family restaurants Archives

Howard Johnson’s counter at 6123 Market St. From Howard Johnson’s *Scoop* Anniversary Issue 1955 p. 13

Remember the distinctive orange roofs of Howard Johnson’s restaurants? Clam strips? The Ho-Jo’s 3-D cheeseburger? Twenty-eight flavors of ice cream? This week, the last Howard Johnson’s restaurant in the country, in Lake George, New York in the Adirondack region, closed its doors. Looking for a business opportunity. The 7500 square foot property is listed for the astronomical price of $10 (not a typo)!

The restaurant on Market Street in Youngstown opened in 1951 and was owned by Harry G. Barmeier. I remember times in high school and college meeting up with friends at the Market Street restaurant. At one time, they also had restaurants that I know of on Belmont Avenue, with an attached hotel, and in Austintown, as well as on Route 422 in the Niles area. Some of these were eventually purchased by other restaurants. I don’t know when Howard Johnson’s ceased in Youngstown, but I would guess during the 1980’s when a number of businesses closed in the wake of mill closures and competition.

My favorite memories of Howard Johnson’s were on trips I took with my grandparents on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. At one time, Howard Johnson’s had the rights to operate restaurants at the rest stops on the Turnpike (I believe that was also the case on the Ohio Turnpike at one time). I remember climbing into their padded booths, opening what looked like a gigantic menu with a gazillion choices. Many times, I would order the cheeseburger plate with a pile of fries and coleslaw. According to a 1964 menu, that would have cost $.85. I found Sometimes I would try the clam strips, which we would never have at home, dipping them in clam sauce. A side of these cost $.75. My grandfather loved to get the clam chowder, a bowl costing $.45. Then you could finish off the dinner choosing one of the twenty-eight flavors of ice cream, a serving costing just a quarter.

The chain’s heyday was the 1950’s and 1960’s when they eventually operated over one thousand restaurants, including the Ground Round brand. They were one of the first to pioneer the idea of a standard menu you could count on coast to coast. Then other national chains arose, from fast food places like McDonalds to sit down family restaurants like Denney’s, Friendly’s, Applebee’s, and others. Howard Johnson’s failed to update its menus.

The Howard Johnson’s name is still alive as part of the Wyndham Hotel chain. About 300 motor lodges, inns and hotels still bear the Howard Johnson name. The news of the closing of the last HoJo’s restaurant brought back those rich childhood memories. What were your memories of Howard Johnson’s?

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

For a change, I’m not writing about a childhood memory of growing up in Youngstown, but one that I didn’t discover until adulthood, even though it has been around longer than I have. I first heard of Kravitz Deli when my dad mentioned meeting some of his buddies there for lunch every month. My dad used to make good Reuben sandwiches, and he enjoyed eating them as well.

Later on, I learned that Kravitz had a new location in the Poland Library. Occasionally, I combined trips to Youngstown with meet ups with team members I work with in Pittsburgh. Kravitz was always the perfect meeting break and ranked at the top of deli food for all of us.

This past weekend, we were back in Youngstown, and before an afternoon visit to the Butler, we stopped in at Kravitz Belmont Avenue location. In honor of my dad (and because Reubens are a kind of family obsession) I ordered a Reuben and potato salad. It tasted as good as it looked! Here is the picture I texted to my son who loves Reubens and was in Gatlinburg at the time:

Kravitz Deli is 80 years old this year, one of the few family restaurants in the Youngstown area to last that long. Rose and Herbert Kravitz started the Elm Street Delicatessen in 1939 at 1507 Elm Street. Eventually, they moved further north on Elm Street, next to Crandall Park, into a building with an apartment above, where the family lived.

By the late 1960’s, the Elm Street area population was changing. With the growth of Youngstown State, Elm Street was blocked off by the campus, hindering traffic from the downtown. Liberty Plaza at the time was a huge shopping magnet on the far north side, in Liberty Township, and so they closed at the Elm Street location and re-opened at 3135 Belmont Avenue, in Liberty Township in 1970 as Kravitz Deli, the restaurant we ate at last weekend.

Rose Kravitz and her son ran the restaurant until her death in 2011. When a local reporter asked her the secret of her success over the years, she boiled it down to this: “If you can’t make it working 40 hours a week, work 60.” Until she was 85, she worked seven days a week, until family convinced her to cut back to six. She kept working until six weeks of her death. Two years earlier, Metro Monthly filmed a video interview and feature on the restaurant featuring both Jack and Rose.

While certain aspects of Kravitz Deli, such as the floor and fixtures they inherited from Isaly’s when they moved in, they have continued to innovate to grow their business, even when the city and its Jewish population both declined. Interestingly enough, St. Patrick’s Day is the biggest business day, as hundreds of people come in for the Deli’s signature corned beef sandwiches. In recent years they have hosted events to celebrate Polish Fat Tuesday, Rose Kravitz birthday, and Easter and Mother’s Day Brunches. They’ve added a big screen TV in the back room for watch parties and opened up the main room to easily accommodate larger group events. The menu has expanded from Kosher Jewish offerings to Mediterranean and vegetarian items. Harking back to the old 20th Century restaurant down the street, they offer a spinning bowl salad.

They also tried to branch out into several related businesses that flourished for a time before closing. In the 1990’s, they started a wholesale bagel business that last for fifteen years. They also opened a store at the Poland Library that lasted for eight years and a brief effort at Canfield Library. In 2016, they opened the Garden Cafe at the Davis Center at Fellows Gardens, which we saw when we visited there. Right now this location along with the Belmont Avenue location and their Inspired Catering business are their main operations. They have ongoing catering relationships with Stambaugh Auditorium, the Tyler History Center, and the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County., among others.

It is an amazing accomplishment to sustain a family business for 80 years, even more in a changing community. I hope Kravitz Deli finds some great ways to celebrate, no doubt with corned beef, and that they enjoy many more years in the Valley