How many Harvey Houses are still standing? Outside of the El Tovar at the Grand Canyon, I do not believe I have ever seen any others. The website regarding this is sort of vague, unless I missed something?!? John
Speaking of which, how is the terminal restoration at Barstow coming? Are they doing a Harvey House restoration inside?
Here is a list of existing Fred Harvey Hotels that I've been able to find out about. This doesn't include the many resaurants and lunch counters: <UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>Grand Canyon, AZ - El Tovar & Hopi House <LI>Seligman, AZ - Havasu(?) <LI>Williams, AZ - Fray Marcos Hotel <LI>Winslow, AZ - La Posada <LI>Barstow, CA - Casa del Desierto <LI>Needles, CA - El Garces <LI>Colorado Springs, Co <LI>Dodge City, KS - El Vaquero <LI>Clovis, NM - La Castaneda <LI>Santa Fe, NM - La Fonda <LI>Waynoka, OK[/list] I believe most of the restoration in Barstow is done. There is a restaurant, at least one museum, the Amtrak station, and the bus station. And City Hall is supposed to move there as well. Dwight [ 14 May 2001: Message edited by: Dwightman ]
I can vouch for the excellent food and cakes they served. Of the manny trips we made Harvey House was always on my dad's list, and mine when I grew up. It didn't matter if a train came in or not, there was always room and always clean as momma's kitchen!
Thanks guys!! I had totally forgotten that the La Fonda was a Harvey House!! Watash, I would love to hear more stories about the Harvey Houses from your perspective!! Thanks again all! John
Obviously, I wasn't thinking straight yesterday. The Fred Harvey Company had an exclusive concession at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. So add Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Lodge, Yavapai Lodge, Maswik Lodge and Kachina Lodge to the list. Thunderbird Lodge, though identical to Kachina, was built after Amfac bought the Fred Harvey Company. As a side note, UP built Grand Canyon Lodge at Bright Angel Point on the North Rim. Dwight
I understand that the ATSF San Bernardino depot had a lunch counter at one time. Was it a Fred Harvey venture?
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by geoangel: I understand that the ATSF San Bernardino depot had a lunch counter at one time. Was it a Fred Harvey venture?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yep. All hotels, restaurants, lunch counters, and newsstands along the Santa Fe were operated by Fred Harvey. There were also Fred Harvey newsstands and lunch counters along the Frisco and restaurants at Chicago Union Station and Cleveland Union Terminal. What I want to know is, why Cleveland? Dwight
Interesting you should mention Frisco, Dwight There is a Harvey House lunch counter at the Frisco depot in Hugo, OK. The town was a junction of the Hope-Ardmore and Ft. Smith-Paris lines, and was a decent railroad town in its day. The depot was restored by the local historical society, and still has an operating lunch counter. The Kiamichi RR owns the trackage there now, but up to last year, you could ride an excursion train from the depot on weekends (and some special runs) to either Antlers, Boswell, or Paris.
Yeah, I saw that when I was looking for info on Harvey Houses. Turns out there were 19 (I think) along the Frisco. Not surprising since the Santa Fe owned the Frisco for a while. Dwight
I'm a HUGE La Posada (Winslow) fan having both scratchbuilt the building in N scale and having stayed there since the restoration. I'd consider that the destination of choice for any railfan going to Northern Arizona; spend some time there and also some time in Williams at the Grand Canyon Railroad - the depot at Williams was another spot. La Posada is possibly the only Harvey House out there that is coming back even more amazing than it was the first time around. Check out Trip Advisor. It's become one of the top ten hotels in the west now and is achieving world quality status. If there's a better railfan hotel in the US I don't know where it would be, and I've been in 47 states now. La Posada Hotel: Arizona's grandest estate - a National Historic Landmark On the other end of the scale - the Harvey House diner at Union Station in Kansas City - while certainly looking the part (an authentic restoration from what I could see) was NEVER open out there during the two years I was in and out of KC, and many websites show it closed. EDIT: this appears to be a legit news story concerning it with a good photo: Goodbye Harvey House? - Kansas City Restaurants and Dining - Fat City And since this is an old, old thread - I'll also update it with news that the Seligman depot was levelled, reportedly, in April 14, 2008. Here's a link for pre-demolition photos and some other good Harvey House shots: mrharleydon's photos and albums on webshots I got shots of it in 2007 when I was out there, and there are fewer lonlier places now than Seligman. When it lost is status as a division point, it was basically toast. I did hear however that a lot of material, all the furnishings, etc. were salvaged. It certainly looked that way.
