Needles, California
Many people were starting to cross the country on railroads. A man named Fred Harvey decided to build restaurants and hotels near train stations. He built one of the first restaurant chains. The El Garces Hotel in Needles was one of his most famous hotels. People thought it to be the "crown jewel" of the Harvey company. Needles was a major stop on the historic U.S. Route 66 highway from the 1920s through the 1960s. For migrants from the Midwest Dust Bowl in the 1930s, it was the first town they saw in California. Needles has many motels and other shops from that time.