Macondray Lane is a quiet, shaded alley with wooden walkways and flower-covered fences. It inspired 'Barbary Lane' in Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City books and 1993 TV series. It's named after Captain Frederick William Macondray (1803-1862) who established one of San Francisco's first mercantile firms in 1849 and made it the largest Chinese tea importer in the USA (he had help from his son-in-law, James Otis).