The last Howard Johnson's restaurant closes, ending an era of Americana

The last Howard Johnson’s restaurant has shut its doors, signaling the end of an era for travelers who remember the brand’s fried clams and 28 flavors of ice cream as a road-trip staple.

The Lake George, N.Y., location is closed, and the property is up for lease, listing agent Bill Moon of Exit Realty Empire Associates confirmed. However, Moon said, for the last several years, the restaurant wasn’t operated as a “traditional Howard Johnson’s experience.”

Founded in Massachusetts by Howard Deering Johnson, the chain known for its iconic orange roofs had around 1,000 restaurants strategically located by turnpikes and highways by the 1970s. In his book “Ten Restaurants That Changed America,” Paul Freedman credited the company with pioneering “several key concepts in the American way of dining out: roadside locations, a family-friendly ambiance, franchising, predictability and serving comfort food long before that term was invented.”

Howard Johnson’s declined, in part, because of competition from fast-food restaurants.

The chain also had motor lodges, but a sale divided its lodging and dining operations in the 1980s. Hotels bearing the Howard Johnson name are operating under Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.

Amanda Metzger, marketing director of the Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce & CVB, said in an email, “We know many people hold fond memories of dining at a Howard Johnson’s and have visited that location specifically for that feeling of nostalgia and to try to experience a memory.”