Essex

Index to this page

• About Essex
• Weather
• Hotels
• Map of US 66 through Essex
• What to see and do

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About Essex, California

Facts, Trivia and useful information

Elevation 1,732 ft (528 m). Population (2005) 89 (2005).
Time zone changes as you cross the California - Arizona state line. Time zone: Pacific (MST): UTC minus 8 hours. Summer (DST) PDT (UTC-7).

Essex is a tiny unincorporated community located in western San Bernardino County, in southeastern California.

Waside Cafe in Essex CA

History

Visit our Needles web page to learn about the early history of this area.

In 1884, the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad (at that time named Atlantic and Pacific Railroad), succeded in buying the tracks of a competitor from Needles to Barstow, linking its main line with Los Angeles shortly after.

Essex was, for many years a small station, and it was named in an odd manner: all the stations east of Amboy up to Needles were named following an alphabetical order from west to east (however there were exceptions: the small sidings between those stations, shown below between brackets)

Amboy, (Saltus), (Altura), Bristol, Cadiz, (Siam), Danby, (Arimo), Essex, Fenner, (Piute), Goffs, Homer, (Bannock), Ibis, (Klinefelter), Java, Khartoum.

Things changed in the early 1910s when a new highway linking Los Angeles with New York, the National Old Trails Highway (N.O.T.) was built following the railroad and passed through Essex.

The road was a sandy one, unpaved crossed by washes during the rainy season. In 1915 the road by Essex was described as having "light sand" (in those days Essex offered no services to the traveller). This first roadbed was located to the west of the modern alignment, and in the early 1920s it was realigned near the tracks.

Route 66 was created in 1926 and it incorporated the old N.O.T. road in its alignment. In 1931 it was improved and shortened. The new road, which was wider and also had been paved, took a shorter alignment eastwards towards Needles. The older road, towards Fenner and Goffs, became known as Goffs Road and both those villages declined as traffic vanished.

However I-40 would in turn bypass Essex in the 1969s, and now it can be reached from the interstate at Exits 107 or 100 (head south) -check for road closures before visiting.

Where to Stay: Find your Hotel near Essex

There are plenty of accommodation options on Route 66 in neighboring Needles so you won't have difficulty to book your room in that city:

> > Book your Hotel in Needles

More Lodging Near Essex along Route 66

Below you will find a list some of the towns along Route 66 east and west of Essex; click on any of the links to find your hotel in these towns.

Book your hotel in neighboring Needles:

The weather in Essex

Location of Essex on Route 66

Essex is located in the Mojave Desert and has a "Subtropical desert climate" that is dry and hot, with strong thunderstorms during the summer monsoon season.

Summer average high (Jul) 109.4°F (43°C) and average low 78.8°F (26°C). During winter, the average high (Jan) is 68°F (20°C) and the average low 42.8°F (6°C).

Little rain falls in Essex, barely 6.8 in. (173 mm) per year. There are some 25 rainy days per year. April to July is the dryest period. Snow is very uncommon.

Tornado risk

Essex is well to the west of the Rocky Montains so there is virtually zero risk of any tornados in the area.

Tornado Risk: read more about Tornado Risk along Route66.

Extreme Heat and Dehydration Warning

During summer make sure you stay hydrated. The hot and dry desert climate can dehydrate you quickly. Drink plenty of water and dress for the heat.

Read more how to keep healthy in hot temperatures.

Map U.S. 66 in Essex

The first alignment of Route 66 in 1926

The first highway was an Auto trails one, built in the 1910s, a dirt track. Map below. Essex appears in it but it is named "Edson"!

1927 Road map, western CA
Click on image to enlarge.
Credits

1926 Road map, western CA
Click on image to enlarge.
Credits

The map above (from 1926) -click on thumbnail to see large size map- shows the Highway as U.S. 60! Read why Route 66 was almost named Route 60.
This map is the first to show the alignment of a U.S. highway in Western California.

Driving westwards along the 1926 to 1931 US 66 from Fenner at I-40 is not possible as there is currently a gap due to a road closure by the DOT from Exit 107 all the way to the junction with the N.O.T. Highway north of Essex (green line in our custom map).

The 1931 alignment of Route 66

In the early 1930s, route 66 was realigned, shortening it and paving it, improving bridges and shoulders. The Needles to Essex section was no exception.

A shorter alignment six miles south of Goffs was built across the Piute Mountains. It had a steeper grade than the older road, but cut off 8 miles from the original 1926 alignment.
The new road opened on Dec. 4, 1931, and Goffs was bypassed.

It followed the earlier road up to Klinefelter Spring, and then headed straight west, passing through Mountain Spring Camp. It met the 1926 alignment 3 mi. south of Fenner and 2 mi. north of Essex.

See the 1931 - 1960s Route 66 map from Needles to Essex. Its first section to I-40's exit 115 is overlaid by the Freeway.

This was the road used by Rittenhouse in 1946, who describes it in his Guidebook as follows: the road went along the west bank of the Colorado River and then turned west towards the mountains, crossing them 20 mi. from Needles via the South Pass (2,650 ft.) (here was a gas station there).

