Remember When These Used to Be Here in NYC

mack

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Gone - Howard Johnsons restaurant chain - "Ho Jo"

    - over 600 restaurants
    - hotel chain
    - largest HoJo restaurant on Queens Boulevard:

    "Touted as the largest roadside restaurant in the world and built at a cost of $600,000.00 (the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI calculator indicates that amount to be more than $9 million 2009 dollars!), the colossal Queens restaurant was designed by Howard Johnson's chief architect Joseph G. Morgan and was erected by W. F. Babor & Co. Inc. An invitation only grand opening dinner was held on January 17, 1940 which ushered in Howard Johnson's short lived foray into the realm of near-luxury dining." 

    -  http://www.highwayhost.org/NewYork/Restaurants/RegoPark/regopark1.htm

    HJ_postcard_op_800x521.jpg

    Ho_Jo.jpg

    queens16.jpg


    - http://www.hojoland.com/history.html

Ho Jo 28 ice cream flavors:

Banana
Black Raspberry
Burgundy Cherry
Butter Pecan
Buttercrunch
Butterscotch
Caramel Fudge
Chocolate
Chocolate Chip
Coconut
Coffee
Frozen Pudding
Fruit Salad
Fudge Ripple
Lemon Stick
Macaroon
Maple Walnut
Mocha Chip
Orange-Pineapple
Peach
Peanut Brittle
Pecan Brittle
Peppermint Stick
Pineapple
Pistachio
Strawberry
Strawberry Ripple
Vanilla.
 
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I think E-3 and/or L-12 may have had the green and black doors when they were in separate quarters on 20th Street between Seventh and Eighth many years ago.
 
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Don't think there were ever very many of these in NYC, but just over the line in Valley Stream was the Sunrise Drive-In Theater . . .

sunrisescreen.jpg


It was where the Green Acres Mall is today.
 
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Regarding the Howard Johnsons Restaurant story in Post # 128, I didn't realize the largest was in Queens. Their bright Orange Roofs were their trademarks. If I remember correctly, some of those Ho Jo's also had motel rooms in the complex. For people traveling, they were the ideal spot.

Long gone is the Howard Johnsons in the Bronx on Fordham Rd and Southern Blvd, across from the Bronx Zoo. As a buff during the very busy FDNY War Years it was the ONLY place that I knew of to get a hot coffee or a decent meal to eat. There was no place else for miles in the entire South Bronx then.

Then at that same location came the "Golden Arches" after that Ho Jo's was torn down. As the fire activity started to increase in the Northern Bronx, that Micky Ds location seemed like a good spot to buff from. It also became a meeting place for many of us on this site who first got together here from various places throughout the U.S.

Today the sad reality is that now even that Micky Ds is gone. Last I knew it was just a fenced in vacant lot. Maybe "mikeindabronx" can give us a progress report on that. He was the first one to tell me the place was gone.

At those first few meetings, the senior man then was Herb K., a retired school principal from one of the public schools right in the middle of that arson torn South Bronx. I don't remember his user name here but I think he was a veteran of the Korean War. As a school principle he had some interesting stories to tell us as well. I think he was 79 years old then.

My home town of Bridgeport had green doors on their firehouses too. After seeing FDNYs RED Doors, many of us buffs thought Bridgeport should go to Red. Soon after we got our wish and every firehouse door was repainted Red, just like the FDNY.

I also remember the Bi Centennial in 1976 when many NYC Firehouses had their firehouse doors painted in Honor of Americas 200th Birthday. 

"raybrag", yes, those Drive In's were a favorite Saturday night place for a guy to take his girlfriend.

 
 

mack

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raybrag said:
Don't think there were ever very many of these in NYC, but just over the line in Valley Stream was the Sunrise Drive-In Theater . . .

sunrisescreen.jpg


It was where the Green Acres Mall is today.


