On the cliffs at 140 Beach Way in Moss Beach, north of Half Moon Bay, sits a restaurant with one of the best ocean views on the coast. It also has one of the Bay Area's best-known ghost stories.
Frank's Place
Frank Torres built the place in 1927, during Prohibition, and called it Frank's Place. According to the restaurant and its historical marker, Canadian rum-runners landed whiskey on the beach below.
Silent film stars and San Francisco politicians drank there, and mystery writer Dashiell Hammett used it as a setting. Thanks to Torres's connections, Frank's Place was never raided. After repeal in 1933 it became a legal restaurant.
Not a distillery
The restaurant's own site points out that the name is a nod to its bootlegging past. Nothing is distilled there. It's a restaurant and bar, and it's a designated California Point of Historical Interest.
The Blue Lady
The restaurant's best-known legend is the Blue Lady, a ghost said to haunt the place. The story was featured on Unsolved Mysteries.
Skeptics have their doubts. Wikipedia notes that when the Ghost Hunters TV crew visited in 2008, it found devices built into the restaurant to scare guests, including a face that appeared in a mirror and a speaker that played laughter. A former Disney employee, Daryn Coleman, had also built swaying chandeliers and a phone that rang on its own. SFGate's Katie Dowd found no trace of the haunting claims before 1981 and concluded they were likely created by former owners Mike and Shirley Sarno.
Either way, the view and the history are real. Go at sunset, and bring a jacket.