Baker, California

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World's tallest thermometer, in Baker California

View of Baker from the east; I-15 jogs south around the town, leaving Baker Boulevard, the main street, to show where the pre-interstate highway (US 91 and US 466) went.

Baker is an unincorporated rural community located in San Bernardino County, California. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 914. It is located in the Mojave Desert at the junction of I-15 and CA-127 (Death Valley Road).

Baker's economy is based primarily on tourism. The town is frequently used as a rest stop by drivers on the I-15 freeway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. From Los Angeles, Baker is approximately two-thirds of the way to Las Vegas. It is also the last town for those traveling on CA-127 north to Death Valley National Park or south to the Mojave National Preserve. For many years the National Park Service operated a desert information center in Baker. The center was closed in March 2006, and the staff moved to a refurbished railroad depot in Kelso.

The town's most prominent feature is a 134-foot (41m) thermometer, known as the "World's tallest thermometer", visible from miles. It commemorates the hottest temperature ever recorded in the United States, 134°F (56.6°C), measured in nearby Death Valley in 1913. Baker reached a temperature of 124°F (51.1°C) in the summer of 1980. It is also the home of the original Bun Boy restaurant, Alien Fresh Jerky, and the "World Famous" Mad Greek Cafe, signs for which festoon the interstate for miles. Across from the Mad Greek Cafe is a store which has sold the most winning tickets in California Lotto history.

Baker was named after R. C. Baker, president of the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, in 1908. ^[1]

[edit] References

^ Bright, William (1998). 1500 California Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, p. 20. ISBN 0-520-21271-1.