Not far out of Needles on I-40, we exit back onto old Route 66 and head for Goffs, Fenner and Chambless. All of these towns are defunct and boarded-up. Even Amboy, the town that sold for $350,000 a few years ago, is limited to one live business: Roy’s Café.
Moving on toward Ludlow and Newberry Springs, we pass the site where the original Bagdad Café stood. A solitary palo verde tree marks the spot. Slowing for Ludlow, we see a few more cars than in Amboy. At Newberry Springs, we see the “new” Bagdad Café, where the film Bagdad Café was shot. The café has truck-stop “cuisine”, a token gift shop and looks very tired and unhappy. We decide to move on to Barstow for lunch.
Barstow, also a railroad town, is somehow nicer and newer and cleaner than Needles. We find the Canton Restaurant (recommended) and have a nice Chinese lunch plate. Yummy. Down the road, we find the exquisite Route 66 Motel, a classic Mother Road establishment, complete with rusty old cars and other vintage props.
We arrived so early in Barstow that we decide to press on toward Glendora. We bypass the 36-mile stretch of the Mother Road from Barstow to Victorville and decide to save Victorville for another visit. Beyond Victorville, the Road joins I-15 for most of the way to San Bernardino.
By this time, the Friday-afternoon traffic is thick, so we elect not to cruise the 30+ miles along Foothill Blvd. (old Route 66) through San Bernardino, Rialto, Monrovia, et. al. We arrive at our hotel in Pasadena at 4:30 pm.
Tomorrow, the finish at Santa Monica pier.
Moving on toward Ludlow and Newberry Springs, we pass the site where the original Bagdad Café stood. A solitary palo verde tree marks the spot. Slowing for Ludlow, we see a few more cars than in Amboy. At Newberry Springs, we see the “new” Bagdad Café, where the film Bagdad Café was shot. The café has truck-stop “cuisine”, a token gift shop and looks very tired and unhappy. We decide to move on to Barstow for lunch.
Barstow, also a railroad town, is somehow nicer and newer and cleaner than Needles. We find the Canton Restaurant (recommended) and have a nice Chinese lunch plate. Yummy. Down the road, we find the exquisite Route 66 Motel, a classic Mother Road establishment, complete with rusty old cars and other vintage props.
We arrived so early in Barstow that we decide to press on toward Glendora. We bypass the 36-mile stretch of the Mother Road from Barstow to Victorville and decide to save Victorville for another visit. Beyond Victorville, the Road joins I-15 for most of the way to San Bernardino.
By this time, the Friday-afternoon traffic is thick, so we elect not to cruise the 30+ miles along Foothill Blvd. (old Route 66) through San Bernardino, Rialto, Monrovia, et. al. We arrive at our hotel in Pasadena at 4:30 pm.
Tomorrow, the finish at Santa Monica pier.
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