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6 unusual facts about Howard Johnson


Atlantic surf clam

The "tongue" or foot of the clam is commercially valuable because it is cut into long strips which are breaded and fried and served as "clam strips", first popularized by the Howard Johnson's franchise.

Boston University Housing System

Students lovingly refer to it as either 575 or the HoJo.

One of the hotels frequently used in this way was the former Howard Johnson's hotel at 575 Commonwealth Avenue, next to the School of Management's Rafik Hariri Building.

Komla Agbeli Gbedemah

In the United States, Gbedemah is most widely known from an incident on 10 October 1957 when U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologized to him after he was refused service in a Howard Johnson's restaurant in Dover, Delaware.

Pierre Franey

Franey, along with Jacques Pépin, then an aspiring young cook on the staff of Le Pavillon, was hired in 1960 by the hotel and restaurant entrepreneur Howard Johnson, Sr., (a regular client at Le Pavillon) to revamp some of the Howard Johnson's restaurant chain’s recipes.

There's Always Vanilla

Chris has more encouragement after a talk at dinner at a Howard Johnson's with his father where he tells Chris life is like an ice cream parlor, and that of all of life's most exotic flavors to choose from, there's always vanilla to fall back on.


Dave Pallone

Pallone was umpiring at first base in the ninth inning when he called New York Mets outfielder Mookie Wilson safe on a delayed call, with the delay giving Howard Johnson the time to score the eventual game-winning run.

George Birimisa

After serving in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II, Birimisa supported himself with a series of jobs, including factory worker, bartender, disc jockey, health studio manager, television network page, prostitute, and Howard Johnson's counterman.

Ireland Must Be Heaven, for My Mother Came from There

"Ireland Must Be Heaven, for My Mother Came from There" is a popular song with music by Fred Fisher and lyrics by Joseph McCarthy and Howard Johnson, published in 1916.

When the Moon Comes over the Mountain

"When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain" is a popular song, published in 1931, and credited as written by Howard Johnson, Harry M. Woods, and Kate Smith.


see also

Fried clams

For years Soffron Brothers Clam Co., based in Ipswich, Massachusetts, served as the exclusive supplier of clam strips to the Howard Johnson's restaurant chain, which sold the whole country on this Down East delicacy.

Recitatif

Twyla and Roberta meet again eight years later during the 1960s, when Twyla is "working behind the counter at the Howard Johnson's on the Thruway" and Roberta is sitting in a booth with, "two guys smothered in head and facial hair." Roberta and her friends are on their way to the west coast to keep an appointment with Jimi Hendrix.