San Bernardino County history: Bagdad – Welcome to San Bernardino County

Exterior view of the Bagdad Cafe, featuring a rustic wooden building with a large sign, an old bicycle, and a parked car under a cloudy sky. — *The Bagdad Cafe on Route 66.*

Bagdad is a ghost town located along the historic U.S. Route 66, east of Barstow and west of Needles. It was once a busy railroad and mining town that holds the record for the longest dry streak in United States history with 767 consecutive days without rain, from October 1912 to November 1914.

The town was founded in 1883 with the construction of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Line between Barstow and Needles. Due to its similar desert climate, railroad officials named the town after the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, omitting the h.

In its early days, Bagdad served as a key watering station for steam-powered railroad engines and became a hub for nearby gold, silver, copper and lava mining camps. The Bagdad-Chase and Roosevelt mines produced half of San Bernardino County’s recorded gold.

The town grew into a small but thriving community with homes, hotels, saloons, stores, a post office, a school, a passenger railway station and a restaurant. However, as mining operations became less profitable, the owners sold off their holdings. By the 1930s, the railroad was sold and Bagdad’s population dwindled from a few hundred to fewer than 20 in the mid-1940s. By then, all that remained of the town was the depot, a few homes and the Bagdad Café.

Despite its shrinking population, Bagdad was still considered a lively little place particularly due to the Bagdad Café, which was the only place for miles around with a dance floor and juke box.

The town also served as the inspiration for the 1988 movie and subsequent television program called the Bagdad Café. The movie was actually filmed in nearby Newberry Springs. In 1991, the remaining buildings in Bagdad were demolished, leaving little trace of the town today.

The information in this historical feature was originally part of a video series produced by the Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk’s office.

Additional County Update News – August 14, 2025