Tours of the Tales

21 Napier Lane

21 Napier Lane

This white house midway down the lane was the inspiration for the set of 28 Barbary Lane used in all four of the “Tales” miniseries.  

Prior to the on-location filming for the “Tales of the City” miniseries, Armistead Maupin took Alastair Reid (the Director), Alan Poul (the Producer), as well as several of the cast and crew members on a tour of San Francisco showing them many of the locales mentioned in the books.  When Reid saw this house on Napier, he decided that he would model the set for 28 Barbary Lane after it.  Unlike Mrs. Madrigal’s apartment building which had internal stair cases, this house’s external stairs could provide a stage on which the various residents could interact.  

This idea of the residents of 28 Barbary Lane interacting on the steps of the apartment building was carried over to the set design for the 2011 production of the “Tales of the City” musical.

In the first two Tales miniseries, the exterior of Mrs. Madrigal’s apartment building was painted white matching this building on Napier rather than brown as Mrs. Madrigal’s apartment building was described in the Tales books.  This discrepancy was corrected in the third miniseries when the set was painted brown.

An interesting coincidence about 21 Napier Lane:  The house across the wooden boardwalk is #28… …and it is brown.

A sign has recently been put up at the entrance to Napier Lane.  The wording might cause you to think access to Napier Lane is restricted to only residents.  As long as you remain on the wooden walkway, you are on public property.