I used to love HoJo's. I would often take out-of-town visitors to the one in Times Square. So many memories...

Digressing from restaurants for a moment…. anybody else miss Bell Brand Corn Chips. They were soooo much better than Fritos - and there was a bell shaped chip in each bag!

Oh man, in 1984, my family spent 6 weeks touring the east coast, starting in New Hampshire and working our way by auto down to Virginia. We stayed at HoJo's probably 80% of the time. I don't believe I've ever set foot in a HoJo's again.

OMG we were somewhere recently (the last few months) and there was a Sambos! I can't remember where, but I grabbed the business card (can't find it right now) because I couldn't believe they were still around. I think it was Kentucky. Didn't they all turn into Denny's? I just remember the one we went as kids to had a beautiful mural on the wall.

The murals were always wonderful. I think I still have a childhood copy of "Little Black Sambo" somewhere. My mother LOVED that book.

Are you forgetting MouseAdventure?

The only Sambo's restaurant that was part of the original chain is in Santa Barbera. There are Sambo or similarly named restaurants elsewhere but apparently none of them were ever part of the chain (for example, Li'l Sambo's in Lincoln Beach, Oregon).

But if there's someone out there running an illicit Sambo's that would be cool.

My coolest memory of Sambo's (I think I've shared this before) was at the one in Newport Beach, Oregon. We were in there during a rainstorm and it was a decent one. But we were right on theedge of it. Big front wall of windows for the restaurant and halfway down the building it went from heavy rain to no rain at all in a very steady line.

The local Sambo's in our home town was turned into a Burgerville.

Speaking of Sambos, I just came across this history of racially stereotyped "spokespeople".

I'd read that yesterday. And in it Sambo's is the only one where I still shake my head trying to see the racial insentivity.

I see nothing wrong with that representation of Sambo. Looks like something you'd fine on Small World.

That would be Naugas:




(My Hairdresser collects them)