All across the Bay Area, 49er football fans gathered around television sets to watch the season opener in Seattle. But there was one location in Redwood City that has a history with the team that's pretty hard to beat. Modern sports bars are bigger, fancier and even have more fans on 49er game day. But when it comes to sheer authenticity, nothing beats the Canyon Inn.

"You're walking into a museum that is actually functional as a restaurant," said owner, Tim Harrison.  

When he talks about the Canyon Inn, the business itself seems to take a back seat to the memorabilia on the walls.

"It just accumulated and I just started putting pictures up on the wall," he said.  

The room is covered with photographs, tracing the journey from 1981 when, as a new business owner, Harrison made the team an offer, if they would attend a promotional event in his parking lot, that he considered a pretty safe bet.

"Every week, when you guys win, the players, staff, everybody can come in and eat for free all week long," he said, laughing. "What do I got to lose? They only won 10 games in three years."

It ended up being a bad beat as Joe Montana and the Niners won 16 games on the way to their first Super Bowl championship. Harrison figures the deal cost him more than $10,000, at 1981 prices, and it was even mentioned in Time Magazine. But along the way, he also gained some really good friends, like Bob Arends, who remembered what it was like before the team was winning.

"Well, for a long time, with the drought and everything, you had to be a die-hard fan," said Arends.  "Once we won the first Super Bowl, then we got a lot of confidence. If Joe was back there, we always thought we were going to win."

On the first game of the regular season, everyone expects to win. Isaac Leon showed up on Sunday for a kid's birthday party but kept one eye on the game.

"I'm looking for the Super Bowl every time," he said. "Every year we start off... it doesn't matter the first three, four or five games. It's about the end of the season."

And Mercedes Hausler seemed more worried about the outcome of her domino game than the football game being played on the screen. She admitted to being pretty competitive.

"Um, yeah.  When it comes to this, yeah," she said. "With that [the 49er game] it's like, you know, I'm happy when they win, of course, but you can't always win, so."

"I used to always joke around with my friends, when the Niners go to the Super Bowl, they win it, unless it's been in the last 10 years," said Michael Solomon.  

For him, win or lose, the new season just felt more special in a place he's been coming to for more than 40 years.

"Yeah, I mean, the buildup to this is like three months before, right?" said Solomon. "So, getting here to opening day, it is just nostalgic as can be. There's no place I'd rather be than at the game, but if I can't be at the game, Canyon Inn is a close second."

From playing in the Super Bowl to last place in their division, the past two seasons have been a roller coaster ride for 49er fans. But Sunday was a new beginning in a place that celebrates the glory of the past.