HOJO Girl

In the summer of 1968, the Vietnam War raged, the Civil Rights movement spread across the land, and the sexual revolution began to impact the lives of Americans. Days after her graduation from high school, Sadie Wainwright joined the ranks of the Howard Johnson Restaurant Empire by becoming a HOJO Girl at the Golfair Howard Johnson in Jacksonville, Florida. Behind the gleaming counters of this popular eating establishment, Sadie not only worked for college money, but she also grew up—learning life lessons as a waitress, a daughter, a sister, and a friend.

HOJO Girl is Sadie’s insightful journey of into womanhood back in the turbulent year of 1968, but even with all the troubles of that time, life was often made bearable by a dish of Howard Johnson ice cream served by a HOJO Girl on a road to somewhere else.