Death by piano
Once upon a time San Francisco was known for its vices, for its streetcars named desire, as it were. Now, not so much. The center of sensation, and relentless irreverence, has always been in North Beach along Broadway, with its string of nudie houses, sex shops, and Beat nightclubs like the Hungry i (i for intellectual or id, depending on which urban legend you believe). Bill Cosby started there; Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl were regulars. These days, gentrification has led to fewer but more upscale strip clubs; including Showgirls and Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club. Meanwhile, the iconic Hungry i is now the Hungry I Club, a down market strip joint a few doors from the original establishment.
The greatest of all the strip clubs on Broadway was the Condor, on the corner of Columbus. It’s still there, with its vintage French quarter décor. In 1964, it became the first topless club in America; then the first bottomless club, in 1969. Carol Doda (born 1937), who studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, was the star of the show and, following 44 silicon injections, her breasts would be forever known as “the new twin peaks of San Francisco.” She performed through the 1980s and her act always began with a piano being lowered from above and ended with her stripping down to a “monokini.”
Info
Address 560 Broadway Street, San Francisco, CA, 94133, www.condorsf.com, +1 415.781.8222 | Public Transport Bus: 8X ( Columbus Ave & Broadway St stop); 12 (Pacific Ave & Grant Ave stop); 30 (Stockton St & Columbus Ave stop) | Hours Daily 12pm–2am| Tip The historic Vesuvio cafe is just a block away at 255 Columbus Avenue. The bar was frequented by many Beat Generation personalities, including Jack Kerouac, Bob Dylan, Dylan Thomas, and Francis Ford Coppola.
The Condor, which today combines strippers and sports, is known for a bizarre incident in 1983 when, one night after closing, a club bouncer got heavily involved with his girlfriend on top of the famous piano, which accidently began ascending, eventually pressing the couple against the ceiling. The bouncer died of asphyxiation while his girlfriend lay pinned underneath him. At 7am the next morning a janitor came upon the scene. It took emergency crews three hours to set the woman free. The white piano still hangs over the stage.
It’s said that this gentlemen’s club is also home to a secret bar in the back.
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