“Calling You”: The World’s Most Famous Roadside Café on the Mojave Desert
In the middle of the Mojave Desert, twenty miles east-southeast of Barstow along the National Trails Highway — the original alignment of Route 66 — stands a small roadside café with a steep roof and peeling paint that has become one of the most internationally celebrated destinations on the entire 2,448-mile length of the Mother Road. The Bagdad Café in Newberry Springs, California is not famous because it has the best food in the desert. It is not famous because of any particular architectural distinction or historical significance to the highway. It is famous because a German filmmaker named Percy Adlon noticed a ghost town on a map in 1984, felt something stir in his imagination, and three years later made a film about a dusty desert café that would become a cult classic in Europe — especially in France and Germany — and set off a stream of international pilgrimages to this remote dot on the Mojave that continues to this day.
Every year, travelers from France, Germany, Japan, Australia, and dozens of other countries make the specific journey off Interstate 40 and onto the two-lane National Trails Highway — old Route 66 — to reach Newberry Springs. They come to stand in the café’s doorway, look at the flags and stickers and guestbook pages from visitors who came before them, and to hear, somewhere in their heads, Jevetta Steele singing “Calling You” — the haunting, Oscar-nominated song by Bob Telson that became the film’s unofficial anthem and that, for hundreds of thousands of people who have never been to California, is synonymous with the vast emptiness and unexpected warmth of Route 66’s Mojave Desert.
But the Bagdad Café is only the most internationally famous feature of Newberry Springs. The community itself — which the 1939 WPA Guide described as “a refreshing green oasis of alders, willows, and cottonwoods clustering about that desert rarity, a swimming pool” — has a history reaching back more than 20,000 years to the earliest human inhabitants of the Mojave, runs through the ancient Mojave Trail and the Santa Fe Railroad water-stop era, through a Route 66 heyday when it boasted five gas stations, four motels, four garages, five cafes, three bars, and a public swimming pool, and into the film-tourism present where the Bagdad Café draws visitors from every continent. This guide covers all of it: the café, the film, the desert oasis, the prehistoric cave, the volcanic crater, and the Route 66 Centennial 2026 celebration of a stop that the Mother Road would be considerably poorer without.
Where Is Newberry Springs on Route 66?
Newberry Springs is located on the National Trails Highway — the original Route 66 alignment — in San Bernardino County, in the western Mojave Desert, approximately 20 miles east-southeast of Barstow and 35 miles west of Ludlow. The community sits between Interstate 40 to the north and south and the old Route 66 alignment (National Trails Highway) running east–west through the community’s center. The address of the Bagdad Café is 46548 National Trails Highway, Newberry Springs, CA 92365, approximately 2 miles west of Fort Cady Road.
From Barstow (west): Take I-40 east for approximately 17 miles, then exit at Newberry Springs Road / Fort Cady Road and follow the National Trails Highway west to Newberry Springs. From Ludlow (east): Take I-40 west for approximately 35 miles, exit at Newberry Road / Fort Cady Road and follow the National Trails Highway west into town. From Los Angeles: Take I-15 north to I-40 east, approximately 152 miles total (about 2.5 hours). From Las Vegas: Take I-15 south to I-40 west, approximately 146 miles (about 2 hours 20 minutes).
IMPORTANT NOTE: Verify current hours and food service before visiting. The Bagdad Café has undergone restoration work including a new roof and ceiling, and food service availability changes. Check the Bagdad Café’s official Facebook page or call +1 760-257-3101 before making a special trip. The café has recently received a new roof and interior ceiling and hopes to fully restore kitchen service. The souvenir shop and cold beverages are consistently available during open hours.
Newberry Springs: 20,000 Years of Desert History on Route 66
The First Inhabitants: Lake Manix and the Early Man Site
The history of Newberry Springs is one of the most layered of any community on California’s Route 66 corridor — stretching back not centuries but millennia beyond European contact. The official Newberry Springs historical marker states the story plainly: “The history of Newberry Springs can be traced back more than 20,000 years.” The Early Man Site north of the community has yielded tools dating prior to 20,000 BC — some of the earliest evidence of human presence in California. At that time, much of the surrounding land was covered by prehistoric Lake Manix — a vast body of water that filled the Mojave basin and supported the megafauna and early human populations of the Ice Age. Around 18,000 BC, a massive earthquake caused Lake Manix to drain through what is now Afton Canyon — creating the steep-walled gorge that still marks the landscape north of Newberry Springs.
