About
We sit along Historic Route 66 in Newberry Springs in the roadside building movie fans around the world recognize from the 1987 film Bagdad Cafe. Originally known as the Sidewinder Cafe, the property was transformed when German filmmaker Percy Adlon used the café and neighboring motel as principal Mojave Desert locations for his movie. The film became especially popular in Europe, turning this otherwise quiet desert stop into an international pilgrimage site. Inside, visitors find walls and ceilings layered with flags, photographs, stickers, notes, business cards and other keepsakes left by travelers over decades—part café, part movie shrine and part living Route 66 scrapbook.
We continue welcoming Route 66 travelers to look around, photograph the filming location, add to the collection of visitor memorabilia and browse souvenirs connected with the café and the Mother Road. Andrea Pruett, whose family became closely associated with preserving the Bagdad Cafe for more than 30 years, died in January 2026; the family says the landmark will continue operating in her memory. For movie enthusiasts, especially those arriving from overseas, the experience is as much about standing inside a familiar piece of cinema history as it is about the highway itself—a wonderfully eccentric stop where Route 66, the Mojave Desert and an unlikely cult film all meet.