Staten Island had a drive in movie that was opened 1948-196 - first drive-in movie in NYC. It was located where K-Mart Plaza is next to the SI Mall is today. Also located vicinity of SI landfill which was active. In it's later years, summer nights at the SI Drive In had the benefits of mosquitoes from large wetlands and scent of NYC garbage:

statenislandaerial.jpg

statenislandscreen.jpg

http://www.newyorkdriveins.com/newyorkcitymetroregion/statenisland/statenisland.php
 
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mack

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raybrag said:
Don't think there were ever very many of these in NYC, but just over the line in Valley Stream was the Sunrise Drive-In Theater . . .

sunrisescreen.jpg


It was where the Green Acres Mall is today.

Queens had a drive in in the 1950s near Idlewild Airport (now JFK). Nice location to watch movies while hearing and seeing aircraft land:

http://www.newyorkdriveins.com/newyorkcitymetroregion/internationalairport/internationalairport.php

internationalairportaerial1954.jpg

http://www.newyorkdriveins.com/newy...ernationalairportarticleboxoffice07081952.jpg
 
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mack

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I remember HoJo's.  There was one in Valley Stream (or maybe Lynbrook, it was close to the border) that I often took my girlfriend to.  Their hot dogs were served in a top-sliced, toasted bun that was really (for the time) different.  And their clam rolls (in the same bun) were out of this world.  They had the best onion rings in town, too. It survived many of its namesakes, but died a tragic death in a 1977 fire.

lynbrook1.jpg



lynbrook6.jpg



lynbrook7.jpg



p.s.  Love those old Macks. ;)
 

mack

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raybrag said:
I remember HoJo's.  There was one in Valley Stream (or maybe Lynbrook, it was close to the border) that I often took my girlfriend to.  Their hot dogs were served in a top-sliced, toasted bun that was really (for the time) different.  And their clam rolls (in the same bun) were out of this world.  They had the best onion rings in town, too. It survived many of its namesakes, but died a tragic death in a 1977 fire.

lynbrook1.jpg


lynbrook6.jpg


lynbrook7.jpg


p.s.  Love those old Macks. ;)

HoJo Frankfort and clam roll:

    g_JFpm_CO.jpg

    bangor-howard-johnsons-clam-roll-tall-463x650.jpg
 

mack

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Gone - Lundy's Restaurant - Sheepshead Bay

https://brooklynrelics.blogspot.com/2015/12/lundys-lundy-brothers-restaurant.html


Lundy's fire - September 13, 2013:

https://www.villagevoice.com/2011/03/31/five-dead-and-gone-classic-brooklyn-restaurants/


Former Lundys Bros Rest. 1901 Emmons Ave 200X100
Engines: 246,254,321,245
Trucks: Ladder 169, TL 153 TL 161 FT
Bn 43
Bn 33
Div 8
R 5
Sq 1

Second Alarm:
Car 7 Brooklyn Boro Commander
Engines309,276,318,253
Ladder 156, TL 172
Fire in the cockloft 3 lines Str. and operating
1017 hrs progress report 3 by Car 7 fire remains DWH, main body of fire extingushed, trucks opening up
1029 hrs progress report 4 by Car 7 fire PWH all searches neg
Duration of the fire 1hr and 1 min
1051 hrs progress report 5 by Car 7 fire UC, Trucks con't. to open up the duct works

1 street(Emmons Ave) , 2 2 story attached ,3 parking lot, 4 Street (Ocean Ave)
42 Bn
41 Bn
Engine 284, Sat 3,
FC 1, Rac 5, Res Bn, Saf Bn,
SC truck TL 120 acting 153 to the fire,
New fast truck TL 159, TL 161 activated as fast truck to remove a member
SC BN 32/33
SC 2 trucks Ladder 166 and Ladder 168

Relocations Engines:240/246. ? /253, 201/245, 214/254
TL170/172, 120/153
Bn 32/33, 37/41,39/33 (third section)


http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...ries-battling-brooklyn-fire-article-1.1461087
 
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