Needles is a city in San Bernardino County, California, in the Mojave Desert on the western bank of the Colorado River, at a point where California, Arizona, and Nevada nearly meet. With roughly 4,800 residents, it is a remote but historically important desert community, founded in 1883 as a railroad town and named for the sharp granite peaks known as The Needles that rise to the southwest. Transportation has always defined Needles. The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad — later part of the Santa Fe system — made the town a division point, and the railroad remains a presence. When the National Old Trails Highway, later U.S. Route 66, came through in the early 20th century, Needles became a famous stop for motorists crossing the desert. Today Interstate 40 and U.S. Route 95 meet in town, and the restored El Garces depot, a former Harvey House, stands as a centerpiece of the city's Route 66 heritage, alongside murals and vintage signs along Broadway and Front streets. The Colorado River is the region's other defining feature, offering boating, fishing, and water recreation in a landscape known for its extreme summer heat. Moabi Regional Park and the Pirates Cove resort area lie just south along the river, and the Mojave National Preserve, with its dunes, volcanic cinder cones, and Mitchell Caverns, begins to the west. Needles Unified School District serves local families, and the town's compact grid of modest desert homes provides an affordable, small-scale way of life in one of California's most storied corners. The city's identity rests on this combination of railroading, Mother Road nostalgia, and river recreation, and its economy follows suit, with tourism, the railroad, and regional services anchoring local employment. For travelers and residents alike, Needles remains a true desert crossroads — a place defined less by growth than by its geography and its place on the map.