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Comment by kube-system | Hacker News Reader

The popular situation in which someone would go to one of these restaurants is this:

It's 1975 in America. You're on a family road trip. It's hot, you've been driving all day, and you've got two whiny kids in the back seat. Everyone is getting hangry, and you need somewhere comfortable to pause. You want somewhere where you can sit, get something that the kids will eat without fuss, and maybe an ice cream would be nice. The obvious answer is Howard Johnson.

Drive throughs didn't exist at this time, and even if they did, you wanted to get out of the damn car anyway.

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I was one of those whiny kids, lol. Always the high point of our cross country trips in the old ‘72 Impala when my dad would get tired of driving and say “What do you kids think about hitting a HoJo’s?”

Thanks. As mentioned elsewhere, I did not know that aspect of "roadside restaurants". It makes sense as a "pit stop" kind of thing with families, and seems to fill a similar role to the big gas station+restaurant combinations you find along the Autobahn for example.

Another aspect is that if in Europe you've been driving for 8 hours, you may well have crossed a country border (or multiple), and everything is very different anyway. McDonald's again being your best bet if you want anything really predictable in that case (and you can even order without speaking the language usually).

The road-trip culture in the US has spawned all kinds of interesting business models that make little sense out of context.

My favorite example is Breezewood Pennsylvania: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breezewood,_Pennsylvania

It's a "town" that almost nobody lives in. It exists solely because of a poorly-conceived connection between two major highways. Millions of people stop to get gasoline, food, use the restroom, or stop at a hotel there just because they have to stop anyway at two stop lights. There's no reason the highways couldn't be directly connected today, but local lawmakers would never allow this because it would destroy their only economic purpose.

That said, as someone who passes through Breezewood regularly due to living relatively close by, it's been looking increasingly decrepit, well before COVID. A number of the businesses shown in the photo on Wikipedia are shuttered. I expect it's because smartphone apps make it easier to check if there's a restaurant of interest at a more logical stopping point.

That, and now, the PA turnpike is the most expensive toll road in the world.

Is it? As someone who noticed how tolls soared since the inception of the private-public partnership in lieu of Pennsylvania running it, I'm not surprised given the repeated toll increases... just hoped it wasn't the worst.

It's currently $100.20 to drive OH to NJ across the turnpike without EZ-Pass.

As I understand, the state government basically passed a law requiring the turnpike to pay the state government tons of money and now they're sucked dry for cash, and that's why the rates are skyrocketing.

> make little sense out of context

Breezewood is a spot, as you said, where two major highways intersect. As such, millions of drivers pass right through there each year. Building a few gas stations and quick-stop restaurants makes perfect sense. Nobody "lives" at the Eiffel Tower, or at Hartsfield-Jackson, or Wembley Stadium, but restaurants there sell a whole lot of food.

The amount of stuff built in Breezewood is disproportionate compared to a typical highway exit because it is one of the few pieces of uncontrolled highway in the interstate system.

Similarly populated areas with a normal highway interchange don’t look anything like Breezewood.

Much like your examples, these things are typically built proportionally to the surrounding population.

Breezewood has fascinated me for decades. I have such fond memories of the "half hour of freedom and fast food" on road trips as a kid. It's like a living reminder to just stop for no reason some times and enjoy the plainest things. One day before I die I'm going to spend a whole day there just because.

If you've never been to Little America, you haven't lived.

https://wyoming.littleamerica.com

You can drive for 8 hours in a single state in the US.

I think you are correct, seems like it was replaced by drive through sand fast food.

but with electric cars coming, perhaps with a bunch of chargers and an hour to kill these kinds of restaurants make sense again… (though many interstate rest stops now have fast food courts…)

The other thing that has changed since that time period is airline deregulation.

Plane tickets are now much, much cheaper than the cost of gas, tolls, and possible hotel stays.

Yes you nailed it. I was one of those kids in the back seat, and I loved Howard Johnson. That type of family road trip culture is much reduced now.

I second this. We only ever ate at HoJos on road trips, but the long wait for food is what I remember most. 8 hours in the car followed by an hours wait for food. I guess the consistency of the menu is what kept us coming back. Fast food is what doomed them in my mind.

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