100 years: A Route 66 ghost town was 'frozen in time'. Is it on the brink of a comeback?

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/20/route-66-newberry-springs-california

A Route 66 ghost town was ‘frozen in time’. Is it on the brink of a comeback?

Newberry Springs was almost lost to the desert. But as America’s ‘mother road’ turns 100, locals see hope that the boom times could return

Amanda Ulrich in Newberry Springs
Sun 20 Jul 2025 10.00 EDT

The tiny desert cafe, caught in a desolate middle between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, had only been open for five minutes when the first customers of the day ambled in from the already blistering heat.

It was a Friday morning in June, sand swirling outside across the cracked street and towards the Bagdad Cafe’s front door. In the same parking lot, a 1950s-era sign advertised a motel that no longer exists. In the distance, only a few surviving businesses remained: a small community center, a veterans organization and a long-standing roadhouse bar popular with locals. A few miles to the north, an entire neighborhood was abandoned in the 1990s after mounds of blowing sand swallowed it whole; today, only rooftops and chimneys peek out from the towering sand dunes.

…

In small towns such as Newberry Springs, and an even tinier neighboring community 10 miles west called Daggett, residents are hoping the anniversary will bring in a flood of extra visitors. The Bagdad Cafe, where the 1980s cult classic film by the same name was shot, currently sees about 6,000 tourists each month. Locals anticipate that those numbers will double in 2026 – and they’re planning other ways to capitalize on the centennial, too.

“We’re a teeny, weeny, little slice of Route 66,” said Renee Kaminski, a co-owner of Newberry Spring’s historic bar.

“But we’re a mighty one.”

… more …

Baghdad Cafe
with CCH Ponder, Jack Palance

Truly magical

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