Newberry Cave: 3,500-Year-Old Rock Art in the Newberry Mountains
South of the community, nestled in a box canyon high in the Newberry Mountains, Newberry Cave is one of the most significant prehistoric archaeological sites in the Mojave Desert. The cave — described poetically as “a shy cave, hiding its impressive entrance behind a huge boulder” — has four chambers and extends approximately 150 feet into the mountain. Excavated between 1953 and 1956, the cave yielded approximately 70 cubic meters of artifacts, including 11 complete split-twig figurines — handmade animal figures woven from willow twigs — as well as pictographs, crystals, wrapped feathers, dart points, and lithic scatter. The split-twig figurines represent the only such examples found in California.
What makes Newberry Cave uniquely significant is its green pictographs — the only known green rock art in the central and eastern Mojave Desert. The green pigment was made by crushing the mineral celadonite, and modern scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis has confirmed this identification. The pictographs are dated to over 3,500 years before present, placing them in the Late Archaic period — likely connected to the desert bighorn sheep hunters who used the cave as a multi-generational ceremonial site for rituals and ancestor veneration. Research indicates the cave was not a permanent dwelling but was visited regularly over a long span of time for spiritual purposes.
Finding Newberry Cave: The archaeological community does not publish precise directions to the cave due to concerns about vandalism and site destruction — a reasonable precaution for a 3,500-year-old rock art site accessible by foot from an unmonitored desert location. Travelers who want to find it will need to do “a bit of detective work, luck, and some hiking,” as one experienced desert explorer described the process. The search itself is part of the experience. Do not disturb, touch, or damage any rock art or artifacts if you visit; federal law (the Archaeological Resources Protection Act) protects all archaeological sites on federal land.
The Mojave Trail and the Ancient Springs
Long before Route 66, long before the railroad, and long before European settlers, the natural springs at Newberry Springs were the defining feature of this section of the Mojave Desert. The springs — capable of producing between 300,000 and 600,000 gallons of water daily — were a critical waypoint on the ancient Mojave Trail that connected the Colorado River to the California coast. Indigenous peoples, including ancestors of the Mojave and Chemehuevi nations, followed this trail for millennia, using the Newberry springs as a reliable desert water source along a route where water was both the determining factor and the most precious resource.
Westbound explorers and settlers who followed the old Indian routes encountered the Newberry springs as an invaluable oasis. The Grokipedia account notes the historical marker’s language: “Westbound explorers and settlers first discovered this desert oasis while following the old Indian routes.” The springs and the surrounding Mojave Aquifer — described by Wikipedia as the “largest aquifer in the Western United States” — are what made everything about Newberry Springs possible: the Native American ceremonial cave, the railroad water stop, the Route 66 oasis, the modern farms and man-made lakes, and the unlikely green oasis of a desert community that has drawn travelers to its water for 20,000 years.
The Santa Fe Railroad Era: “Water” Stop, 1883–1950s
The modern history of Newberry Springs begins with the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (later the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway) establishing a station here in 1883 as part of its transcontinental main line. The Grokipedia documentation records that the first post office opened as “Watson” in February 1883 — named for the first postmaster, Josiah Watson — and closed the same year. The railroad named its stop “Newberry” — honoring either Dr. John Strong Newberry, a geologist on the 1857 Ives expedition who documented the region’s springs, or a local rancher named Oliver Newberry who owned nearby land.
The station’s purpose was absolute: water for steam locomotives. The Santa Fe Railway pumped up to 600,000 gallons daily from the underground springs to supply the arid stretches of track. The 1939 WPA Guide captured the railroad’s dependence on Newberry Springs’ water with striking specificity: “Trains of eighteen and twenty 10,000-gallon tank cars haul it daily as far as Bagdad for use in locomotive boilers.” The community’s name was officially changed to “Water” in 1919 — the most functional name any railroad stop ever received — and remained so until 1931, when it reverted to Newberry, and finally became “Newberry Springs” in 1967 to avoid mail confusion with Newbury Park, California. After World War II, diesel engines replaced steam locomotives, and the railroad’s need for water stops evaporated — along with Newberry’s primary economic function.
