# Mad-Men: 5.06 "Far Away Places" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2012, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647 "2012-04-23T01:00:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/101 "2012-04-24T17:27:09Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > At first I found it odd that Don was so excited by Howard Johnsons…even back then they were just a gaudy diner with ice cream that was so-so and a place people stopped to visit on the way from point A to point B. Kids thought it was cool - and then I realized, Don was sort of re-living the childhood he wished he had had - staying where there is an indoor pool and lots of ice cream… It was also a weird bookend to the time that Don went to the Hilton in Rome with Betty and they also rolled out the carpet, but that time the carpet was red, not orange, and it was Rome, not a crappy HoJos on the side of the highway. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/102 "2012-04-24T17:45:34Z")
Which reminds me – What kind of action did Roger think he was going to get at a Howard Johnson? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/103 "2012-04-24T18:03:23Z")
Not to get all pedantic, but what’s with the hyphen in the thread title every week? ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/104 "2012-04-24T18:05:07Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Not to get all pedantic, but what’s with the hyphen in the thread title every week? Just a guess, as I’m not the OP, but it might help with searching because of the inability to search for 3-letter words. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/105 "2012-04-24T18:05:12Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Not to get all pedantic, but what’s with the hyphen in the thread title every week? It’s to make the threads searchable in the board’s system, which won’t search on three-letter terms. No longer essential now that you can google search the boards, but still thoughtful. This ep didn’t do much for me–the musical Stoli bottle was the best part. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/106 "2012-04-24T18:10:07Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Time has already told. That’s what this episode was about. Not so much in my opinion but to each their own. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/107 "2012-04-24T18:23:05Z")
[QUOTE=ascenray] Howard Johnson’s was one of the few places that had dozens of different flavors of ice cream. [/QUOTE] The joke was that “at Howard Johnson’s, the ice cream comes in 28 flavors and the food comes in one.” Actually, they had very good frozen chicken croquettes. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/108 "2012-04-24T18:35:59Z")
And they essentially invented the modern Family Dining Restaurant - you know, Olive Rubybees. They figured out that if you took the bellies out of clams they’d travel better, so you could provide the same experience in Miami and Omaha. ---
**Author:** ![LegendHasit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/legendhasit/32/8246_2.png) [@LegendHasit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LegendHasit)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/109 "2012-04-24T18:49:07Z")
Thanks for the iTunes recommendations! ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/110 "2012-04-24T18:59:45Z")
can anyone identify the music playing from the vodka bottle? ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/111 "2012-04-24T20:39:42Z")
We took a lot of driving vacations when I was a kid- early 1970’s and on. We would occasionally stop at a HoJo’s for a meal if there was nothing else around, but they were consistently bad, and that included the waitstaff. My parents used to joke that they must have sent every waitress trainee to crabbiness school because regardless of where we were in the country, they were uniformly surly, slow and unapologetic. And we’d never stay in one- we were meant for the finer things in life, like Holiday Inn. 😉 We’d always shout “Howard Johnson’s!” if we passed one, in a usually-failed attempt to get my parents to stop, but only because they served ice cream. Plus, we got a kick out of the nickname “HoJo”. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/112 "2012-04-25T00:03:31Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > A question from somebody who’s never used LSD but has always been curious: do things like the musical liquor bottle or the 1919 World Series actually happen? I know it causes hallucinations, but those are just so vivid and dreamlike. No, they don’t. Maybe on mushrooms (MAYBE!), but not on LSD. The cigarette thing happens though. