
Railway Paradise: How a Fine-Dining Empire Made the Southwest Palatable - samclemens
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/railway-paradise/
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gwern
> "...Then, of course, the restaurants had the tremendous service of the
> Harvey Girls, who were the face of the operation.” In 1883, Harvey had
> decided to fire the rowdy male waiters at his restaurant in Raton, New
> Mexico, and hire respectable young women in their place. Customers responded
> so positively to the female staff that Harvey began replacing all of his
> company’s male servers, advertising for women employees in newspapers
> throughout the Midwestern and Eastern states. Unlike much of the Eastern
> United States, in small Western outposts, it was acceptable for single young
> women to work and live away from their parents—though they were often
> stigmatized as being prostitutes or sexually promiscuous. Harvey had no
> trouble finding suitable young women, despite the perception that the Wild
> West would scare them off. In fact, many women jumped at the opportunity for
> economic independence, adventure, and travel in an era when their prospects
> were greatly limited. “A lot of them came for the chance to see a different
> part of the country,” Melzer says. “After six months at a Harvey House, you
> could be transferred, so even if you started in a small place like Belen,
> New Mexico, you might eventually get to Santa Fe or to the Grand Canyon.
> Others came for the money, hoping to send it home to their families, save
> for their education, or maybe open a business themselves someday.”...Despite
> the often-patronizing rules, women working for Fred Harvey developed a kind
> of collegiate sisterhood, a community that maintained its bonds long after
> members had quit working as Harvey Girls. “I read the obituaries every day,
> and when a former Harvey Girl dies, they always mention it,” Melzer says.
> “It’s like being in the Green Berets—it was something they were really proud
> of because it was respected and admired.”

This is an interesting example of taste-based discrimination vs statistical
discrimination. To see whether instances of discrimination represent mere
prejudice or rational decision-making, one can simply ask: could you make
money by not engaging in that discrimination? As Alan Greenspan discovered in
hiring women in the '60s, and Harvey in the 1880s, the answer in their eras
was: yes. So it was taste-based discrimination / sexism.

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jasonjei
Singapore Airlines has a close equivalent of the "Harvey Girls." They're
called the "Singapore Girls."[0] Like the "Harvey Girls," the brand has
received its share of sexism allegations. SIA also has a list of required
applicant qualities that probably wouldn't fly in the US, such as requiring
candidates to have natural eyebrows and have black or brown hair.

In line with the above poster's observation, Singapore Airlines has profited
from this "taste-based discrimination." They're constantly one of the highest-
rated airlines. Yet despite taste-based discrimination employed by Asian
airlines such as EVA, SIA, and ANA, I would much rather fly on an Asian
carrier than on American-based airline for the same money. Interestingly
enough, EVA via Evergreen and ANA via Intercontinental also collaborate in
hospitality programs.

[0]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Girl](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Girl)

~~~
gwern
You are misunderstanding what I mean by taste-based discrimination. SA is
doing the same thing that old American airlines used to do, and the same thing
that many other airlines do. National or heavily regulated airlines have a
hard time competing on cost, so they instead compete on amenities, like
stewardesses who are easy on the eyes, or fancy meals. So such
'discrimination' is no more surprising, nor taste-based discrimination, than
actresses being pretty. After deregulation of American airlines, the
stereotype of stewardesses as being attractive disappeared quickly... The
question is, can another Singaporean airline compete and make money, under the
same circumstances, by hiring the perfectly-competent-but-not-so-attractive
women that SA refuses to hire? I'm guessing no.

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scottshea
The La Posada hotel in Winslow,AZ is gorgeous and is slowly being restored to
its former glory. A great place to stay if you want to check out Meteor Crater
and the Petrified Forest

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scmoore
While flipping through channels in a hotel, I found this documentary about the
Harvey Girls -- pretty decent:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9y5mNE5q2E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9y5mNE5q2E)

