Meanings
- USslangHoward Johnson's (the chain of fast food restaurants).
"Often on the highway, weary and wary, we spurn the unknown and cheerfully drive on for the promise of a Howard Johnson's and its familiar dèja vu. HoJo's has a warmly reassuring predictability."
1970 August 12, Gael Greene, Time Magazine, page 122 more examples
"The genius of Hojo's , of course , lies in its conscious pastiche of everything that is cozy and traditional - church spires , town halls , and cottages — to perform a thoroughly modern function."
1973, Stephen A. Kurtz, Wasteland: Building the American Dream, page 23"In the 1950s and '60s, the restaurant chain affectionately known as HoJo's was a can't-miss attraction for baby boomer kids being carted around in the car by their Greatest Generation parents. Howard Johnson’s was a pioneer of the nationwide roadside restaurant, replicating from coast-to-coast everything from its signature orange roof, cupola, the Simple Simon and the Pieman plaques, and its limited-menu food items. Howard Johnson's presaged the success of McDonald's doing the same thing."
2018, Bob Niest, “Whatever Happened to Howard Johnson's Restaurants?”, in Kiplinger
Cite this entry
HoJo's. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/HoJo's
“HoJo's.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/HoJo's. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “HoJo's,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/HoJo's.
Source: HoJo's on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.