RonnieAdventure #0095 - Harvey House, Barstow, San Bernardino County, California

When the railroads were constructed in western United States, they were lacking in nice amenities at the train stopping points. So, in 1876, Fred Harvey made a verbal agreement with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fee rail lines to construct a series of deluxe restaurants/hotels along the railroads throughout the Southwest. The facilities were called “Harvey Houses.” To staff the restaurants, he hired attractive young women between the ages of 18-and-30 that were of “good character and intelligent” for waitresses. The young women could not wear any jewelry or rouge and had to maintain spotless uniforms – white for breakfast and lunch and black and white for dinner. In the chain’s 70-year history, an estimated 100,000 young women were trained as “Harvey Girls.”

The Harvey House that was constructed in Barstow, California, (known as Casa Del Desierto) burned down three different times before the current brick structure was constructed in 1910. The restaurant and hotel are now closed, but various parts of the building are open for public viewing.

The Barstow Area Chamber of Commerce, the Route 66 Mother Road Museum, and the Western America Railroad Museum are located in the complex and the historic dining room can now be rented for meetings and receptions.   

The railroad museum contains a nice collection of railroad memorabilia, along with the Gustafson Date Nail Collection, and a special tribute to the “Harvey Girls.” They even have a three-wheeled railroad track velocipede on display.

As a child Albert Gustafson immigrated to the United States from Sweden and later went to work for the Santa Fe Railroad. While working for the railroad he started collection date nails and over the years he spent his vacations visiting other countries to expand his collection. He eventually joined a date nail collector organization, so that he had the connections to trade date nails with other collectors from distant countries. He is now considered to have the largest private date nail collection on public display in the world.

Historically, date nails were driven into railroad ties, bridge timbers, utility poles, mine props, and other wooden structures for record keeping purposes. The date nail is similar to a standard nail, except it has a large head with a date stamped into the nail’s head. Most date nails are steel, although some are copper, aluminum, malleable iron and brass. The lengths run from ¾ of an inch up to 3 inches, with shank diameters running from 1/8 inch up to 5/16 of an inch.

The Route 66 Mother Road Museum contains interesting films to watch, free information about Route 66 and the Mojave Desert, and a well-stocked gift shop. Visiting the museum is a trip back in time - not to be missed!

Outside of the Harvey House there are locomotives and rail cars on display, along with various equipment used for working on the rail lines. The rail yard is still active with numerous trains passing every hour, so if you like to watch trains, the steel-bridge overpass is a great viewing platform and a nice place to take pictures!