Bagdad is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

, in

San Bernardino County, California San Bernardino County ( ), officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, is a County (United States), county located in the Southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is locat ...

Geography

Bagdad is located along the historic

U.S. Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The high ...

, east of Barstow and

Ludlow Ludlow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road (Great Britain), A49 road which bypasses the town. The town is near the conf ...

, and west of Amboy and Needles. The town was founded in 1883 when the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...

line between Barstow and Needles was built. At this time, Bagdad provided services to the Orange Blossom Mine several miles to the north, and to the War Eagle Mine several miles to the south. In addition, a dirt track extended south past the War Eagle Mine into the Dale Mining District in the

Pinto Mountains The Pinto Mountains are in southern California, USA, at the north-central part of Joshua Tree National Park. Most of the range is in northern Riverside County; part is in southern San Bernardino County. The range reaches an elevation of south-so ...

. Bagdad was long a thriving town along the

National Old Trails Road National Old Trails Road, also known as the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway, was established in 1912, and became part of the National Auto Trail system in the United States. It was long and stretched from Baltimore, Maryland (some old maps indicate N ...

and the famous Route 66. It was bypassed by the opening of

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...

to the north in 1973, and lost traveler's business and resident population. The remaining buildings were razed in 1991, leaving little trace of the town. Bagdad holds the record for the longest dry streak in United States history with 767 straight days without rain, from October 3, 1912 to November 8, 1914. It is to the south of the Granite Mountains and the

Mojave National Preserve Mojave National Preserve is a United States National Preserve located in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, US, between Interstate 15 in California, Interstate 15 and Interstate 40. The preserve was established October 31, ...

, and north of the

Bullion Mountains The Bullion Mountains are located in the Mojave Desert of California southeast of the city of Barstow. The mountain range stretches for approximately 50 miles in a northwest-southeasterly direction north of Joshua Tree and Twentynine Palms. Sinc ...

. A small airfield known as the Bagdad Intermediate Field was built south of the town, immediately south of Route 66. It was operational in 1932, with abandonment between 1954-1958. A small, red concrete pad that was formerly the base of the airway beacon tower is all that remains.

''Bagdad Café''

The town is known as the fictionalized setting of a novel and a

motion picture A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...

called '' Bagdad Café''. The movie was shot at the Sidewinder Cafe in nearby

Newberry Springs Newberry Springs is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in the western Mojave Desert of Southern California, located at the foot of the Newberry Mountains (California), Newberry Mountains in San Bernardino County, California, San B ...

, which has since been renamed the "Bagdad Café." In 1990,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

ran a television series ''

Bagdad Cafe ''Bagdad Cafe'' (sometimes ''Bagdad Café'', titled ''Out of Rosenheim'' in Germany) is a 1987 English-language West German film directed by Percy Adlon. It is a comedy-drama set in a remote truck stop and motel in the Mojave Desert in the U.S. st ...

'', for two seasons.

References

Bibliography

* Alan Hensher, ''Ghost Towns of the Mojave Desert: A Concise and Illustrated Guide'', California Classics Books, Los Angeles (1991)
Ghost Towns.com - Bagdad
Webpage about Bagdad, CA with numerous photographs.

Brief history of Bagdad, CA. {{Inland Empire Populated places in the Mojave Desert Former settlements in San Bernardino County, California Ghost towns in California Ghost towns on U.S. Route 66 Populated places established in 1883

Geography

''Bagdad Café''

See also

References

Bibliography