In 1925, Howard Deering Johnson borrowed $2000 to open a pharmacy
in Quincy, Massachusetts. He repaid the loan quickly, primarily because of the
popularity of the soda fountain he’d installed in the drugstore. The ice cream
he sold there was higher in butterfat, and people noticed. When Howard opened
his first restaurant, 28 flavors of his ice cream were included on the menu. By
World War II, there were 200 Howard Johnson’s restaurants in the US, identifiable
by their orange roofs, cupolas, and weather vanes. HoJo’s provoked an
international incident in 1957, when the restaurant in Dover, Delaware refused to
serve Ghana’s minister of finance. President Eisenhower had to issue a public
apology. The last standing Howard Johnson’s closed this spring in Lake George,
New York. Today is Iconic American Restaurants Day. You can’t celebrate with a
dish of Howard Johnson’s ice cream, but there are still plenty of other iconic
American eateries out there.
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