The ground-breaking LGBTQ television series, based on the equally ground-breaking queer books, is back — and Attitude is the only magazine outside America invited to the set of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City

Words Darren Scott

STEP BACK IN TIME: The set of 28 Barbary Lane

A lot of familiar characters will be returning to our screens soon for the new Tales of the City series, but there’s one thing without which the show just wouldn’t be the same: 28 Barbary Lane. The fictional San Francisco apartment building owned by the mysterious Anna Madrigal has appeared in nine novels, a musical by Jake Shears and three previous television adaptations based on Armistead Maupin’s books.

This time around, for Netlix’s 10-part, modern-day sequel, the “wellweathered, three-storey structure” is currently housed in Studio N1 at Silvercup Studios in the New York borough The Bronx.

With the property only ever existing in the real world for short periods of time, it’s something of a dream come true to be walking towards one of the most famous buildings in queer history. Throw in the actual Mary Ann Singleton as our tour guide, and the excitement is difficult to contain.

Laura Linney, who has played Mary Ann in all of the television versions, breaks into a huge smile as she beckons us to follow her on set. “Welcome to Barbary Lane. Isn’t that something? Isn’t that great?”

Great is an understatement. The house and garden are a huge construction, spreading outwards and upwards across the sound stage. Something, we inform Laura, that we never thought we’d see again.