Alexandria
and the Fairfax
Restaurant were the first Howard Johnson's in the Commonwealth
of Virginia. Both opened in the summer of 1939, but the
Alexandria unit more closely followed the traditional colonial
exterior that Howard Johnson's Restaurants were generally
recognized by. However the Alexandria unit suffered the
unique distinction of being the only HoJo's back in the
early days to not have an Orange Roof since local onerous
zoning laws forbade it!
Lasting
as a Howard Johnson's until about 1984, the unit was remarkably
long-lived. Amazingly the building was not demolished, but
converted to become a Wendy's.