Those familiar with the 1942 film with the same name as Morocco's biggest city know that much of the action centers on a gin joint known as Rick's, a place of intrigue where Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman reignite lost love.

Most of the film was shot in a Hollywood studio and visitors arriving in Casablanca hoping to savor the atmosphere of the Cafe Americain were disappointed.

Now legend has met reality.

"After 60 years of renovation," says owner Kathy Kriger, Rick's Cafe has "re-opened."

An entrepreneur turned US diplomat, Kriger fell in love with Morocco where she worked as commercial counselor for the US Consulate in Casablanca, the country's economic hub.

Wanting to stay on when her post ended in 2001, she toyed with the idea of opening a Rick's Cafe to honor the film in which Bogart plays bar owner Rick Blaine.

"I couldn't believe no one had done it before," she said.

In October 2001, the idea stopped being a daydream and became a mission. The events of Sept. 11 were a factor.

"After 9/11, I just felt like Morocco needed this for its international image," said Oregon-born Kriger.

And when Islamist suicide bombers bankrolled by al Qaeda hit Casablanca in May last year, she was all the more determined.

"Not one second did I think of giving up. It was exactly the opposite," she said.

The five coordinated attacks -- on targets not far from today's Rick's Cafe -- killed 45 people, including 12 bombers. They shocked a pro-Western country which had prided itself on being a haven of stability in the Arab world.

Kriger had enlisted dozens of investors, including an American business magnate, a former US ambassador to Morocco, diplomats and prominent Moroccans.

"None of my investors pulled out after the May 16 attacks," she said.

Instead of making a replica of the cafe portrayed in the Oscar-winning "Casablanca" Kriger chose to instill the essence and ambience of the era.

"Moroccans who remember how cosmopolitan and sophisticated the old Casablanca they knew was thank me for it," she said.

"What we got is actually better than the movie."

(Agencies)