The Mitchells’ History

* July 4, 1969: Jim and Artie Mitchell open O’Farrell Theatre in San Francisco. The theater features adult films and live stage shows. Three weeks later, the theater is raided by police, the first in a long series of legal confrontations for the pair.

* 1971: The brothers film “Behind the Green Door,” starring Marilyn Chambers. The film, a pornographic hit, is dubbed “The Gone With the Wind” of sex films.

* Mid-1970s: The Mitchells expand their adult-theater chain to 11 locations, including one in Santa Ana that becomes the center of a years-long battle pitting the brothers against the city council. One councilman calls the theater “a cancer.” At one point, council members hire a retired policeman armed with an 8-millimeter camera wrapped in a brown towel to film the movies shown at the theater. The crusade ended in 1987.

* February, 1985: An estimated 25 to 30 San Francisco police officers raid the O’Farrell Theater and arrest sex star Marilyn Chambers for prostitution, perhaps the most famous arrest in connection with the Mitchell Brothers.

* March, 1985: The brothers release the pornographic film “The Grafenberg Spot,” which was made to raise money for their perennial legal conflicts.

* Dec. 28, 1989: The California Supreme Court throws out six-month jail terms imposed in 1982 on the brothers for allegedly allowing lewd acts in the O’Farrell, in violation of a court order. The charges stemmed from a 1981 undercover police operation in which naked women were filmed sitting on customers’ laps.

* May 21, 1990: Jim and Artie Mitchell organize a small auto convoy and drive from San Francisco to Aspen, Colo., in a show of support for journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, who was then facing felony charges for possession of drugs and explosives as well as misdemeanor charges, including sexual assault. They present Thompson with a red convertible.

* Feb. 27, 1991: Artie Mitchell is shot to death. Brother Jim is charged with the crime.