Barstow Harvey House

I thought this historical building was really worth seeing. I have always been interested in how the Harvey Girls in history helped to tame the wild frontier. I’ve read the book on them and one of my favourite musicals is «The Harvey Girls» starring Judy Garland. It was wonderful to be able to visit one of their actual buildings that is now refurbished and see some trains for that period. Donna, the docent, provided us with the history and the colorful details of what it was like to be a Harvey Girl. This certainly made the visit even more worthwhile.
Perhaps the next time I am in the area, I’m hoping that they have added a musem with furnishings, more photos, stories of that period and maybe a video that would round out the visitors experience. For right now, they can only show us the 2 large empty dining rooms that were used but there are no furnishings. I’d like to see what it would be like when guests stayed in their hotel room.

Inspired by a book called Appetite for America, I convinced my wife to accompany me on a trip out to Barstow, to see the best-​preserved Harvey House remaining in California. This turns out to be a fine day trip. For most folks, Barstow is a place to stop and get a snack and fill up on gas on the road between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The Harvey House is a piece of authentic history less than five minutes from the interstate, worth your time on that trip you want to stop and stretch your legs for more than a few minutes.
Dot his if it would excite your imagination to think of the glory days of rail transit happening there — with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe rail cars stopping right there, passengers stepping off to be whisked into the first-​class dining room and fed lobster americane and bluepoint oysters, get a fresh newspaper and a cigar, served by the legendary Harvey Girls, the ladies who civilized the West, before the half-​hour meal stop ended and they got back on board to continue to their destinations elsewhere. Everything was engineered to create a feeling of elegance, wealth, and hospitality — from the architecture of the building to the military-​grade polish on the silverware to the fresh seafood and the friendly, formal service of the ladies in the black dresses and white aprons moving with military precision to get dozens of tables served top-​grade meals, all in half an hour before the train left again.
Barstow’s Casa del Desierto was one of those places, and it still stands in good repair today. It has a gorgeous two-​storied collonade at trackside (it’s still an actively-​used Amtrak stop) and many interesting architectural touches. I’m assuming that locals are still using it because the locks are in good shape and both the interior visible through the glass and the exterior are maintained, clean, and secured. What seems likely to have been the old dining room is now some sort of civic space, used for presentations with modern carpeting, a projection screen, and other indicators of its use for things like seminars and chamber of commerce mixers.
Also in the building and on the nearby grounds are a Route 66 museum, which is interesting if cluttered, and a rail museum. The rail museum is the reason to come out of your way. There are quite a few items of interest from over a hundred years of rail operations in and around the area, from tools and computers to an extensive collection of date nails used to note the days when segments of track were laid. Of particular interest to me was the old Harvey Girl uniform — a long-​sleeved black shirt with a white apron and frock, which would be worn by the servers at the old restaurants.
The Route 66 museum had a list of house rules governing the conduct of the Harvey Girls, which when contemplated with the conservative uniform suggests that the whole experience of being a Harvey Girl would have been more than a little bit cloistered and prim: «No makeup. No flirting with the customers. No men in the dormitory, ever.» No fun for the Harvey Girls! Yet the hospitality chain had no shortage of applicants and young ladies willing to sign six-​month contracts to work ten to twelve hours a day, perform to exacting standards, and to not get married until after their terms were over. The pay must have been good and according to legend, any Harvey Girl who wanted a husband would get multiple marriage proposals.
They got them by working in places like Casa del Desierto, which even at a glance was obviously the grandest building in town, serving good food and letting their true personalities and appearances shine through.

I went to the Barstow Harvey House in Barstow, CA on 1÷16÷2015. It was my 2^nd time there. The old Santa Fe railroad station truly is a jewel of the desert. The building has not changed much from the days when the Harvey Girl’s worked here (sans Judy Garland). Wish my camera was working again.

Having seen the sign Harvey House on the California State Historical Signs for years, even decades, as I would drive between southern California and Las Vegas, I decided today was the day to investigate. What is Harvey House and why is it a California State Historical Landmark 892? The Harvey House is at the Barstow Amtrack Station. As a relic of a time gone by, there were over 80 Harvey Houses between Chicago and Los Angeles. They were train stops to allow travelers a place to sleep and something to eat. The Harvey House in Barstow was built in 1885, and rebuilt in 1906 following a fire. The building is also called Casa del Deseirto. Once with a very long and curving lunch counter, all that remains of the counter is the foundation line in the floor, and also there is a formal diner where no one under 16 was permitted and all patrons were required to dress up to code. There were hotel rooms to sleep upstairs and there is one outfitted to the era. After the Earthquake retrofit the interior is clean and empty, less a few artifacts. The guide was very helpful and knew her history. Quite Informative. After some investigation I think I need to see the Judy Garland Movie Harvey Girls to get my stories clearer about an era that we may speculate about and never really know.