Known for its record-breaking heat, Needles got its start as a railroad outpost in the desert. Now, it's also an Interstate outpost along I-40. I don't particularly recommend staying more than an hour, but here's some advice if you do.

Coffee: There's an oil-change place, On-Site Oil Lube & Latte, that also serves coffee drinks (1714 W Broadway St). I prefer the Wagon Wheel, though (below).
Food: The Wagon Wheel is on Rt. 66 (the west side of town), it's bad diner food served with a bit of wit, and there's really nothing else around. Mudshark Pizza downtown is another alternative.
Nature: There's a small park along the Colorado River, which makes a nice place to go swimming as long as you don't get run over by the powerboats and jet skis cruising down this little strip. Other than that, you have your typical wasteland to tromp around, with strange dead lizardlike animals and half-burnt tires, etc.
Other Things to Do: Go to the library and escape the heat, walk around the creepy old train station ruins, take pictures of Route 66 architecture in decay.
Nearby: Laughlin, Nevada is about 40 minutes north; it's a little Las Vegas clone-in-training, very provincial, don't go to the dinner buffet at the Ramada even if the $5.99 price sounds good. The nearest town of size is Lake Havasu City, Arizona, 35 minutes southeast, very weird. It's like a local resort of no consequence, with this whole river-party-powerboat-culture, beefy people on their speedboats blaring rap and pretending that they've found It, they are now in the rap video of their dreams, when they're really in some weird desert town. But the lake is fine to swim in, and they've imported the London Bridge, for whatever reason. You can sit under the London Bridge and rest your hand on the stone like some beggar did 200 years ago and pretend that you're in London.

field notes: needles, california / 29 August 2005

For the past week, I have been in Needles, California.
Needles is a desert outpost along I-40 near the Arizona border.
It is an iceberg lettuce kind of town, Route 66 style, and when you step outside, your skin starts to burn.
109 degrees. Mean jagged mountains, thorns, even the cacti are withered here.

So. I walk across 66 to the diner every morning and drink terrible coffee to get through the day. The coffee looks grey when I pour milk in it, but that might just be the light. To be outside is to be blinded. Petrol is 3.39 a gallon.

I was washing my laundry (well, the machine was), and the man who was before me warned me that the dryer took two hours to dry his clothes.
I said, it's 109 degrees outside.
If you hung them up they'd probably be dry in minutes.
Oh yeah, he said, I guess I could just hang them out on the balcony.
This is why I am so insistent on writing about oil. People have no concept of energy -- the cost. They will, though. I will put aside my frustration and be gentle about this.

idea:

I have a concept for a video
a yoga video
filmed in Needles California
Survival yoga. Involving whatever props are around. Ocean-breath in the desert. Serene music with occasional industrial noises & riots in the background.

back to the California Guide / back to the map