Route 66’s Golden Age: Five Gas Stations, Four Motels, and a Swimming Pool
When U.S. Route 66 was commissioned in 1926, it followed the National Old Trails Highway alignment through Newberry Springs, giving the community a new identity as a Route 66 desert oasis. The WPA’s 1939 description captured its character perfectly: a desert stop where “melons, alfalfa, and apricots are shipped from here” and where travelers could find a welcome break from the desert driving.
The 1950s were Newberry Springs’ commercial peak. The Newberry Springs historical marker documents what travelers would have found: the town “boasted five gas stations, four motels, four garages, five cafes, three bars, one grocery store, a general store and even a public swimming pool.” This was a community built entirely to serve Route 66 travelers crossing the Mojave — a concentrated service strip in the most inhospitable landscape on the California corridor, thriving because every traveler who drove this section of the Mother Road needed gas, food, water, and relief from the desert heat. Even Walter Knott — founder of Knott’s Berry Farm — had a connection to Newberry Springs: he “contracted with the local farmers here to supply the chickens for his famous restaurant in Buena Park.”
The completion of Interstate 40 dealt the blow that ended the Route 66 era in Newberry Springs. When I-40 drew traffic off the National Trails Highway alignment, the five gas stations, four motels, five cafes, and the swimming pool could no longer survive on the reduced traffic. One by one, the Route 66-era establishments closed. What survived was what the desert always eventually reduces everything to: the essentials, the survivors, and the famous.
The Bagdad Café: Where a German Filmmaker’s Dream Became Route 66’s Most Famous Stop
The story of how a small roadside café on an obscure stretch of desert highway became one of the most internationally recognized landmarks on the American road begins not in Newberry Springs but on a 1984 road trip taken by German filmmaker Percy Adlon and his wife, producer Eleanor Adlon. The Adlons were driving through California — along Route 66 — with their children during Christmas 1985 when they saw the name “Bagdad” on a map. They went to investigate. “We saw the name Bagdad on a map, and we went there and there was nothing: just a few trees and a rundown gas station,” Percy Adlon recalled in a 2018 interview. The ghost town of Bagdad — approximately 50 miles east of Newberry Springs along Route 66 — was essentially gone. But the name and the landscape stayed with Adlon, germinating into the concept for his next film.
The Film: Bagdad Café (1987)
Percy Adlon’s Bagdad Café (originally titled Out of Rosenheim in German) was shot in 1987 at the former Sidewinder Café in Newberry Springs — chosen because the ghost town of Bagdad itself had nothing left to film. The cast included Marianne Sägebrecht as Jasmin, a Bavarian tourist stranded in the desert after an argument with her husband; CCH Pounder as Brenda, the hard-edged owner of the desert café; and Jack Palance as Rudy Cox, an itinerant artist who becomes part of the café’s community. The film follows the unlikely friendship between Jasmin and Brenda, and how Jasmin’s presence gradually transforms the crumbling roadside establishment into a vibrant, unexpected gathering place.
The film’s title was chosen in reference to the ghost town Adlon had seen on the map — the name “Bagdad” evoking both the exotic Middle Eastern city and the ironic desolation of a desert nowhere. The name also nods to “its situation in the driest corner of the contiguous United States,” as Atlas Obscura’s description puts it. The film runs 88 minutes in its American version and 108 minutes in the German cut, and is rated PG.
“Calling You”: The Oscar-Nominated Anthem
The film’s haunting score and theme song gave Bagdad Café one of its most lasting contributions to popular culture. “Calling You,” composed by Bob Telson and performed by Jevetta Steele, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1989. The song’s opening lyric — “A desert road from Vegas to nowhere / Someplace better than where you’ve been / A coffee machine that needs some fixing / In a little café just around the bend… I am calling you” — became inseparable from Route 66’s Mojave Desert in the European imagination. For the hundreds of thousands of French and German fans who saw the film and fell in love with its quiet, strange beauty, “Calling You” is what Route 66 sounds like. When they arrive at the Bagdad Café in Newberry Springs, they are completing a journey that began the moment the music started.
