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The space above the restaurant housed The Gaiety, a strip club, for 30 years. According to Traub's book, he has been looking to unload the property for some time, but was waiting for the right price. (Years ago, however, Gene Hackman worked as a maitre'd and Lily Tomlin was a waitress.) Rubinstein is a member of an old New York real estate family. Howard Johnson's is rarely frequented by the show people who work and live in the neighborhood. However, they have also managed to draw a loyal following among theatre professionals. Other old-time food emporiums like The Edison Cafe and McHale's have managed to hang on, in part because they do business on less prominent pieces of real estate. government scientists have told Boris Johnson in direct terms that he has to keep secondary schools closed in January and potentially order a stricter national lockdown than the one he implemented in November to prevent coronavirus infections from spiraling out of control. The bar at the end of the place, with its sign encouraging patrons to order "a decanter of Manhattan, Martini or Daiquiri," is often deserted during the well advertised "happy hour." On any given night, the brown faux-leather booths sport only a smattering of patrons. In recent years, however, the crowds have died down. In the '80s and '90s, the diner was still a viable enterprise, taking in tourist group after tourist group, who were attracted by the low prices and ample seating. In his recent book "The Devil's Playground," James Traub described how people would line up down the street to sample the trademark fried clams and ice cream. The restaurants-one of the first to be franchised nationwide- teemed with locals and tourists alike, and matched the homely qualities of other eating destinations of the era, such as Lindy's. In the years following World War II, Times Square boasted not one, but three Howard Johnson's eateries (including one directly across the way, on Seventh Avenue). Hotel/Motel Distance Star Rating Recent Rates. Arrival Date Departure Date Adults Children Search Radius Get Rates Johnson Shut-ins - Nearby Hotels & Motels.
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Hotels Near Johnson Shut-ins - Get Current Rates & Check Availability. Increasingly, the venerable old institution looked like an anachronism. Johnson Shut-ins nearby hotel search is centered on latitude 37.5394 & longitude -90.8381. But the real estate revival of the late 1990s saw it dwarfed by glass towers and glossy stores like Toys 'R' Us and the Virgin Megastore. Its squat dimensions once fit in nicely with the low-scale, slightly down-at-heel architecture that for a long time characterized the area. The Howard Johnson's was built in 1955 and is the oldest, continually operated business facing directly on Times Square. Sutton plans to flatten the four-story edifice and replace it with a gleaming new retail outlet. The restaurant and the land it sits on, a prime site on the northwest corner of 46th Street and Broadway, was recently sold for "more than $100 million" by longtime owner Kenneth Rubinstein to Jeff Sutton's Wharton Acquisitions.
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