Howard Johnson’s in Waterbury is Being Torn Down

I belong to a group on Facebook called "You know you're from Waterbury when...", it's a great place for finding nostalgia from Waterbury's past. I especially love seeing photos of Waterbury from the 70's and 80's. Over this past weekend, multiple members posted about two things that caught my eye. First, Highland Garden Chinese Restaurant on Highland Ave may have closed, awww, and two, the old Howard Johnson's/Brass House Restaurant building at 2620 South Main Street was in the process of being torn down.

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I can't tell you how many times I've eaten in that building over the years. My parents used to take us there for the famous all-you-can-eat Howard Johnson's Fried Clams. Through the 90's, we used to go to HoJo's (or the Betsy Ross) after a long night at Gahan's, Polo's, The Horse, The Moon, Enjell's, Toad's Place, or the Russian Lady.

Hojo's on South Main was the place to be at 2:30 AM on Saturday morning. There was nothing better than a greasy order of potato skins, or a short stack of pancakes to soak up $43 of booze in your gut. God, how many drunken fights have happened in that parking lot?

Waterbury is making a big effort to address issues of blight throughout the city and the renovation of this prime corner-lot on South Main Street should help transform the area with some new construction and commerce. I took a ride down to South Main Street this morning and snapped some pics of the first steps of the demolition, check them out: