The Good, Bad (Naughty), Ugly and Weird: 2, part 1

This is my second Good, Bad (Naughty), Ugly and Weird (GNUW) article. These musings are highlights and lowlights from my 30-year patronage of strip clubs and include observations about what makes these places irresistible and what could make these experiences even better. Each topic in the title will be addressed, but not necessarily in the order listed. Today I am focusing all my comments on one club: Mitchell Brothers O’Farrell Street Theater in San Francisco. Sadly, MBOF is now closed, but the club has a legendary history and popularized many of the strip club features we enjoy today. It is also my all-time favorite, and I have been to many great clubs over the years including 4 Play in LA, Baby Dolls in Dallas, Cheetah’s in Atlanta, Cheetah Pompano Beach, Desire in Providence, Hong Kong in TJ, and Tootsies in Miami. None of these clubs top MBOT in my humble opinion. Please share your agreement or dissent with my opinions and the topics I raise in the comments. And if you visited MBOT back in the day and can add insights to my remembrances, please do so. My first GNUW article generated a lot of discussion; I hope the second one is just as successful. And I am especially eager to hear if anyone is aware of a club that could rival my MBOT experiences.

The Good. Mitchell Brothers opened in 1969, well before I was legally allowed to enter, and closed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The club and the brothers, Artie and Jim, have an extensive history that you can learn about through Wikipedia, a book titled “X-rated”, a Hollywood movie of the same title starring brothers Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez, and a YouTube video on the forensics used in the murder trial of Jim Mitchell who shot and killed his brother in 1991. The history includes trials with San Francisco district attorneys over the public display of pornographic material and prostitution accusations of MBOT dancers.

The club featured 5 “performance areas” and it would be incorrect to describe some of these as “stages” since there was no stage involved. “New York Live” was the main stage. This rectangular thrust stage had theater seats on three sides and two dancer poles, one on each front corner. The stage height was ideal, higher that the first row of seats but lower than eye height. Most of the scheduled dancers would perform here, and all were nude by the end of their sets. There was a dancer in the late 90s- early 2000s who would end her set here with Dave Mathews “Crash into Me,” spreading her pushy lips to the delight of the front-row patrons. And unlike any other club I’ve ever visited, some dancers would perform the entirety of their last set with no clothing whatsoever. No panties, no lingerie, no shoes. Seeing dancers walk around on their toes completely naked was mesmerizing.

The second most utilized performance area was called the Ultra Room. The space had a raised stage and was surrounded by privacy booths for the patrons. This was typically staffed by two girls who would provide a lesbian show. Sometimes the show involved air licking of pussy and feigned ecstasy. But sometimes the show and ecstasy were very real and would include a dildo or two. After “performing” for a few songs, the dancers would visit patrons at the surrounding booths. For a few dollars dancers would provide up-close views of their anatomy. When I first visited MBOT there was a glass barrier between the dancers and patrons at the Ultra Room and dollars had to be fished to the dancers through a slot in the wall. The divider was eventually removed. Occasionally the dancers, nude by the end of their show, would slip into the privacy booth with the patrons. I believe dancers assigned to the Ultra Room were the new hires.

MBOT included another space called the Kopenhagen Lounge that was used for flashlight shows. The space turned off supplemental lighting for these shows and was surrounded by a leather bench where patrons would find evenly-spaced-out flashlights. The entry to the room was closed off by a heavy curtain that would eliminate all external light sources. Two dancers would enter this dark space, shed their clothes and perform a lesbian show. After the show the dancers would offer nude lap dances to the patrons. This was by far my least favorite space at MBOT because the visibility was so bad. If a dancer positioned her legs so the flashlight angle could illuminate her juicy bits, you might see something interesting. Unlike the other parts of the club, dancers displaying pussy was not a big part of the performance. Instead the dancers would transition quickly to offering lap dances. And the whole flashlight element was obnoxious. Other patrons from across the room would light up patrons and not the dancers, and the mirrors above and behind the benches would reflect the flashlights badly.

The club also included a space called the “Green Door” room named for the Mitchell Brothers’ most famous porn flick. When I first visited MBOT this area was used for real shower shows complete with running water. Eventually the showers were eliminated. Shower shows or not this space typically featured at least 4 performers who would pair up after the brief show and circulate to the round tables adjacent to this stage. The tables were raised and surrounded by fixed stools if I remember correctly. One dancer would climb onto the table and have her “partner” spread, lick, or penetrate her pussy for a few dollars in tips. After circulating through the room, the dancers would entertain private shows at nearby booths. Each Green Door dancer had a bag of various dildos and would ask which one we wanted them to use for their shows. They would lie on their backs with their legs on the patron’s shoulders or back their asses into our faces in doggy position and work their pussies. Needless to say, the Green Door performances really blew my mind as a Midwestern transplant to SF.

The last space at MBOT was called “Cine-stage.” This was a theater space that on most nights showed pornos in a continuous loop. The space had a very steep rake and cushy seats. Occasionally they would run a show in the space on the stage in front of the movie screen. These were often themed skits that would feature 4-6 of the dancers. I saw one or two of these and found them more silly than titillating. On most nights this was a good, quite place to hang out away from the other, busier parts of the club. At some point ownership removed the last rows of seats and put private booths in this area.

Dancers who were not performing would circulate through the New York Live and Cine-stage seating offering lap or private dances. If you wanted a girl to visit you here, it was best to not sit in the front row at New York Live. Everywhere else was fair game. Getting a lap dance while watching a dancer perform was great fun, but I preferred when dancers would find me in the more private Cine-stage seating. Lap dances could also be enjoyed in Kopenhagen Lounge when it was not being used for a show. There were also lots of private rooms where the dancers offered everything from hand jobs to full service. In addition to the private rooms behind the Cine-stage seating and the Ultra Room booths, there where private rooms along the main hallway leading to New York Live and adjacent to the Green Room. One of my favorite dancers was a Korean girl who worked at MBOT in the late 1990s. She was smoking hot: perfect, thin and athletic body, beautiful brown skin, b-cups with pointy nipples. When I visited and she was working she always seemed genuinely happy to see me. She laughed a lot and always gave a great, grinding lap dance. Does anyone remember her stage name? At the time, she was only a few years younger than me, but would be in her fifties now.

I’m going to publish this and save the other MBOT topics: naughty, weird, ugly, and bad for another day.