The Good, Bad, Naughty, Ugly and Weird: 2, part 2

This is a continuation of my Good, Bad, Naughty, Ugly and Weird (GBNUW) article focused entirely on Mitchell Brothers O’Farrell Street Theater (MBOT) in San Francisco. Mitchell Brothers closed in 2020 during the pandemic, but is responsible for many strip club innovations (including the lap dance) and their proliferation. Playboy dubbed MBOT the “place to go in San Francisco!”, and Hunter S. Thompson was a big fan. This two-part article is an homage to what I consider the best strip club ever and a call-out to fellow mongers to share details on their favorite clubs. The first half of this article published on TUSCL in August focused on the good aspects of MBOT and described the club, the rooms, the various shows, some of the dancers and a little history. The second half will explore the Naughty, Weird, Ugly and Bad aspects of this club.

The Naughty. I have an all-time favorite stripper. Not surprisingly she worked at MBOT from about 1999 to 2003, and went by the stage name Natalie Bridges. A white dancer that could easily pass for a sorority girl with straight blond hair to her mid back and an athlete’s body. She had a small, but toned ass, b-cups with small areola, no tattoos, and stood around 5’4” without shoes. I can picture her vividly from two perspectives. The first is standing. She would wear slip-on heels with a wide, clear strap and a modest platform (not the ridiculously tall platform shoes most strippers wear). She always stood with her feet together and was very still, like a statue, in her bikini. Sometimes she covered her lower half with a very small, pink sarong. She had a warm smile that she seemed to flash with some reservation. Not that she was glum or moody. Maybe being a little guarded was her defense mechanism. I took it to mean that her head was elsewhere, someplace better for her. She was beautiful and very classy. My second memorable perspective of her was looking down on the top of her head with her eyes occasionally looking up at me and her feet tucked behind her. When I visited MBOT and Natalie was working, I knew how my visit would end, and I would delay the inevitable as long as possible. Once she was finished with me, I knew that nothing was going to rival that high and I would head out into the San Francisco night grateful but a little wobbly on my feet.

The Weird. Have you ever visited a strip club and recognized one of the dancers from your private life? I attended UC Berkeley in the early 90’s for grad school. One of my work-study co-workers was a tall, blonde undergrad. She seemed very serious and not at all friendly. We got along fine, but did not talk much. Toward the end of my time at Berkeley, one of my other co-workers told me that the tall, stand-offish blonde had posed for Playboy. Surprising I thought, but not something I was ever curious enough to validate. Because I am writing this article some 32 years later, I was compelled to verify this detail. Sure enough, she is included in “Girls of the Pac-10” pictorial of the October 1993 issue. She is listed as “Stacey Addison” if you visited MBOT during this era and want to look it up. I do not remember the first time I saw her working as a dancer at Mitchell Brothers. I do remember being uncomfortable and avoiding her. Because I had a MBOT fixation and “Stacey” worked a lot, I would see her often. I never asked if she remembered me from school or took her for a private dance though she approached me many times over the years. This is not the only time my effort to partition my personal life from my strip club life was tested (fodder for another article I guess). I do regret not being courageous enough to engage her in a conversation. There are many questions I should have asked.

The Ugly. When I first visited MBOT around 1992 the Green Door performance was a shower show complete with running water. After the cursory lesbian show in the showers, dancers would ascend the adjacent tables, lay on their backs and show off their pussies to the assembled patrons. I loved this show. The lighting was much better than at the main stage and you’d get a good show for $5 or so. This show alone would have me coming back in a few weeks. One of the girls who only worked the Green Door shows at this time had vitiligo on her pussy. This is a condition that looks like bleached skin. In this girl’s case the bleaching seemed limited to her pussy lips. This alone did not bother me. I remember this dancer as petite with a hot, little body. But something else was off with her. She did not talk in clear sentences, and I remember her being really loud and confrontational. I thought she was high and unstable, so I carefully avoided her. After about a year I no longer saw her at MBOT and figure they canned her for her behavior and not her unusual pussy.

The Bad. MBOT was great on most nights but typically for just part of the time. If a performance was going especially at the Green Door, which was adjacent to the main stage, the energy was palpable. The other performance spaces (The Kopenhagen Lounge, Ultra Room, and Cine Stage) were so far away that there was no sound from those performances that could be heard at the main stage. On many nights at the end of the club’s run only one of the rooms would be active in addition to the main stage and the porn flic running in “CineStage”. If the house was less crowded and one of these shows started, the club managers would not start a performer on the main stage. If you were not interested in the other shows, typically staffed by new or less attractive dancers, you waited 10-20 minutes for the action on the main stage to pick up again. This could also be true on a busy night if most of the dancers were tied up with private dances. The lengthy delay between performances became a MBOT signature. There was ample time most nights to contemplate life and wonder why I was sitting alone in a dark room. Venues like Hong Kong in TJ, Cheetah in Atlanta, Cheetah Pompano Beach, and Cheetah San Diego, clubs known for their private dances and other activities, never have long lulls between dancers especially on weekend nights. Also MBOT had no screens for watching sports. During championship runs for the 49ers, Giants, and Warriors, MBOT was definitely NOT the place to go during game times. I am sure it was lively after the games.

If you visited MBOT especially in the 1970’s or 1980’s I’d love to hear your stories about the place. I do miss it and your memories will likely be very entertaining. If this reaches one of the former MBOT dancers, I’d love to hear your perspective on the place as well. And if you have a favorite club that may have hooked you on these dens of debauchery, please share your stories on what makes your regular clubs so great.