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Of all the gin joints in all the world ...

Photo courtesy of the "new" Rick's

Much of the world is intimately familiar with Rick's Cafe Americain, the site of most of the action in the 1942 film classic "Casablanca."

In fact, some are so smitten with the film they feel as if they've been to Rick's. Not possible, of course, since it was merely a movie set on a Hollywood back lot.

However, Kathy Kriger, a 61-year-old former U.S. diplomat, took care of that the last time Leap Year Day rolled around.

She captured the ambience of the film and has turned a 1930s seaside mansion into a landmark in the exotic Moroccan city, giving it the look and atmosphere of the film. She marked the fourth anniversary of the "re-opening" of Rick's this Feb. 29.

Check out a Reuters feature story on the enterprise here, or go right to Rick's Web site here.

ON THE WEB
The Marvels of Casablanca
Lonely Planet Guide to Morocco
Dowd's Guides

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This looks like a wonderful place to visit.

But is Morocco safe for American? That's always my No. 1 question before I go anywhere outside the country these days.

Anonymous said...

I wonder the same thing. There have been several suicide bomb incidents there, one last year in an Internet cafe in Casablanca.

Anonymous said...

I was wondering, too, so I went to a chat room on the Lonely Planet. You might find it helpful, reading people's experiences in Morocco.

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