Tours of the Tales

Because DeDe’s back is to the window, she doesn’t see Mary Ann and Beauchamp; however, Binky, who sits facing the window, does.  The reflection of a passing cable car can be seen in the window of their restaurant.  Although the façade of the Washington Square Bar and Grill was used in the movie, there is no restaurant across the street from it.  Across the street from the restaurant is a small triangular extension of Washington Square Park.  Furthermore, the closest cable car line to this location is actually one block away on Mason.  It is during this lunch that Beauchamp proposes that he and Mary Ann get away the coming weekend to Mendocino.  Here is that scene.

In the book Tales of the City, DeDe and her friend Binky were in a different part of town when they saw Beauchamp and Mary Ann out together for lunch.  They were shopping at La Remise de Soleil (in Jackson Square) when DeDe caught sight of Beauchamp and Mary Ann.  However, the restaurant where Mary Ann and Beauchamp ate lunch was not mentioned by name.  In addition, it was at a later lunch date and at a different restaurant when Beauchamp proposed the tryst to Mary Ann.  The movie combines these two separate events in the book into a single one.

In More Tales of the City, Mary Ann and Burk ate dinner here one evening.  Once back at home, Mary Any proposed that they go to the San Francisco Flower Mart hoping that exposing Burk to so many roses would “short circuit” whatever it was that was freaking him about roses.

1707 Powell Street (Washington Square Bar and Grill)

1707 Powell Street (west side of Powell between Union and Columbus) 

This is the former location of the Washington Square Bar and Grill.  The front of the restaurant no longer looks like it did when The Washington Square Bar and Grill operated here.

Anna and Edgar had their first date at the Washington Square Bar and Grill: “Everybody’s trying to be so godawful literary.  For the price of a hamburger, you can look like you’ve just completed a slim volume of verse”.  After they ate, they drove to the beach at Point Bonita. (Tales of the City/28 Barbary Lane pp.58-59)

In Further Tales of the City, Jon unexpectedly appeared at Barbary Lane and found Mrs. Madrigal with cuts on her back (which she acquired from her tussle with Bambi Kanetaka).  After Jon dressed her wounds, Mrs. Madrigal hustled Jon out of the apartment building and down the hill to the Washington Square Bar and Grill for dinner.  They dined at a window seat.

While Michael packed for his trip to England (Babycakes), Mary Anne stopped by his apartment to give him a bon voyage package from Ned.  Mary Anne noticed a second suitcase in Michael’s apartment.  It was Simon Bardill’s.  Simon dropped it off in anticipation of his apartment exchange with Michael before coming down the hill to the Washington Square for dinner.

The Washington Square Bar and Grill was a San Francisco institution.  It was long a hangout for the City’s politicians, writers/authors, and musicians.  It closed in August 2010.  Coincidentally on the same day it closed its doors, one of its two original owners passed away.  In late 2011, it was replaced by the Bottle Cap, which has, in turn, been replaced by The Square, followed by Lillie Coit, which has been replaced by nothing.  The building is once again vacant.  

Later in Tales of the City, after meeting Brian while he was working at Perry’s, D’orothea agreed to meet him here for drinks after he finished his shift.  During drinks, Brian learned about D’orothea, her career, and ultimately about her return to San Francisco to reconcile with her former lover…a woman.

In the “Tales of the City” miniseries, Mary Ann and Beauchamp are seen walking up to the entrance of the Washington Square Bar and Grill to have lunch.  DeDe and Binky are having lunch in a restaurant across the street.