The expansion of a parcel map for the El Garces rehabilitation project in Needles, Calif., was approved by the city’s planning department, reported the Needles Desert Star.
El Garces is a long-abandoned Harvey House that Alan Affeldt, the savior of La Posada in Winslow, Ariz., is working to restore. El Garces, when it is restored, will have a hotel and restaurant.
The intent of acquiring the vacant parcel is to preclude El Garces from being blocked from view and to utilize the property for parking and a green area. […]
To those Route 66 preservationists who voiced opposition to turning a portion of the historic highway into a parking lot (one block of Front Street) he responded it was necessary in order to provide the required number of parking spaces for the facility. […]
Other citizens spoke in support of the project, emphasizing the positive impact a new hotel, restaurant, transportation and visitors’ center may have on the economy of Needles.
FYI, the Front Street part is an older alignment of Route 66 that gerrymanders around the park and El Garces. Broadway is the newer, more-traveled alignment of Route 66 through Needles.
I guess I’m a little more pragmatic. I have no problem sacrificing a tiny fraction of an obscure alignment through town to save a magnificent Harvey House that predates the road. When El Garces reopens, I’ll be happy to stay there.
I agree. Being able to walk through the El Garces alone, let alone staying there would be worth a parking lot on an old alignment. Of all the ways over history that old alignments have been trashed, I can’t think of a better sacrifice for a small section of alignment. Put up a Plaque.