The landmark Golden Gate Bridge. (Courtesy California Tourism Board)

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - A fine Pacific mist was dampening the tourists’ spirits as they huddled together waiting for the Powell-Hyde cable car to come and rescue them.

Their ride aboard one of the city’s famed cable cars would take them to the top of San Francisco's famous Lombard St., that long and winding road that so many visitors want to walk or drive down.

As we waited, the khaki-colored doors of the Buena Vista Cafe across the street beckoned. The plaque near the entrance proclaiming this to be the spot where Irish Coffee was first introduced to America was all the coaxing some members of the group needed.
 
Bartender Larry Nolan offered a warm welcome to the shivering group as we entered the place where Andy Garcia confronted Meg Ryan over an Irish brew in the movie When A Man Loves a Woman.
Nolan, along with his brother Paul, have been serving up Irish Coffees - an average of 2,000 a day (every day except Christmas) - from behind the Buena Vista's ornate mahogany bar since 1972.

"It’s a true pleasure to stand here and serve these to so many people from so many different places,” said Larry as he topped the potent brew with a large dollop of rich cream.

“This place (the Buena Vista) has a long and treasured history but it started long before the Irish Coffee arrived,” said the likable Nolan about the café that opened in the 1890s across from what now is known as Aquatic Square Park.

The Irish Coffee story began in 1952 when then owner Jack Koeppler challenged well-known travel writer Stanton Delaplane to help duplicate the Irish Coffee they enjoyed while passing through Ireland’s Shannon Airport. After a few tries, the duo came up with the American version of Irish Coffee and the rest is history.

The old café oozes with atmosphere. If only the walls could talk - the tales this place could tell. No wonder movie companies choose it as a backdrop for many films.

Most of San Francisco's tourist treasures - the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Union Square, the Presidio, St. Francis Hotel, Fisherman's Wharf, Golden Gate Park and those colorful Victorian homes – are well marked on tourist maps. But the Buena Vista is one of those rare gems that you stumble upon while exploring America's most beautiful city.

San Francisco's iconic trolley cars. (Marc Atchison/ITD)

After reluctantly leaving the Buena Vista, it's back to the cable car terminal where, for a couple of bucks you experience the ride of a lifetime on one of the historic cable cars.

The Powell-Hyde line slowly snakes its way through some of the city's most beautiful residential areas before reaching an upscale shopping district called Union Square. One of the hills it climbs affords passengers a great view of the Bay and neighboring Alcatraz. If memory serves me, this is the scene used in those old Rice-A-Roni commercials.

For a real treat, we stand at the back of the car with the brakeman, whose name this day happens to be Susan. The car is jammed with tourists but at each intersection more riders are pulled onto the vintage cars (many date back to the turn of the century) by less than courteous but highly entertaining conductors. While a cable car ride tops a tourist's must-do list in San Francisco, 70 per cent of the passengers, Susan tells me, are locals who use the system to get around.