Stopping in Barstow for a bathroom/coffee break, we saw brown "Historical Landmark" signs pointing the way to the "Historic Harvey House". Tim and I have loved the old musical The Harvey Girls starring Judy Garland and John Hodiak since we were kids so we were curious to see a real, honest-to-goodness Harvey House. Fred Harvey was an entrepreneur who, in the late 1800's, established a series of hotels, restaurants, lunchrooms and gift shops in conjunction with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. His establishments greeted debarking passengers at junctions from Kansas City to Los Angeles. (One of his primary architects was a woman, Mary Colter, who revolutionized southwestern architecture and design by integrating Hopi elements and motifs into the interiors and exteriors of her buildings. One of her last projects, the restaurant at Union Station in Los Angeles, can be seen there today. http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/architecture/0011.colter.html )
The Casa Del Desierto opened in 1911 and closed in 1971. A typical of Harvey establishment, it fronted the railroad and so customers could immediately check into rooms and get something to eat.
The interior is illuminated by striking beaten-copper electric sconces and chandeliers. (This particular building was designed by Francis W. Wilson, an architect primarily known for his work in and around Santa Barbara.)
The lunchroom with its copper chandelier and copper air vent. Originally, this room had the typical circular Harvey lunch counter. There were no private tables. In the oval central space created by the counter were two kitchen counter tops where meals were prepared and served by the famed Harvey Girls in their neat uniforms, white for breakfast and lunch, black for dinner.
If you wanted to come west and find your fortune by starting your life as a Harvey Girl, you had to be between the ages of 18 and 30 and conform to these rules:
-Must be single the length of the contract
-Must live in the dorm on site
-Must have a manicure once a week
-Must never have a man in the dorms
-Must keep uniforms spotless
-Orange juice must be freshly squeezed
-Must keep dorms dusted
-Must obey 10 pm curfew
-Must not wear any makeup
-No jewelry
-All silver must be polished continually
-Mandatory hair nets
-Never talk to patrons
-Coffee must be fresh
-Napkins must be precisely folded
-Places must be precisely set
-Must be courteous to patrons always
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| Rules or no, Judy and her friends made it look fun. |
And all this time I thought it was the coppers who did the beatings.
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