Manager of historic California strip club, site of infamous death by piano, is fatally shot
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Decades after a bouncer was infamously killed by a piano during a sexual interlude, tragedy has once again struck the legendary Condor Club in San Francisco. The general manager of the historic topless bar was recently shot outside his Santa Rosa home, and his killer, for now, remains a mystery.
The Santa Rosa Police Department is investigating the homicide of Mark Calcagni, 60, who was found lying unresponsive on Brookwood Avenue near Birdsfoot Way at 6:25 a.m. Friday. He was shot multiple times, and the motive behind the attack is unknown.
On Wednesday, the department was still searching for a suspect and a murder weapon, said department spokesperson Sgt. Patricia Seffens. Anyone with information about the incident, or nearby residents with security camera video, are urged to come forward.
The Condor Club acknowledged “the tragic death of our beloved general manager Mark Calcagni” in a Wednesday statement, saying that his sudden passing has been met with shock and sorrow.
“Mark’s memory — his warmth, generosity and commitment to community — will endure,” the club said. “On behalf of everyone at Condor Club, we send our deepest condolences and stand in solidarity with those mourning this extraordinary loss.”
The Condor Club, which began providing adult entertainment in 1964, bills itself as the oldest topless bar in America and the birthplace of topless entertainment.
The documentary “Carol Doda Topless at the Condor” is a funny, energetic look at the North Beach sensation who ignited a craze and heralded a new era of sexual liberation.
It has collected its fair share of colorful tales over the course of six decades in business.
Perhaps most notable is the infamous 1983 piano incident, when bouncer Jimmy Ferrozzo and his girlfriend, exotic dancer Theresa Hill, had intercourse on a white piano that, during shows, was lowered from the ceiling by cables. But the couple accidentally hit the “on” switch, and the piano rose to the ceiling, fatally crushing Ferrozzo in the process.
The piano was first made famous by exotic dancer Carol Doda, who made her nightly entrance atop the instrument. Doda was credited with widely popularizing topless dancing, with her dazzling onstage persona, and gained worldwide fame through her act in the 1960s and ’70s.
In 1965, the club was raided by police, and Doda was arrested on an indecent exposure charge. The club’s then-owners, Gino Del Prete and Pete Mattioli, were charged with “running a disorderly house,” according to reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle. They were all acquitted later that year in a case that established that topless bars such as the Condor Club did not violate California’s obscenity laws. Doda died in 2015 at age 78 due to complications related to kidney failure.
Calcagni helped keep history alive as general manager of the Condor Club, which in 2022 became the first adult entertainment venue designated as a legacy business by the city of San Francisco.
“He was a really great guy,” Wolfgang Welch, general manager of the nearby Vanity nightclub, told Gazetteer. “He always spoke so highly of keeping the community and the family as strong and tied together as he could; he was always a ‘willing to take his shirt off to give it to someone else’ kind of guy.”
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