Another legend closes forever.

avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
Atlanta suburb
SF's O'Farrell Theatre strip club closes after 50 years.

Story:

https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/articl…

9 comments

Jump to latest
avatar for whodey
whodey
4 years ago
It's been said many times before but "Fuck 2020" is what comes to mind right now.
avatar for mjpenn07
mjpenn07
4 years ago
Damn. Sad to see it go, even if it was a long time coming. The experience had definitely gone downhill even in the short time that I’ve called myself an occasional patron (2016) but I’d still pop in on occasion. With MBOT’s demise I guess the crazy horse is all that’s left of it’s ilk. Fingers crossed it hangs on.
avatar for Muddy
Muddy
4 years ago
I went last year and it was rough. It reminds me of a italian market store in Manhattan that was around since the 19th century called Manganaro's. Very famous but it closed in 2012 due to average food and the women who ran the place apparently were witches. You can't just live off your history, ain't good enough.

I could see alot more to follow. In my area I'm so disappointed and upset with how the clubs are run that I don't really give a shit if they implode. I'd like to see something better rise from the ashes.
avatar for Lone_Wolf
Lone_Wolf
4 years ago
Sad news. Club had very mixed reviews. Forty a dance is high even for the SF area. Add in high hustle marginal talent and it's a recipe for disaster.
avatar for Subraman
Subraman
4 years ago
As I've said many times: In its heyday -- pre-2007 -- it was probably the best SC that ever has, or ever will, exist on American soil... I guess the caveat is, "if you had the money". I've never heard of anything like it before or since. Girls as hot as the high end alcohol LV or LA clubs, in fact, LV girls used to fly in to work shifts, the only time I've ever heard of the out-migration from LV. But at the same time, fully available extras in private rooms. Relatively (for an extras club) artistic dances on stage. Multiple performance rooms with different ways of interacting.

It's been useless for 13+ years -- it went to complete shit after the consent decree, and previewed in part what would happen once the girls became employees. But it was a privilege to come of age as a PL during the runnup to that catastrophe

avatar for azdd
azdd
4 years ago
I visited MBOT once maybe 15 years ago and remember being completely underwhelmed. I had a HJ in one of the little booths behind the porn theater, but it was just a really weird experience. I’m surprised it held on as long as it did.
avatar for Cashman1234
Cashman1234
4 years ago
I read about this place when I was younger - and I always wished I had been able to experience it in its heyday.

I believe there were two Marilyn Chambers short films shot there - Beyond DeSade and Never a Tender Moment. The action was rough - and a bit grainy - but I enjoyed her “work” many times.

It’s sad to hear the doors are now closed for good.
avatar for JamesSD
JamesSD
4 years ago
My understanding is when Meta O'farrell Johnson took over in 2010 she tried to make it more dancer friendly and less of a brothel. So basically a tourist trap.

Pre covid it looked like high SF rents were going to take it out. But I guess in the end it was covid.
avatar for Subraman
Subraman
4 years ago
"and I always wished I had been able to experience it in its heyday."

Here's my description -- probably over-romanticized a bit lol

I was obviously not there in the 70s and 80s, there was a period in there the really old timers talk about that sounds amazing. I started going during it's second renaissance, in 96 when willie brown got voted in and we all knew it would become a free-for-all. My first trip there I was struck by how beautiful the girls were. At the time, it was transitioning to an extras club -- there were no extras girls, "you can jerk yourself off but I'm not touching it" girls, HJ-only, BJ-only, and FS girls, all roaming the place at the same time. Multiple private rooms, from little standup phone booths, to small couch rooms, to bed like rooms were around.

By 1998:
1. Most of the girls were doing extras
2. The club saw that too much money was being made and wanted a piece, so put meters in the rooms
3. The beauty standards remained top tier. Imagine Sapphire Vegas on Saturday night -- they had that level of talent on all shifts, including dayshift (which even Sapphires and Spearmint Rhino Vegas can't manage). Lots of PLs in tech preferred dayshift, and that's who could afford the prices, so dayshift was a match for night shift, the only difference was 20-30 girls dayshift and 50+ nightshift. You'd walk in and be so struck by how many incredibly beautiful girls were in one small place. ON DAYSHIFT

Through the next 5 years, beauty levels stayed the same. I particularly remember a legendary new class in 2001 of impossibly gorgeous girls. At the same time, the club continued to raise prices in various ways. Unfortunately, by about 2005 the business model had changed so much that it was harder to justify going, and beauty standards starting slipping also. 2007 was the consent decree and the last straw for me, the business model made it so costs to me didn't make any sense, and because the girls were now employees: 1. there were far fewer of them, sometimes 4-6 girls on day shift, and 2. the girls made far less and as a result the hotter girls looked elsewhere. Gold Club, a no-extras low-contact alcohol club run by the evil empire, secured and has easily retained the title of hottest girls in the city.

All of my SC time revolved around MBOT until 2007. I switched to no-extras alcohol clubs and doing OTC after that, as the remaining extras clubs were not that interesting (CH through like 2012 could be fun at times)
You must be a member to leave a comment.Join Now