Hey Blake,
I was telling a friend how I vaguely remember Johnny Carson having a restaurant in the 1970s in Metairie. Can you help jog my memory? Where was it?
In 1968, at the height of his fame as host of “The Tonight Show,” Johnny Carson lent his name to a national chain of restaurants called “Here’s Johnny’s.” According to a 1979 New York Times article, Carson served as chairman of the board for a company called Johnny’s American Inn, Inc. It was run by Gilbert Swanson Jr. and his brother, Jay, whose family company was best known for its frozen TV dinners.
The chain’s first location was in Omaha, Nebraska, near where Carson grew up and began his broadcasting career. It was billed as a gourmet hamburger sit-down restaurant, offering 12 varieties of burgers. The menu expanded to include fried chicken, fried seafood and other dishes…