BANGOR, Maine (WHDH) — It is the end of an era in New England as the region’s last Howard Johnson’s restaurant closed its doors Tuesday in Maine.
The Bangor, Maine location closed its restaurant but the motel will remain open.
Howard Deering Johnson started the business in 1925 with a soda fountain in Quincy. That evolved into a chain of restaurants featuring comfort food and 28 ice cream flavors. The eateries predated the ubiquitous orange-roofed hotels.
Hotel owner Sally Patel said she and her husband kept their restaurant going for four years because it’s convenient for hotel guests. But she says business has been “very slow.” She says the restaurant closing won’t affect the hotel.
One Howard Johnson’s restaurant remains, in Lake George, New York.
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