It is named after businessman Anson Parsons Hotaling, who maintained a warehouse on the lane for his whiskey, which may have helped saving the building in the 1906 earthquake and fire, as commemorated in a poem by Charles K. Field that today is displayed on a plaque there:
The building was named after businessman Anson Parsons Hotaling, who had a warehouse on the lane for his whiskey, which may have protected it from damage during the 1906 earthquake and fire, as commemorated in a poem by Charles K. Field that is displayed on a plaque: