Tours of the Tales

The Cirque Room still exists, but it is no longer a bar.  It’s used for special events.  The banquettes are still there.

The Fairmont played a role in the debut of “Tales of the City” in The San Francisco Chronicle.

On Sunday evening, May 23, 1976, Armistead Maupin dined with a half-dozen men at Mama’s at Gramercy Towers (see below in this tour).  Afterward, one of men invited the group up to his suite of rooms (the Diplomatic Suite) at the Fairmont for a night cap.  The man extending that invitation was Rock Hudson.  Hudson already knew that the first episode of “Tales of the City” would appear in the next day’s San Francisco Chronicle.  He secretly purchased an early edition of the next day’s paper.  He entertained Maupin and the rest of the group by reading the column aloud, as Maupin put it: “rather drunkenly but with great charm”.

Fairmont Hotel, 950 Mason Street (the east side of Mason between California and Stockton)

During her book tour stop in San Francisco, Wren Douglas stayed in a suite in the Fairmont (Significant Others).  

From her west facing suite Wren and her limo driver were able to watch the sunset.  While watching the sunset, Wren received a call from Roger (Booter) Manigault.  He had a proposition for her.  Wren agreed to meet Booter in the Cirque Room in the hotel’s lobby.   When Wren arrived, Booter was already sitting in the Cirque Room at a corner banquette.

Fairmont Hotel