American Obscurity, European Cult Status: The Film’s Reception
The film’s cultural impact divides sharply across the Atlantic. American audiences largely overlooked it — the Roger Ebert review in the Chicago Sun-Times was a notable exception, with Ebert writing that the film “sets us free from the production line of Hollywood’s brain-damaged ‘high concepts’ and walks its own strange and lovely path.” In Europe — particularly France and Germany — the film became a beloved cult classic that sparked pilgrimages to Newberry Springs. The Atlas Obscura account captures the paradox: “The fact that the Bagdad Cafe doesn’t mean much to most Americans is perhaps exactly why it means so much to the rest of the world.” The international visitors who fill the guestbooks — written overwhelmingly in French — are a precise measure of where the film landed.
Visiting the Bagdad Café Today
From Sidewinder Café to Bagdad Café: The Name Change of 1995
The building that appeared in the film was not called the Bagdad Café when Adlon filmed it — it was the Sidewinder Café, and had been since it first opened in 1975 (some sources cite the 1950s as the building’s original construction date; a historical marker from 2003 notes the establishment was “originally built in the 1950s”). In 1995, new owners Andrea and Harold Pruett officially renamed the restaurant “Bagdad Café” to match its on-screen fame and lean into the film’s international pull. Andrea Pruett, who welcomed travelers for nearly three decades, transformed the café into the gathering place that visitors find today: covered in flags, stickers, and notes from travelers representing every continent.
Inside the Bagdad Café
The interior of the Bagdad Café is one of the most intimate Route 66 shrines in existence. The Route 66 Road Map account describes it: “The interior remains a treasure trove of memorabilia, with country flags, guestbook pages, stickers, and memorabilia from decades of international visitors.” Country flags from every corner of the world hang from the ceiling. Stickers cover every inch of available wall space. Guestbooks stretching back several decades overflow with entries written mostly in French, reflecting the demographic reality of who drives to Newberry Springs from the farthest distances. The atmosphere is not that of a conventional tourist attraction but of a living document — a place that has accumulated the evidence of every person who ever made the journey.
What to Expect at the Café
While the café has recently undergone renovation work — a new roof and new ceiling — and hopes to restore full kitchen service, current operations focus on cold beverages, coffee, and souvenir merchandise. The souvenir shop carries Bagdad Café branded items and Route 66 memorabilia. The parking area between the café and the Old Henning Motel sign accommodates vehicles of all sizes. Food service restoration is an ongoing goal; travelers can contribute to the café’s restoration fund directly.
The Henning Motel Sign: A Ghost of Route 66’s Commercial Past
Adjacent to the Bagdad Café, the Henning Motel neon sign is one of the most evocative Route 66 ghost relics in the Mojave Desert. The motel itself has been demolished — all physical traces of the building are gone — but the neon sign stands and fades in the desert sun, still marking the spot where the motel once served Route 66 travelers. The sign appeared prominently in the opening scenes of the film Bagdad Café — the first image many European viewers associated with Route 66’s Mojave. In the film’s trailer, the Henning Motel sign appears at the 12-second mark, weathered and atmospheric against the desert sky.
The combination of the Bagdad Café building and the Henning Motel neon sign is the visual double that Route 66 photographers and film pilgrims seek: the café that still stands and the sign that marks where the motel stood. Together they represent the full Route 66 commercial ecology of the Mojave — the service stop (café) and the overnight accommodation (motel), both serving the same essential function of keeping travelers alive and moving across the desert.
The Cliff House: Newberry Springs’ Route 66 Era Service Complex
A second Route 66 landmark in Newberry Springs is the Cliff House — documented by the California Historic Route 66 Association as a location that “was once a market, gas station, cafe, and post office, and hosted cabins for Route 66 travelers.” It was also a swimming spot, with the pool that the 1939 WPA Guide noted as “that desert rarity, a swimming pool” serving as a welcome refuge from Mojave summer heat. The Cliff House represents the multi-function service stop that Route 66 desert communities developed to capture every possible dollar from travelers who needed everything simultaneously — fuel, food, mail, accommodation, and the specific luxury of water in a water-scarce landscape.
