Hidden San Francisco

The New York Times has an excellent article about the fantastic bars and restaurants hidden in San Francisco's alleys and lanes. It is part of San Francisco that many tourists don't know about, along with the public stairs around the city.

Fans of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City already know about the lure of the fictional Barbary Lane. Tourists are often disappointed to find that there is no Barbary Lane.

It is believed that he modeled his fictional Russian Hill lane after Macondray Lane, a public street with private houses accessible only by wooden stairs.

Before you get too excited, be forewarned before you make the climb: there is no Number 28 Macondray Lane. 27 is as close as you can get. It doesn't look anything like the house in the adapted television mini-series.

Living there sounds good in theory, but there are no garages, no easy access for groceries or movers. I presume you have to haul your garbage and recyclables down the stairs, too.

And, forget being handicapped and getting up the stairs. This is wild country best left to the young and hearty.

Which is why, in Maupin's latest novel about the inhabitants of No. 28 Barbary Lane, they have all moved away from the stairs to inhabit the city in places more friendly to the aging and the aged.