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.

Going to the Birds

An unexpected hit which helped the Horror genre

In 1963, a film was released that turned a sleepy little town on the Northern Coast of California into a mecca for film buffs the world over. Overnight (well, actually it took nearly three full years in which to write, develop, produce and release the movie), Bodega Bay became a household word and ornithology was looked upon with a new respect – or fear perhaps.

Director Alfred Hitchcock’s first attempt at a horror movie, actually a precursor to that genre in the future, proved to be a mighty success. The film received a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 96% with the comment; “Proving once again that build-up is the key to suspense, Hitchcock successfully turned birds into some of the most terrifying villains in horror history”.

From the folks of Rotten Tomatoes – that was quite a compliment. Hitchcock had a flying success – yes the pun was intended.

We at J and L believe that there is not a person alive who once had the chance to view the film ‘The Birds’ hasn’t had at some time in their life a slight sense of apprehension when noticing a grouping of winged creatures alighted on telephone lines.

Nothing wrong here, move on without fear - if you can???

“Just birds.” Yeah, but looking over the shoulder cannot be stopped. Hitchcock, you truly scared us with that gem – thanks a lot!

Alfred came up with the idea after reading a novella by Daphne du Maurier “The Birds” which actually takes place in Cornwall, England right after World War II and was published in 1952. Along with the writing by du Maurier a slight disturbance had gotten the director’s attention in 1961 in the town of Capitola, California. On August 18, 1961 the residents suddenly found their small town being ‘attacked’ by thousands of birds who were flinging or flying themselves to death against windows, rooftops and anywhere else they could spread their wings for the last time. A local newspaper in Santa Cruz wrote that the citizens believed the birds of demise were possessed by demons or perhaps drugs – it was the sixties after all. Anyway, Hitchcock had an epiphany– that’s how genius directors think – death, disaster, scared people all equal to a hit film.

Roll the celluloid!

Hitchcock hired Evan Hunter in September of 1961 to write the script after working with him on earlier projects and knew her style well as she knew what her boss wanted also. They worked together and finished the script. 

The always famous cameos of Alfred Hitchcock

Now for the actors:

A good looking lead male – Rod Taylor as Mitch Brenner hit the mark as the handsome attorney from San Francisco who made it a tradition to be home with his widowed mother and younger sister every weekend in Bodega Bay.

An attractive leading lady – Tippi Hedren as Melanie Daniels truly made the right statement as a beautiful and spoiled socialite from San Francisco who happened to bump into ‘Mitch’ in a bird shop in San Francisco (coincidence) and decided he was to be her next boy toy – so a short drive to Bodega Bay in her silver Aston Martin convertible wouldn’t be such a problem. Really, watch your hairdo ‘Melanie’!

What every woman wears in a boat -  a mink coat!

The rest of the cast – Jessica Tandy (as Mitch’s mother), Suzanne Pleshette (as Mitch’s platonic friend – yeah), Veronica Cartwright (as Mitch’s younger sister), and the others were more than enough talent to get the point across to the audience – these were real people living in a small oceanside town seventy miles north of San Francisco and they were scared out of their minds with the winged demons dive bombing anything that moved. Poking heads and eyes with their pointed beaks made movie viewers scream in the plush seats and look into the skies as they left the movie theaters.

As stated earlier – once viewed, once warned.

Now, this is Hollywood after all so reality has a lot of help from fantasy and trickster maneuvers. The actual shooting of the Potter School House, the church and the children running from the birds – as well as the wonderfully attractive shot of Suzanne Pleshette sans eyeballs was actually filmed in the town of Bodega which is five miles southeast of Bodega Bay. An inland tiny town which fit what Hitchcock and Hunter envisioned as the perfect look.

Suzanne Pleshette with eyes - for now before the angry birds

Bodega Bay was used for filming other integral parts of the film including the rather sad but funny scenes in the Tide Water Bar where the patrons were eating, drinking and thinking why were the birds acting so aggressively. Ethel Griffies, who played ornithologist Mrs. Bundy poo-poos the ideas of birds being nasty to everyone in the establishment when in the next instance birds are on a free-for-all swooping here and there tearing the eyeballs out of anyone on the street.

“Oops, my bad,” she retorts after looking out the window and seeing a man being blown up at the gas station across the street after a gangster bird came in low and took him out.

Right - very friendly birdies!

Okay, perhaps that’s not how it truly was in the script but could be if a sequel was made today.

The rest of the film had various smaller locations and the special effects were created at Disney Studios but it was and is Bodega Bay which will always be the place where birds lost their minds and beat the daylights out of humans for a couple of days. That’s all it took to make a legend – two days of ducking, diving, scratching, and poking to put a town into the annuals of movie history.

How the school and church look from the same angle today

J and L, on our trip driving the Highway 1 north of San Francisco came across Bodega Bay and being fans of Alfred Hitchcock’s work decided it was time to delve a little more into this film phenomenon.

John in front of Potter School which is a private residence now

With a little research and exploration, the truth of the filming made it clear this is where we needed to be. With an almost cult following “The Birds” has made this coastal city a must see by movie buffs and each year the town hosts a festival in honor of the filming and Tippi Hedren actually visits and talks to fans and does autograph sessions.

 Rumor has it that this coming Labor Day may be her last visit but we all know those Hollywood types – they like final statements so they can come back the next year and have larger crowds.

Laureen discussing techniques with Alfred in Bodega

Traveling can bring unexpected and wonderful experiences and that’s why J and L travel – to see things, read about them and smile together.

That’s what exploring is all about isn’t it?

It could happen again - who knows?