Pisgah Crater: Route 66’s Volcanic Neighbor
Approximately 19 miles east of Newberry Springs along the Route 66 corridor, Pisgah Crater (also known as Pisgah Volcano) is a cinder cone volcano accessible from the National Trails Highway. Named after Mount Nebo (called “Pisgah” in the biblical Book of Deuteronomy) by early travelers, Pisgah is part of the same volcanic field that characterizes the eastern end of the Lavic Lake volcanic field and the broader Mojave volcanic landscape. The crater is distinguished by what Discover Newberry Springs describes as “the largest concentration of lava tubes (caves) in California” — underground tunnels created by flowing lava that has since cooled and drained, leaving hollow passages beneath the solidified surface.
Pisgah Crater has been heavily mined for its unique volcanic material — the black basalt that forms the distinctive dark lava field visible from the Route 66 alignment east of Newberry Springs. Route 66 travel writers have noted that the lava field is visible as “a black basalt field and a low volcanic cone to the left of the highway” when traveling west from Ludlow. The combination of a Pisgah Crater hike and a drive along the old Route 66 alignment through this volcanic landscape is described by desert experts as one of the most satisfying full-day desert exploration combinations available from Newberry Springs.
Modern Newberry Springs: Desert Oasis, Water Sports, and Film Tourism
Contemporary Newberry Springs is a community that contradicts nearly every expectation a visitor might bring to a Mojave Desert location. The Wikipedia account captures this quality directly: “Newberry Springs is a typical desert oasis. Ancient volcanic rock formations, lava beds, sand dunes, mineral springs, and hidden mud baths are found in the area.” The Mojave Aquifer — the largest in the Western United States — supports agriculture that includes pistachios, apricots, alfalfa, ostrich, horse, buffalo, duck, turkey, catfish, and koi. The community has farms and ranches of a diversity that would seem impossible in the Mojave without the aquifer’s reliable water.
Water Sports on the National Trails Highway
One of the most surprising aspects of Newberry Springs for first-time visitors is its water sports culture. The community contains several man-made oval lakes and water race courses used for water-skiing and jet-ski racing, including the privately owned Cheyenne Lake. The Horton Lakes Water Ski School and Wet Set Village have hosted water ski tournaments broadcast on ESPN — an extraordinary fact for a community in the heart of the driest desert in the contiguous United States. The Mojave Aquifer makes this possible: the same underground water source that sustained Native American ceremonial practices, powered Santa Fe Railroad locomotives, and irrigated Walter Knott’s chicken supply now feeds man-made lakes where competitive water skiers train.
Film Tourism Beyond the Bagdad Café
The Bagdad Café is not Newberry Springs’s only connection to Hollywood. In 2015, Newberry Springs was one of the filming locations for the film Sky. More recently and prominently, the 2022 psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling, starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles, was filmed in part around Newberry Springs — specifically at the Volcano House property in the area. The film’s use of the Mojave Desert landscape places Newberry Springs in the company of Route 66’s most cinematically significant locations.
The Pistachio Festival
Each November, Newberry Springs hosts its annual Pistachio Festival — a celebration of the pistachio farming that the Mojave Aquifer makes possible in this unlikely desert setting. The festival is a community gathering that connects the agricultural reality of modern Newberry Springs to its history as an oasis that has always supported life against the odds.
The Mojave Trails National Monument and Route 66
Designated in 2016, the Mojave Trails National Monument encompasses a vast stretch of the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, with its eastern boundary just east of Newberry Springs. The monument was created alongside two other nearby monuments — Sand to Snow and Castle Mountains — and is dedicated to preserving the historic trails etched into the desert landscape, including the ancient Mojave Trail and the Route 66 alignment. The combination of the Mojave Trails National Monument and the historic Route 66 corridor through Newberry Springs makes this section of the Mojave one of the most historically and environmentally protected stretches of the Mother Road.
