Moss Beach Distillery

Moss Beach Distillery is a restaurant in Moss Beach, California, located on a cliff which overlooks the Pacific Ocean. It is officially designated as a California Point of Historical Interest. Originally established in 1927 as a speakeasy, it converted into a successful restaurant after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933.^[1][2]

Moss Beach Distillery in 2009

History

The restaurant dates back to the Prohibition era when it was a speakeasy called Frank's Place. Owner Frank Torres built the club in 1927. Reportedly, illegal whisky was brought from ships, to the beach, and into vehicles for transport to San Francisco during Prohibition.^[2] A variety of people came to Frank's including the governor of California to Hollywood celebrities, such as actor Fatty Arbuckle.

Haunting legends

According to legend, the property is haunted by the "Blue Lady," a female apparition dressed in blue. There are a number of iterations of the story that are set during Prohibition: a local girl falls in love with a pianist, or is involved in a love triangle, or stuck in an unhappy marriage where the husband or the pianist murders her. In still other versions, she is a lovesick woman who throws herself into the sea. The Moss Beach Distillery promotes the legend and encourages tourism. In 2008, the cast of Ghost Hunters found "a series of pranks built into the restaurant, like a ghostly face in a bathroom mirror and a speaker that emitted laughter when triggered by a sensor". According to an interview in the Fresno Bee, former Disney employee Daryn Coleman designed and installed devices to make the chandeliers sway and a phone that rings by itself.^[3] The restaurant was also featured on a 2019 episode of Most Terrifying Places in America.^[4]