AmarilloWest
 
Photograph 2004: Courtesy of Phil Edwards
 
Amarillo-West, Texas -- 2801 I-40 West
 
The West location was the first of two Howard Johnson's complexes opened in the Amarillo area (Amarillo-East was the second). Likely opened in the summer of 1968, the 120 room Motor Lodge ceased being a HoJo's in the middle of 1988. For about five years it was a Quality Inn -- was listed as a Travelodge in the 1993 AAA Tourbook, and then apparently became a Quality Inn again. It likely suffered from neglect, and declined as newer motels siphoned away its business. Finally the entire site was erased. By Phil's mid 2000s visit a restaurant-box had recently been built on part of the former Motor Lodge's site.
 
USGS satellite image: © Microsoft Corp
 
 

DallasNorthCentral
 
Postcard circa 1966
 
Dallas-North Central, Texas -- 10333 North Central Expsy
 
North Central was opened in about 1966, and was a sprawling classic Motor Lodge and Restaurant complex. The artist's rendering in the postcard indicates that the Restaurant may have been built in the rarely used style that was like Tempe or Claremont with unusual cupola placement and altered floor plans. With fond memories, Jane Watkins wrote me that she stayed at the Dallas-North Central Motor Lodge back in May of 1984, and said that "it was old but nice." The whole place was leveled in the late 1980s, and a Residence Inn and Courtyard were built on the expansive site.
 
 

FortWorth
 
Rack card circa 1970s: Courtesy of Dan Donahue
 
Fort Worth, Texas -- 5825 S Freeway
 
USGS satellite image: © Microsoft Corp

Fort Worth's Motor Lodge and Restaurant complex had quite a location! The classically configured facility was opened in the spring of 1967 and survived as a HoJo's until the first half of 1982.

Highway realignment and newer nearby lodging locations likely served to undermine its one steady stream of patrons. By the 2000s, the site had been razed leaving scarred earth and nothing else.

 
 

HoustonSouthwest
 
Photograph 2004: Courtesy of Phil Edwards
 
Houston-Southwest, Texas -- 7901 Southwest Freeway
 

Not joining the list as a Howard Johnson's until 1979 directories, Houston's Southwest location was a conversion. That is to say that the location had been called the Harvest House Hotel and then converted into a HoJo. Short lived, within five years it had ceased flying the HJ banner. When Phil Edwards was traveling through the Houston area, he found no evidence of it. The satellite view below is believed to show the one-time Howard Johnson's conversion.

Kenneth Chapman, a one-time nearby resident to the Southwest site, reported that the property seen in the view from space (believed to have been the Harvest House Hotel/HoJo's) had been an assisted living center prior to its demolition. He added that it as well as the adjacent but former Toys R Us store were acquired by a nearby hospital which will use the site for a new professional building and its Heart & Vascular Institute.

 
USGS satellite image: © Microsoft Corp
 
 

Lubbock
 
Photograph 2004: Courtesy of Phil Edwards
 
Lubbock, Texas -- 60111 Avenue H
 

Built in 1966, the Lubbock complex offered guests "76 Beautiful Rooms, Bedside Controlled TV and Lighting, Private Patios, Playground, Renown (sic) Restaurant, Beautiful Lamplight Club and Optional Color TV."

The Motor Lodge and Restaurant were purged from the List of Orange in the middle 1980s. By the time Phil Edwards made it out West, the place was long gone with no physical evidence of its existence remaining at its site.

 
Scan provided by Phil Edwards