West Winds / Henning Motel

46536 National Trails Hwy., Newberry Springs, CA
Phone:

East < GO > West

The little West Winds / Henning Motel was next door to the Sidewinder / Bagdad Cafe and was also featured in the 1987 movie "Bagdad Cafe" starring Starring Marianne Sägebrecht, CCH Pounder and Jack Palance. The building was in pretty rough shape when we took these photos.

This may seem like a pretty fancy sign for a little 4 room motel on the edge of a small town in the desert. Well here's the story behind the sign. This wasn't the sign's first home. Originally it stood in front of the 35 room Henning Motel in Barstow, that was torn down in 1957. That led to the sign being relocated here in front of the 4 room West Winds Motel. The Henning name at the bottom of the sign was changed to Wet Winds but over the years the new name has faded away letting the Henning name reappear. It'd be cool to see this old neon sign lit up again. That might be asking a lot though.

Since the place has been torn down I thought I'd add a couple more photos to show how small it was.

If you're a fan of the Bagdad Cafe movie you will probably recognize which room played a part in the movie.

The sign was still standing in the spring of 2015, even after all that was left of the motel was a concrete slab. Toward the end of its useful life it was more of an apartment building than a motel.

Photo(s): 2013, 2015