Orange Roofs And Sweet Clams
Only two left.
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Of course, the downtown HoJo is closed and soon to be replaced with the so-called HoJo Tower.
“If you’re a fan of googie architecture, and mid-century kitsch, get your camera down to 720 North LaSalle before the Chicago’s downtown Howard Johnson’s motel disappears into a cloud of cinderblock dust and memories,” the Chicago Architecture Blog wrote earlier this month.
“A demolition permit has been issued for the long-lived motor lodge, which will soon be replaced by a shiny new skyscraper. The permit, itself, is brief, stark, and unfeeling. Saying only ‘WRECK AND REMOVE A FORMER HOWARD JOHNSON HOTEL.'”
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And sure enough . . . you can see photos of the demolition here.
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Here it was.
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“Howard Johnson built a coast-to-coast network of eponymous restaurants and motel franchises that fed the wanderlust of mid-20th-century North Americans,” Bill Daley wrote for the Tribune in 2012.
“In so doing, he transformed Howard Johnson’s into a cultural phenomenon known to millions for its signature orange roofs, ‘tender-sweet’ fried clams and 28 flavors of ice cream.”
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“This originally was the Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge built in 1960 on Higgins Road in Chicago near O’Hare airport. My grandparents and my uncle built, own and operated it until 1972 when they sold it.”
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The Blues Brothers at the Tollway HoJo’s.
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Orange Roofs By The Highway.
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Comments welcome.
Posted on April 29, 2015