As part of a remodel that highlights its mid-century roots, Howard Johnson Anaheim has unveiled a new suite that pays homage to a long-gone Disneyland attraction.
If you went to Disneyland between 1957 and 1967, you might have visited the Monsanto House of the Future. The walkthrough attraction exhibited the kind of home modern science would eventually build for us all, with a heavy emphasis on the versatility and utility of thatmiracle substance known as plastic.
The House of the Future was consigned to the past over a decade before I was born, so I never got to experience it myself. As soon as I first learned about it, though, I wished I could’ve seen it.
That’s never going to happen, but this might be the next best thing. Howard Johnson Anaheim Hotel and Water Playground has opened the “House of the Retro Future” Suite, a new suite that aims to capture the style and spirit of the Monsanto House of the Future. It definitely looks the part, with mid-century furniture and design accents, and an in-room record player to listen to Space Age Bachelor Pad classics the way they were meant to be heard.
The hotel’s commitment to bringing back the past extends beyond this one suite, though. Every room features similar touches from the ‘50s and ‘60s, and the Garden Pool has also undergone a mid-century makeover. As a legitimate mid-century building constructed in 1965 , the Howard Johnson Anaheim is embracing its history and the one-of-a-kind style that made California the architectural and design standard for America in the ‘60s.
I am absolutely a sucker for this kind of thing , and there’s no better place to put a stylish, retro cool hotel like this than across the street from Disneyland. Disney itself added a bit of mid-century flair to its Disneyland Hotel about a decade ago, but nothing as thorough or evocative as what Howard Johnson seems to have done.