Times Square Hojos to Close
The All American icon Howard Johnson’s restaurant in Times Square will soon close. The building has been sold and will likely be converted into big box retail. During my younger, low budget touring days it was the first place I ate on my first trip to Manhattan. It was in the early ’80s and we were staying at the Milford Plaza over on Eighth. Hojos was the only place with which I was familiar and that I could afford at the time. My first few times into the city really turned me off. I didn’t dig the rooms, I didn’t dig the vibe. I hated going there. A few tours later a backline guy I was touring with, James Ranft or the Beatdude as we called him, showed me how to get out and enjoy New York. I’ve been hooked every since and over the years stopped in at Hojos many times. My last visit to that Hojos was during my last visit to the city in November. We were staying around the corner, a different corner, at the W. Touring is a little better these days. It was early, the trendy bar at the W wasn’t yet happening and the drink prices were steep. We needed a place to grab a quick bite and formulate what we were going to do that night (we ended up closing the W bar…) so we hit the Hojos.
Guess I’ll have to find a new breakfast place when we stay near Times Square….
April 24th, 2005 at 2:26 pm
Hey Dave!
Try the Tick Tock Diner, 34th & 8th, right around the corner from The Hammerstein Ballroom. It’s closer to Madison Square Garden than Times Square, but it’s as genuine a “Diner” as you will find in Manhattan.
Finding a restaurant in NYC is a lot easier than, say, finding one in Reading PA on a Sunday afternoon. (one that’s open, anyway)
April 26th, 2005 at 3:34 pm
I’ll check out the Tick Tock next time I’m down by the Garden. When we do gigs at the Garden, or even the Beacon we’re in early enough breakfast is catered. It’s the club gigs where we don’t load in until noon or later. There are a couple of joints around Times Square but I always had a soft spot for Hojos.
Funny you should mention our outing to the pizza place in Reading. I was gigging in downtown Tacoma not too long ago and on a Sunday afternoon ran into the same problem, nothing open. It made me think about that pizza joint….