The Real Bagdad Café

In the late nineteen eighties, Newberry Springs (a small town in the Mojave Desert in Southern California) was the scene for a meeting of the minds, between Hollywood and a German film crew. They met to discuss the filming of a rather eccentric movie, the Bagdad Café.

A must see film!

One problem though, there was no Bagdad Café in Newberry Springs.

No worries - we didn't either, at the time.

There once was a town of Bagdad, with a cafe, about fifty miles east of Newberry Springs. But when Interstate 40 made Route 66 seem like an afterthought, the town, like the desert sands, just blew away. Not enough business to maintain its lifeblood, it just stopped breathing.

There’s nothing left today to prove Bagdad once truly existed, but a beautiful tree with a plaque that reads - This tree is the last fragile remnant of the town of Bagdad. Please help us protect it by leaving it undisturbed. Thank You!

A beautiful reminder of once was - before progress came to town

Hollywood, with the German screenwriters and director, didn’t let those facts stop them. They just renamed the Sidewinder Café in Newberry Springs to, yes, wait for it – the Bagdad Café. And that is the magic of Hollywood.

We don’t need no stinking reality – we’ll just make up our own.

So, on a Sunday morning, we decided to take the short drive to Newberry Springs and check out the Bagdad Café. After the release of the film in 1987 in Europe, and in 1988 in the United States, the name of the Sidewinder Café was eventually changed to the Bagdad Café in 1995.

 A sound marketing tool, to incorporate the name of a film which used the restaurant for its focal point. The film, starring the likes of C.C.H Pounder, Jack Palance, Christine Kauffman, and German actress, Marianne Sagebrecht, won 6 foreign film awards, including Best Foreign Film at the 23rd Guldbagge Awards in 1988. In 1988, the film won an Oscar for Best Music, Original song by Bob Telson, Calling You.

Heck, even Hollywood came out with a television series, Bagdad Café in 1990, starring James Gammon, Whoopi Goldberg, Cleavon Little, and Jean Stapleton. After two seasons it went bust. A good film, not so good a series, perhaps – it happens.

Sorry, Ladies - a short but good try.

“This will be great,” I told Laureen, as we took the eastbound Newberry Springs exit from the 40 and drove onto Route 66.

“It’s an old café,” she replied.

“It’s historic. A place where two cultures, Germans and Americans met and created something special. I call it, where Hollywood and Berliwood shook hands.”

“Berliwood?”

“You know, Berlin.” I nodded. “Yeah, like Bollywood, but from a German perspective.”

“That makes sense,” Laureen mused. But, I don’t think she bought my conjecture on the topic.

We pulled in front of the red painted building with brown wood shingles on the roof. Laureen was right, it was old and bit worse for wear.

“Look at that,” I said, while pointing to a large black and white tour bus. There in front of us were dozens of people taking selfies by the entrance to the Bagdad Café and others just walking around looking this iconic building up and down.

“French,” I announced excitedly. “They’re French tourists.”

Laureen nodded in agreement. “Did you get that from the French they are all speaking?”

“Dead giveaway,” I returned.

The restaurant is open daily from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., and according to the owner, Andrea Pruett (she goes by André), “We get so many tourists, and it is really crowded sometimes. You know, we are the most visited café in the world.”

I wasn’t sure that was accurate, but in deference to the owner, I remained mute on the topic. Though, this café must be the most visited in the area.

Entering through the single door of the café, we were taken aback by the hundreds, if not thousands of flags hanging from the ceiling. It seemed every country on earth was represented inside the Bagdad Café.

Can you count the flags - we couldn't

“See what I mean?” André stated. “Most tourists are French; they loved the movie. But there are flags from Germany, Spain, and pretty much everywhere.”

I asked André, how many tourist buses stop by. “Oh, I don’t know – probably five or six per week. Most of the time, they just stop, take photographs and leave. They don’t spend a lot of money here. But we do have good food.”

André has owned the small local tourist attraction for 23 years, moving from Canoga Park to Newberry Springs with her husband. “It was quite a culture shock,” stated the petite woman. “The people called me, Hollywood, because I came from the Los Angeles area. My husband told me to enjoy the quite of Newberry Springs where I could just write. He’d run the restaurant, and my job was simply to come in once per day to collect the money.”

Seemed reasonable. The problem was, according to André, “There never was much to collect each day. It’s gotten better though, with the tourists – still wish they’d spend more.”

We had lunch and visited with André, between her greeting the numerous tourists. She was correct on both counts – the food was tasty and there were a lot of people stopping by the historic site.

Laureen, waiting for our lunch at the Bagdad Cafe'

This place, this Bagdad Café, is a must to see for any film buff. Not just the history of the building, but the impact it made in the cinema world joining the realms of cult classics. A place most have never hear of, but which made it into the stratosphere of filmology (yes, it is real – the study of film making – taken from, filmologie – and of course, it’s French!). So take a short byway off the road most traveled and find yourself something of international intrigue, on Route 66.