- Howard Johnson's Restaurant
Lake Placid NY
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The restaurant stands on the site of the former Lamb Lumber saw mill. In 1956, Frances &
Louise Brewster opened the Howard Johnson's restaurant. Since 1958 this restaurant has
been owned and operated by the Butler family.
Frances & Louise Brewster were descendants of one of the first families to settle in Lake
Placid. Their family settled on what is called table land on the Bear Cub road. They were
sisters and both were never married. They were very successful in the high end retail dress
business. They had a dress shop in Palm Beach on Worth Avenue that was open during the
winter season and the dress shop in Lake Placid that was open in the summer season. In the
winter of 1954 they were at a cocktail party on a yacht in Palm Beach where Howard Johnson
Sr. was also attending. In conversations with Howard Johnson they expressed to him that
they would love to have a Howard Johnson restaurant in Lake Placid. He said lets make a
deal. So in the winter of 1955-1956 this restaurant was built at its current location. They built it
as a 100 seat restaurant. Howard Johnson created franchising when he started the Howard
Johnson company in 1925
Ron Butler was hired on the phone by Louise to be the assistant manager in the winter
1955-1956. Before the restaurant opened Ron was sent for a seven day training period to the
Howard Johnson Restaurant in North Oxford MA. Even though he had spent a lot of time
working in other restaurants and cooking in the US Army. He was really not prepared to
perform this duty but every day brought new experiences. The restaurant opened on
Thursday May 17th, 1956. . When Ron was hired he assumed the restaurant would be opened
year round. But these were the days before Whiteface,which did not open until 1958 so that is
why in mid-October the Brewster sisters decided to close the restaurant until May 1957. They
assured Ron and his wife Jeannine that they would have a job with the Howard Johnson
company. The Howard Johnson supervisor at the time Bill Pendergast, told them to be at mile
57 on the Maine Turnpike, 17 miles north of Portland to be the assistant manager at that
restaurant. At the end of March he was sent to Rochester NY to be on the opening team of a
new Hojo restaurant there. In early May Ron returned to Lake Placid as manager of the
Howard Johnson restaurant having been assured this time that the restaurant would remain
open year round. In those days, winter in Lake Placid is nothing like it is today. There was
very few busy days in the winter which resulted in a very limited number of staff. Many days
the restaurant was run by Ron as the cook & dishwasher and his wife Jeannine along with
Don Benjamin, his former roommate at Paul Smiths college. In the summer of 1958 the
Brewster sisters and their nephew Bill Madden decided to sell the restaurant. There was
numerous people looking to purchase it from them. So one day Ron said to Bill Madden that
he and Jeannine would like to buy the restaurant from them. Ron and Jeannine had $10,000
in cash that they used as a down payment to acquire the restaurant from the Brewster sisters
and Bill. The remaining balance of the selling price was held by them. The transfer was
completed on September 1st, 1958. The monthly mortgage payment that the Butlers had to
pay was $934.00. They managed to pay off the mortgage by August of 1967. In the meantime
they had added another room at the restaurant seating 44 people in 1963. To this day this
room is called the Lamp Lighter room. In the winter of 1966-1967 they added what is called the
Loft on the back of the restaurant which added another 66 seats bringing the total the
restaurant could seat now to 210 people. During this period in the summer time the restaurant
had a standing line everyday for breakfast, lunch and dinner and was open from 7am until
midnight everyday. Needless to say during this period there were far fewer restaurant then
there are today. For example, McDonalds did not exist until 1973. Today there are 70+
restaurants in the Lake Placid area along with 5 convenience stores and one major
supermarket.
In the winter of 1975-76 the Butler family constructed the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge next
door to the restaurant . The Motor Lodge opened on July 1st 1976.
From the early 1960s to the early 90's the sales at the restaurant continued to increase.
The 1980 Winter Olympics was a great year with ABC television taking most of the rooms at
the motor lodge and eating their meals at the restaurant. This lasted for approx. 7 months.
During the Olympics the restaurant was opening 24 hours a day. The NYS Health Dept. made
a visit everyday during the Olympics. During the lunch and dinner we had 5 cooks on each
shift and 2 prep cooks. On the all night shift, 11pm to 6am we had 2 cooks and sometimes 3.
Personally I had the privilege to see the USA Hockey games against Finland, Germany,
Sweden, the Czechs, and the Miracle on Ice against the USSR. We also had the privilege to be
at the opening and closing ceremonies as well as many of the award presentations. Our home
was like a hotel during the Olympics. We hosted some relatives as well as the translator for the
Finland team, his wife and his father-in-law. There was also another couple that came by
TrailWays Bus from Florida. During the Olympics the restaurants was also the Trailways Bus
stop. This couple got off the bus and certainly they were not prepared for winter in Lake
Placid. They had no place to stay. So I took them home and introduced them to my wife
Jeannine and they slept in the living room along with Jeannine's niece and her husband. The
couple was with us for several days and we did outfit them for the winter weather. Needless to
say, Jeannine fed everyone before attending the events each evening. This couple before
they left to go back to Florida presented Jeannine and I with a complete set of hand cut
Germany glassware which included a dozen of each highballs, water, wine, beer, and Cordial
glasses. What a great gift this was. At our house on Lake Placid, Mr. and Mrs. Henry and sons
were our guests. Mrs. Henry is Howard Johnson Juniors sister. I had purchased them tickets
for the events and she informed me after going to a couple of the events to give the balance of
the tickets to our employees and that they would watch it on tv. When that family left the
house on the Lake it was then occupied by the ambassador of Finland. Who when he
departed, left us several cases of Finland's vodka.
Some highlights of the Olympics were the party we hosted for Herb Brooks US Olympic
hockey team and the Czech after their game against each other. As I remember we served
Roast Pork and many bottles of beer. We also did alot of catering, one of the parties we did
was for the East Germany Olympic team. The East German's were the only ones that paid
cash( US dollars) for their party. Every other group said bill me or they gave us a credit card.
Rolfe Schulte was the lead chef for the East Germany party. As i remember we had all kinds of
wursts, German salads, including Herring and smoked eel. On my birthday February 21st
1980, the team from Finland invited myself and family to have lunch with them at the Olympic
village. This was a great event. This facility after the Olympics became a federal prison which
is still operating today. Some infamous people who have residing there since include the
Texas Chainsaw murder, and both John Gotti Sr. and Jr.
more to come...stayed tuned
