Before Route 66 existed, before automobiles were common, before the neon signs went up along what would become America’s most famous highway, a man named Fred Harvey figured out that travelers needed to eat. He opened a chain of restaurants along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in the 1870s, and the Harvey House restaurants became famous across the American Southwest for something unexpected: quality.
The women who worked in those restaurants — waitresses hired from the eastern United States and trained to Harvey’s exacting standards — became known as Harvey Girls. They wore black uniforms with white aprons. They were required to be single. They were required to follow a code of conduct so strict that some historians have compared it to convent rules. In exchange, they received a wage, housing, and meals — a deal that seemed reasonable to many young women with limited economic options in the late nineteenth century.
By the time Route 66 was built in 1926, the Harvey Houses were already institutions in New Mexico and Arizona. Several of them sat in towns that the new highway would pass through — Albuquerque, Winslow, Needles. The roadside diner culture that Route 66 would make famous was, in many ways, built on the foundation the Harvey Girls had laid.
In 1946, MGM made a musical about them — The Harvey Girls, with Judy Garland — that was one of the top-grossing films of the year. The Harvey Girls were real. The food they served was genuinely good. In the middle of the desert, a clean restaurant with a competent waitress and a hot meal was something close to a miracle.
The road has always been fed by the people who stayed.
We are offering licences for ROUTE 66® Beer in specific territories. An invitation to others to become part of this story. To carry a piece of the road with them and to contribute to the story. We will share a percentage of royalties with Route 66 associations to keep the story alive.
The journey continues. This story is brought to you by ROUTE 66® BEER. Find us at ROUTE66BEER.COM
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