Mad Men's America, HoJo's edition: We're off to the Lake Placid Howard Johnson's

It was an American rite of passage to celebrate a birthday at Howard Johnson’s,         and happily in Lake Placid, it still is!

Welcome to Day 2 of Howard Johnson’s Week at The Retrologist. Inspired by Don and Megan Draper’s ill-fated trip to the Plattsburgh Howard Johnson’s, built in 1965 and visited by the Drapers a year later, I have raided my road-trip archives to bring you photos of two of the last three Howard Johnson’s left on Earth, a chain that was once the king of road food and hospitality and numbered in the thousands. [The Plattsburgh location closed years ago, and the actual episode was filmed across the country in two locations, including a former Howard Johnson’s, near Los Angeles. Read my post HERE.]

DAY ONE — MAD MEN’S AMERICA: A ROAD TRIP TO HOWARD JOHNSON’S IN UPSTATE LAKE GEORGE

The Adirondacks are not only an epic natural preserve, they are also a protectorate for vintage roadside attractions, from neon-lit hotels to a town called the North Pole. It’s therefore somewhat appropriate that the remnants of the Howard Johnson’s chain would make their last stand there.

If you visit the Adirondacks this summer, then it’s a perfect time to pull a Draper and dive into the Orange Sherbet at Howard Johnson’s, though we advise not forcing your travel companion to eat it, or worse, abandoning this person at the restaurant in a fit of pique.

Roger Sterling, by the way, in Sunday’s episode mentions that the fancy “Concept 65” Plattsburgh HoJo’s the Drapers visit is only an hour from “scenic Lake Placid.” He does not mention that Lake Placid itself already had a HoJo’s, which is still run by the same family. They would have greeted the Drapers had they instead visited Lake Placid in August 1966.

The Lake George HoJo’s, which I wrote about on Monday, opened in 1953 and is now the oldest extant location. The Lake Placid Hojo’s opened on May 17, 1956 and has been owned and run by the Butler family since 1958.

No kitchen is complete without this awesome HoJo’s toy! I want this …

The Butlers have done a wonderful job of keeping the HoJos’ legacy alive against considerable odds, and their restaurant, like the one in Lake George, is a true national treasure. Unlike the one in Lake George, which is seasonal, the Butlers run their restaurant year-round.

I visited twice during a long weekend in Lake Placid in August 2008. I must say, if you enjoy mid-century Americana and have an appreciation for history, then a visit here overwhelms the senses.

This place is so special, so rare, and such a loving, well-preserved example of an American institution that helped change how we eat and spend our leisure time, growing along with the national highway system.

When I visit these Adirondack HoJo’s, I feel like a kid again sauntering into “my” HoJo’s in Tarrytown, N.Y., but I know full well that it is long gone, as is the indescribable location in Times Square that I patronized less for the food and more for the sensory experience.

Again, there are only three Hojo’s left! (I have not visited the third, which is in Bangor, Maine.)

They’re a perfect excuse for that road trip you’ve been meaning to take! 

The Lake Placid HoJo’s is a key part of the community.

Employees from back in the day. No, these are not Hipstamatic prints.

I need one of these for my car.

A sketch of this Hojo’s as it looked when it opened in 1956 ..

– and how it appears today (well, August 2008)