Postcards circa 1960s
 
 Charlottesville, Virginia -- 1309 West Main St
 

Opened in about 1967 with 126 guest rooms in its eight stories, Charlottesville featured a unique facade meant to remind people of Howard Johnson's typical roadside designs. The Restaurant's large A-frame entrance, topped with a Cupola/Tower and Weathervane, was reminiscent of the "Concept 65" design that had been used for larger Restaurants at a handful of locations.

The A-frame had become an important architectural symbol for the Company by the late 1960s, but economics during the 1970s rendered it too expensive to employ at new locations.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Charlottesville Guide to Entertainment: Vol. 2 No. 1, Summer 1985, page 16
 
 
 
 
Photographs June 2003: Courtesy of Phil Edwards
 
 

Located at the University of Virginia, the former Motor Lodge was assured of steady patronage, and lasted a remarkable thirty years. By 2003, the location had been made over into a Red Roof Inn. With the HJ facade removed and the building stuccoed, it no longer stood out, but looks like it could be rebranded at a moment's notice.

Mr. Edwards discovered that while the HoJo's Restaurant was long gone, the Red Roof included a restaurant called the Mellow Mushroom. The Red Roof's lobby entrance suggested a roof peak perhaps reminding us of more...but of course Red Roof Inns were once known for their own standard architecture which featured a Red Roof over the entire building. Not that long ago, Red Roof was its own chain of company-owned and operated motels based in Columbus, Ohio. In the early 1990s a real estate investment group bought it and by 1999 had sold the brand to Accor. Accor Group is a huge franchise mill like Cendant/Wyndham. Their brands include Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Suitehotle, Dorint, Ibis, Etap, Formula 1, Red Roof, Motel 6, Thalassa, and perhaps others.