Moss Beach Distillery

The ghost here was caught, and it turned out to be wiring.

Moss Beach Distillery sits on a cliff above the Pacific near Half Moon Bay, and the real history is the good part. Frank Torres built the place in 1927 as a speakeasy called Frank's Place. Prohibition was the business model: illegal whisky came off ships onto the beach, into vehicles, and up the road to San Francisco. When Prohibition was repealed in 1933 the speakeasy turned into a restaurant and has stayed one ever since. It is a California Point of Historical Interest.

It is also not a distillery, and the restaurant says so plainly on its own site. The name was chosen by owners more than fifty years ago to tie the place to its Prohibition past.

Then there is the Blue Lady, a woman in blue reported in and around the building. The restaurant has promoted the legend for years and it has drawn plenty of visitors. In 2008 the cast of Ghost Hunters came to investigate and found something else: a series of elaborate devices built into the restaurant to frighten people, including a ghostly face in a bathroom mirror and a speaker that played laughter when a sensor tripped. They refused to investigate any further. A former Disney employee, Daryn Coleman, later described designing and installing the effects, among them chandeliers made to sway and a telephone that rings by itself.

An analysis by SFGate found no trace of the haunting claims before 1981 and concluded the story was most likely created by former owners for a local business interview.

None of which spoils the trip. You get a cliff edge, a heated patio where well behaved dogs are welcome, whales and seals below, and an ocean view from every table, in a building that really did run illegal liquor for six years.