Category:Howard Johnson's, Allentown, Pennsylvania

The Allentown Howard Johnson's restaurant opened in May 1941 at 647 Union Boulevard, by the intersection of Fenwick street.

Announced in November, 1940, the Howard Johnson's on Union Boulevard was similar in design to the standard architecture used by the chain at the time. The building was of wood frame construction, with a clock tower rising 50 feet into the air. It was painted white, and trimmed with the bright orange color the company trademarked along with porcelain enamel shingles. It had a main lunchroom with counter seating that served 58 persons, along with a wing room with a capacity of 18. One of its specialties was an ice cream menu of 22 flavors, including orange sherbet.

The restaurant was likely the first "chain" restaurant in Allentown, being one of about 150 at the time which were located from Maine to Florida. It was also probably the first "franchise" in Allentown, being owned and operated by local owners, under the Howard Johnson's corporate license. The idea was new in that day: let an operator use the name, food, supplies, and logo, in exchange for a fee. Howard D. Johnson, who started the franchise in 1935, visited Allentown later in 1941, making an appearance at the new restaurant.

With the opening of the new US 22 Thruway in 1958, the restaurant responded by selling its Union Boulevard location in December 1958, and becoming a local restaurant. The Howard Johnson franchise moved to a new location at the Airport Road intersection of the Thruway in Bethlehem. At its new location, it was expanded to be both a restaurant and a motel. That location closed in 1989, becoming a Day's Inn.

There was also a Howard Johnson's in Wescoesville, at the Allentown rest stop of the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. That opened in August 1958 and closed in 1986, being taken over by the Marriott Corporation.

Howard Johnson hotels and motels are now part of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, the Howard Johnson corporation being purchased by them in 1986. Howard Johnson's restaurants and hotels were franchised separately, but in the years that followed, they severely dwindled in number and all but disappeared by 2000.