My Happy Place: 28 Barbary Lane

 

by Pa Rock

Reader

I don't have an actual bucket list, but as my time on this never-ending carnival ride around the sun grows shorter, there are things I am rushing to get done.  One of those last-minute goals is to re-read several favorite books, and, as time permits, perhaps watch a few great movies one more time.  Early this week I picked up my old paperback copy of Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City," a book I originally read around 35 years ago, and for the past several days I have been lounging in my emotional happy place once again enjoying the author's beautiful writing and wonderful characters.

"Tales of the City" is the title of Volume 1 of a collection of fiction columns which Maupin wrote for the San Francisco Examiner in the 1970's.  The columns consisted of life scenes, character sketches, and the interwoven stories of a group of (primarily) young people living in and around a colorful boarding house at 28 Barbary Lane (a fictional location) during the early 1970's, just after the heyday of the hippie movement in the City by the Bay.  There are six volumes in the highly entertaining series.

Some of the material has been adapted into four television mini-series since 1993, with the most recent addition being by Netflix in 2019.  Many big names appeared in the series over the years, with two major characters, Mrs. Madrigal, the world's most laid-back and agreeable landlady, and Mary Ann Singleton, one of her tenants, being played by Olympia Dukakis and Laura Linney, respectively, throughout all four productions.

The interwoven stories are so quirky and entertaining that they prove difficult for some of us to put aside.  I read the entire series in just a few weeks back in the early 1990's, and most of my friends today who are familiar with Maupin's work have read them all.  In this trip back to Barbary Lane I have almost finished the first volume, and the second is on my bedside table waiting to be dusted off and cracked open.

I read every evening before going to sleep, and 28 Barbary Lane is a wonderful departure point for the night train to Slumbertown.  It is my happy place!