Kelso Dunes in Mohave Preserve CA. Credits

1940s Roadtrip adventures

Ten miles west of the pass, Route 66 reached Mountain Springs (now gone) with gas, lunchroom, cabins and a garage. Surprisingly Water had to be paid for unless you loaded gas!

The road then dropped down towards the Mojave Desert and, 44 miles from Needles, it reached Essex with 55 residents, gasoline, diner, small grocery and a post office.

Road Closures

Updated July 4 2023

Since 2017 Route 66 has been closed west of Fenner all the way to Essex and from there, to Danby and all the way to Chambless. There is complete information, with maps at the San Bernardino County Road Closed web page.

West of Chambless US66 is cut at Apparently Essex Rd. from Essex to I-40's exit 100 is open, so you can go along it, take I-40 westbound and then reach Chambless or Amboy and retake Route 66 has a partial cut on westbound lanes at Kelbaker Rd. But you can reach Chambless from Exit 78.

Westwards from Essex to Danby to Amboy

As mentioned above, the old highway 66 is cut and closed to traffic between Essex and Chambless, this includes Danby, the blue line in our map marks this segment.

Getting to Goffs

You can reach the town driving along old Route 66 or I-40 at Exit 107, and also from Las Vegas, Nevada, along US 95.

Essex, its US 66 landmarks: What to Do, Places to See

Small Town on Route 66 in the Mojave

Historic context, the classic Route 66 in Essex

In 1946 Jack DeVere Rittenhouse drove along US 66 researching for his "Guide Book to Highway 66". His comments give us a good idea of what it was like to drive along the Mother Road in those days.

Rittenhouse describes it as follows:

... gas; lunchroom; small grocery; post office. Like so many of the small places along US 66 through the Mojave Desert, Essex chiefly serves the needs of the tourists. Rittenhouse (1946)

Reaching Essex: Due to road closures old 1926-31 US 66 is closed, so you can try the route shown in this map. If you are driving from Needles along I-40 you can also try the itineraty shown in this map, along the 1931-60s Route 66.

You will reach the village along Route 66 which runs parallel to the railroad (which is 820 ft. east of US66 - 250 m). You will notice that there are a few houses and some trees at the juncion of Route 66 and Essex Rd. To your left, on the east side of the highway is the Elementary school that opened in 1937 and is now closed. It is followed by the post office followed by the Store and gas station:

Post Office

On the southeastern corner of US 66 and Sunflower Springs Rd. is the old Post Office building. The post office is closed, now mail is routed through the post office at Needles. It is a tiny stone building with a gabled roof.

The old post office at Essex during its better days (street view).

Route 66 shield on the road

Don't miss the U.S. highway 66 shield painted on the road's tarmac, in front of the post office on the westbound lane and just past it, to the north, on the eastbound lane.

Wayside Café Store, Camp and Service Station

Right beside the Post office is the old Wayside Café, it was in its day a two-building complex, but now only the old Market - service station survives.

What remains standing was at one time the grocery and service station. The old garage was later torn down and only partly rebuilt as the stone wall building on the north side of the market.

The Wayside Café was on the south side but was demolished. Only the foundations remain.

So all that remains is the stone building, the flakingwhite facade and a square flat canopy with the gas pumps long gone.

As you can see in the vintage 1932 photo below, the old facade was higher and had a gabled roof, both have been modified -to accomodate the canopy. Yet the windows and door on the grocery remained (street view).

A 1932 photograph of the Wayside Camp, Cafe and Filling Station.

Derelict remains of the Wayside Cafe Market and service station in Essex. Notice the post office in the background.

Further south, to your left is a former 1960s gas station with a flat square canopy (St. view), now a garage. Followed by the Water Well.

Water and the well at Essex

The well is to your left, at the curve, 500 yards south of the old Wayside Cafe.

The water well at Essex. Source

In Route 66's golden days cars had no air conditioning, they were slower and tended to overheat, especially in the desert or when being put to the limit in long climbs.

For this segment of US 66, Rittenhouse recommended that, during summer, "it is advisable to make the drive from Needles to Barstow, over the Mojave Deser, either in the evening, night or early morning hours"; he also suggested carrying extra water in case the car overheated.

Water was a scarce commodity in the desert.

Heading west from Needles, there was a stop named Mountain Springs (now gone) with gas, lunchroom, cabins and a garage. Surprisingly Water had to be paid for unless you loaded gas.

Essex was no exception, water was scarce and you had to pay for it: 10 cents for a gallon of water for the radiator or 10 cents for a glass of drinking water. It may not seem much, but in the 1930s 10 cents were the equivalent of $1.40 of today, and that was during the Great Depression and people were poor.

Fortunately the Automobile Club of Southern Californiia dug a well and made water available for everyone, for free.

The old well is still there (without the fittings, but intact, with its stone walls and shingled roof). It is opposite the Caltrans Essex Maintenance Station on the south side of town. See a Street View of the well.

Continue your Road Trip

This marks the end of your journey through Essex. Continue your road trip by heading west into the ghost town of Danby. Note that US66 is closed due to some bridges having been washed away, so there is a detour to reach Danby: map.

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>> Book your Hotel in Needles

Credits

Banner image: Hackberry General Store, Hackberry, Arizona by Perla Eichenblat
Jack DeVere Rittenhouse, (1946). A Guide Book to Highway 66.

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