Started in 1976 as a newspaper serial following the adventures of the various eccentrics living at 28 Barbary Lane (a stand-in for Russian Hill’s Macondray Lane), “Tales” ran for years in The Chronicle, spawning six books and three television miniseries.

After 18 years, Maupin has returned to Barbary Lane with a new book — “Michael Tolliver Lives,” out Tuesday from HarperCollins — which is another love song to Maupin’s adopted home.

Tuesday, the city returns the compliment; Mayor Gavin Newsom has declared June 12 “Michael Tolliver Day in San Francisco.”

“I wanted to illuminate the process of growing older as a gay man, and make it easier for people who think life is over,” he says. “Gay men who are growing old are incredibly lucky to be here.”

Maupin’s life hasn’t been untouched by AIDS; like so many, he lost a loved one. The optimistic outlook he has today has been hard won.

“But if I’d known that 63 was going to feel this good, I would have been a lot more cheerful along the way,” says Maupin. He and Turner, who is 27 years younger, were married this year in Vancouver, British Columbia; Turner runs a Web site for gay men over 40 who are searching for younger partners.

“Age is the last closet you come out of in the gay world,” he says, and that’s more than just a snappy coinage.

“There are such gloomy visions of gay men aging. But if you worship beauty above all else, if you worship sex above all else, you’re in trouble. If you’re not working on your heart every second, you are going to have a very sad old age.”

Author appearance

Tuesday is “Michael Tolliver Day” in San Francisco. Armistead Maupin will appear at 12:30 p.m. at Book Passage, 1 Ferry Building, #42, San Francisco, (415) 835-1020, www.bookpassage.com; and at 7 p.m. at Books Inc., Opera Plaza, 601 Van Ness, San Francisco, (415) 776-1111, www.booksinc.net.