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/113 "2012-04-25T03:27:52Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > …I thought the whole HoJo scene was meant to be a callback to when Don decided to ask Megan to marry him when they had the kids at Disneyland in a diner and Sally spilled a milkshake and Megan didn’t pull a Betty freakout. Yeah, I think it was highlighting that Megan is a very different person than Betty, and not all the difference work out in Don’s favour. > [@Acsenray](#): > > …No, Don never meant to go to Montreal. Seeing that it was close to Montreal just gave him the idea of taking Megan. When Megan suggested going to Montreal, Don reminded her that her parents were going to visit soon… Which raises the question; why did Don use Plattsburgh’s closeness to Montreal as a selling point in the first place? :dubious: > [@Zsofia](#): > > And they essentially invented the modern Family Dining Restaurant - you know, Olive Rubybees. They figured out that if you took the bellies out of clams they’d travel better, so you could provide the same experience in Miami and Omaha. I was wondering why the hell they were excited about the clams. Who goes to Upstate New York for _clams_? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/114 "2012-04-25T03:33:10Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Which raises the question; why did Don use Plattsburgh’s closeness to Montreal as a selling point in the first place? :dubious: I don’t think he did. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/115 "2012-04-25T03:56:59Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > And they essentially invented the modern Family Dining Restaurant - you know, Olive Rubybees. They figured out that if you took the bellies out of clams they’d travel better, so you could provide the same experience in Miami and Omaha. From reading the history of Howard Johnson’s on Wikipedia, they were apparently famous for their fried clams. Also, a few years prior to the events in this show, they hired Pierre Franey and Jacques Pepin away from a high-end French restaurant to develop recipes for the restaurants. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/116 "2012-04-25T04:18:36Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > I was wondering why the hell they were excited about the clams. Who goes to Upstate New York for _clams_? :eek: For the same reason people go to the Iowa state fair for [deep-fried butter](http://eater.com/archives/2011/08/10/a-whole-stick-of-fried-butter-on-a-stick-at-the-iowa-state-fair.php). Deep-fried breaded fat is ridiculously delicious in any format. Believe it or not, fried clams were kind of a delicacy in those days. Not an expensive French restaurant kind of delicacy but one for ordinary folks. All over the northeast rust belt, cities had huge Catholic populations and in those pre-Vatican II days they were forbidden from eating meat on Fridays. So in every city fish stands opened on Fridays to process fried fish (always Haddock in our area but cod and other varieties elsewhere) and more expensive accompaniments like fried clams and fried shrimp. Acolytes battled over the holiness of bread crusting vs beer battering. Dinners came with fantastic french fries and a cole slaw that still is the gold standard that I downgrade all others by. Restaurants couldn’t function without their Friday only fried fish nights, but getting takeout from these neighborhood stores was cheaper and wildly popular among every ethnic group, not just Catholics. The smell of the cooking oil pervaded the air and drew you in from a mile away. The goods were served in paper bags that developed huge grease spots by the time you got them home. Nine million calories later, you popped one last cold fry into your mouth and wished for next Friday to hurry around. Getting fried clams on a non-Friday night would have seemed special to everyone involved. Getting them at will anytime by going to a HoJo was like taking a kid to a ballpark. Yum. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/117 "2012-04-25T04:25:27Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > No, they don’t. Maybe on mushrooms (MAYBE!), but not on LSD. > > The cigarette thing happens though. A er friend of a friend who was a big druggie says while LSD and shrooms might cause visual and auditory distortions and synesthesia the only drug they have ever taken that could cause full blown suddenly in the middle of a lucid dream delusions would be the dissociatives like ketamine and DXM, and even then it is while your eyes are closed. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/118 "2012-04-25T04:35:50Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > I was wondering why the hell they were excited about the clams. Who goes to Upstate New York for _clams_? :eek: Before my time, they used to be good. Fried clams with the bellies is an northeast coast staple the same way BBQ is in the south. Now most places have those frozen godawful rubbery little clam strips (no belly). Wikipedia has info on when HoJo switched to clam strips, but no date. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/119 "2012-04-25T05:34:13Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > can anyone identify the music playing from the vodka bottle? I think it was the Russian national anthem. ---
**Author:** ![jellyblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@jellyblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jellyblue)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647/120 "2012-04-25T05:49:48Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I think it was the Russian national anthem. God, I hope you’re right because that’s hilarious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-06-far-away-places-open-spoilers/619647.md?page=7)