its restaurant business, it was one of 17 remaining Howard Johnson's restaurants that were transferred to Franchise Associates Incorporated (FAI) in June of 1991.

Please note that the circa 1965 Restaurant originally featured a Spire cupola topped with a Simple Simon and the Pieman weather vane which was replaced by the Beacon during the later 1970s.