This is a wonderful drinks menu from Howard Johnson's, once the biggest restaurant chain in the United States. The design and graphics are strikingly simple and elegant – a perfect example of the ingenuity of vintage menu artists.HoJo's, as it was called by customers, began life as a pharmacy and soda fountain in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1925. Businessman Howard Johnson, who had borrowed $2,000 to open the property, realized customers were queuing up for his ice-cream and milk shakes - rather than the items on sale in the drugstore – and he soon had his first sit-down restaurant. By the time America entered the Second World War, there were more than 200 franchised or company-owned HoJos.The company reached its peak in the 1970s and faced challenges when fast food organizations like McDonalds came on the scene. Though the Howard Johnson hotel chain flourishes – now owned by the Wyndham Hotel Group - only one Howard Johnson restaurant remains. It is located at Lake George in upstate New York.The interior of this wonderful 1950s menu is equally stylish and interesting. While generations of American children remember being taken out to eat at HoJos, their parents appreciated the large selection of cocktails on offer. In this menu, there were also four types of champagne, with the most expensive bottle costing only six dollars. Those really were the good old days.Courtesy Private Collection.This print is available in A4 (21x29.7cm) or A3 (29.7x42cm) size, and as either a standard print on high-quality matte paper, or as an Archival Giclée print, on acid-free cotton rag paper, complete with a copy of the menu interior (where available).
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