Practical Information for Your Newberry Springs Route 66 Visit
Visiting the Bagdad Café
Address: 46548 National Trails Highway, Newberry Springs, CA 92365
Phone: +1 760-257-3101
Check current status: Bagdad Café’s official Facebook page for current hours and food service availability. Cold beverages, coffee, and souvenir merchandise are typically available. Kitchen restoration is ongoing — verify before visiting if hot food is your primary goal.
The Bagdad Café is approximately 2 miles west of Fort Cady Road on the National Trails Highway. There is ample parking for vehicles of all sizes between the café and the Henning Motel sign.
Essential Safety Information for Mojave Desert Travel
Newberry Springs is in the Mojave Desert. Desert travel requires specific preparation regardless of season:
Water: Carry a minimum of one gallon of water per person per day. Summer temperatures regularly exceed 100°F and can reach 115°F or higher. Dehydration in the desert can become life-threatening rapidly.
Vehicle: Ensure your vehicle is in good mechanical condition with a full fuel tank and functioning air conditioning before leaving Barstow or Ludlow. The nearest significant services are in Barstow (20 miles west) or Ludlow (35 miles east).
Communication: Cell service in Newberry Springs is limited. Download offline maps before leaving populated areas.
Timing: Early morning and late afternoon are the most comfortable times for desert exploration in summer. Plan to be at your destination or in your vehicle with air conditioning during the hottest midday hours.
Pisgah Crater Access
Pisgah Crater is approximately 19 miles east of Newberry Springs on the National Trails Highway. Look for the volcanic cinder cone and black lava field to the left (south) when traveling east from Newberry Springs. A hiking trail accesses the crater; the area is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Carry water; there is no shade at the crater.
Newberry Cave
Newberry Cave’s precise location is not publicly published to protect the site from vandalism. The cave is in the Newberry Mountains south of Newberry Springs. Experienced desert hikers who research carefully can find it. If you visit any archaeological site: look but do not touch, do not disturb any artifacts, and take nothing. The Archaeological Resources Protection Act makes disturbing archaeological sites on federal land a federal crime.
Accommodation
There are no Route 66 motels or hotels in Newberry Springs. The nearest accommodation is in Barstow, approximately 20 miles west. Barstow has a range of chain hotels and motels, including the vintage Route 66 Motel with its classic neon sign. Plan to stay in Barstow and make a day trip to Newberry Springs, or stop at the Bagdad Café as part of a longer drive between Barstow and Ludlow/Amboy.
Nearby Route 66 Highlights in California’s Mojave Desert
Bagdad Café, Newberry Springs (this page) — The world’s most internationally famous Route 66 landmark, approximately 20 miles east of Barstow on the National Trails Highway.
Route 66 Mother Road Museum, Barstow — About 20 miles west on Route 66, the Harvey House railroad depot in Barstow houses the Route 66 “Mother Road” Museum — one of two dedicated Route 66 museums in California, covering the highway’s role in the Mojave Desert corridor and the broader American story.
Roy’s Motel and Café, Amboy — About 57 miles east along the National Trails Highway, Roy’s Motel and Café in the ghost town of Amboy is the other great Route 66 desert landmark of the California Mojave — a former gas station, motel, and café that has been partially preserved and is one of the most photographed Route 66 sites in the United States.
Amboy Crater — About 60 miles east on Route 66, the Amboy Crater is a volcanic cinder cone designated as a National Natural Landmark — similar in geological character to the Pisgah Crater near Newberry Springs, but more accessible for hiking with a maintained trail.
Route 66 in California — Complete Guide — The full overview of all 314 miles of California’s Route 66 from Needles on the Arizona border through the Mojave Desert, Newberry Springs, Barstow, Cajon Pass, and the San Gabriel Valley to the End of the Trail at the Santa Monica Pier.
Route 66 Centennial 2026 — The 100th anniversary of Route 66 is November 11, 2026. Newberry Springs — where the Bagdad Café has drawn international pilgrims to the Mojave Desert since 1987 and where the Mother Road’s Mojave crossing has been documented since the highway’s first year — is one of the most evocative Centennial stops on the California corridor.
Route 66 — Complete Guide — The definitive guide to all 2,448 miles of the Mother Road, from the Begin sign in Chicago to the End of the Trail at the Santa Monica Pier.
