Between LA And Las Vegas, California's Route 66 Semi-Ghost Town With A Quirky Movie History Is Coming Back To Life

If you feel that Hollywood, one of Los Angeles' most popular yet also most disappointing neighborhoods, is an underwhelming tourist trap, it's time for a change of scene. Leave cookie-cutter remakes and soulless CGI behind, and motor east on California's Route 66 to where quirky movie history is coming back to life in Newberry Springs, a semi-ghost town between LA and Las Vegas. How did a 1987 German movie named "Bagdad Cafe," filmed in English, here in the heart of the Mojave Desert, become a European box office hit, film festival darling, and now cult classic that draws more than 6,000 mostly international tourists monthly, 75 percent of them French?

Start with the opening lines of the film's Oscar-nominated song, "Calling You": "A desert road from Vegas to nowhere / Some place better than where you've been." Then take it from legendary film critic Roger Ebert, who lauded its charm in how "every character and every moment is unanticipated, obscurely motivated, of uncertain meaning and vibrating with life." In the movie, an uptight German housewife finds refuge in a ramshackle truck stop run by a happy-go-lucky Black American single mother. Together with a multi-ethnic ragtag group of teenagers, cooks, and artists, the joint is spruced up and transformed into an attractive desert oasis, inspiring everyone to find a renewed purpose in their own lives.

Now, life imitates art as local changemakers, like informal ambassador Karla Claus and chamber of commerce treasurer Rose Beardshear, are revving up the revival of Newberry Springs in time for the Mother Road's 2026 centennial, determined to make it shine as one of the hidden gems around the Route 66 pitstop town of Barstow, a more well-known destination 21 miles west.

In Route 66's heyday, Newberry Springs' Sidewinder Cafe — together with hotels, a swimming pool, and other amenities — was a favorite stop of road trippers. Today, Interstate-40 has literally left this strip in its dust, an unincorporated settlement of around 2,000 residents with a small community center, veterans' hall, and bar among houses and abandoned items half-buried under years of sand swirled in by Mojave winds. Andrea Pruett bought the cafe in 1995 after eating what she described as "the best burger I ever had" there. It was renamed the Bagdad Cafe for the movie's renown, and serves American diner staples such as burgers, chili, fries, and coffee.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic shut the business temporarily, crowdfunding helped Pruett rebuild the Bagdad Cafe after it suffered vandalism and disrepair. Newberry Springs' iconic landmark is once again welcoming Route 66 pilgrims and movie buffs as soon as it opens every morning. It's a treasure trove of kitsch that goes with the territory of classic Americana — racks of T-shirts, souvenirs, an old upright piano, and movie memorabilia overflow under a canopy of flags representing the diverse nationalities of visitors, who also leave business cards, bank notes, guestbook comments dating back decades, and other keepsakes.

This slice of America's greatest road trip is expecting twice the usual number of tourists for Route 66's centennial celebrations, plotting lively diversions like history tours and a stretch of road tingling with music triggered by passing cars. The Barn, a beloved roadhouse, plans to host car shows, live music, and other headline events. All this without compromising what locals love about their home: tranquility in the middle of nowhere, happy to be forgotten by modernity but immortalized in popular culture.

In this spirit, there's plenty more to explore around Newberry Springs beyond just a break for Bagdad Cafe. Surrounded by a breathtaking showcase of majestic mountains and untamed wilderness, stunning sites like the Pisgah Canyon, Amboy Crater, and the Mojave National Preserve's majestic wind-carved dunes of singing sand and solitude are within an hour away. For birdwatching enthusiasts, the Audubon Society identifies the area as one of the largest gatherings of almost-extinct tricolored blackbirds, and every November, a pistachio festival features the area's fertile crop of these nuts, as well as local artists, crafts, and entertainment. Stay over at Newberry Mountain RV Park, where you can rent and pitch a tent to enjoy an unobstructed panorama of an unfiltered night sky full of constellations. These and Bagdad Cafe are California's other stars, 180 miles from Hollywood.