Mitchell Brothers Theater Mural

 Posted by on July 21, 2012
Jul 212012
 
Corner of O’Farrell and Polk
The Tenderloin
This sweet and rather innocuous mural is on the side of Mitchell Brothers Theater. The Mitchell Brothers O’Farrell Theatre is an adult club, opened as an X-rated movie theater by Jim and Artie Mitchell on July 4, 1969, the O’Farrell remains one of America’s oldest and most notorious adult-entertainment establishments; by 1980, the nightspot had become a major force in popularizing close-contact lap dancing, which would become the norm in striptease clubs nationwide. The late journalist Hunter S. Thompson, a longtime friend of the Mitchells and frequent visitor at the club, claimed to be its night manager in 1985. He called the O’Farrell “the Carnegie Hall of public sex in America” and Playboy magazine praised it as “the place to go in San Francisco!”

The Mitchell brothers opened the O’Farrell as an adult cinema on the site of a former two-story Pontiac car dealership. Upstairs they produced and directed the pornographic films they showed downstairs.

In February 1991, the theater entered the news after Jim Mitchell fatally shot Artie. Michael Kennedy defended Jim Mitchell and convinced the jury that Jim killed Artie because the latter was psychotic from drugs and had become dangerous. Jim Mitchell was sentenced to six years in prison for voluntary manslaughter and released from San Quentin in 1997, after having served half his sentence.

This original mural was painted in 1977 (Lou Silva with Ed Monroe, Daniel Burgevin, Todd Stanton, and Gary William Graham), 1983 (Lou Silva-solo), and 1990 by Lou Silva with the assistance of Joanne Maxwell Wittenbrook, Ed Monroe, Mark Nathan Clark, and Juan “Blackwolf” Karlos.

Notable visitors, while the murals were in progress, included: Melvin Belli, Marilyn Chambers, Paul Kantner of Jefferson Starship, Japanese film star Toshiro Mifune, Huey P. Newton, Hunter S. Thompson, and American actress Edy Williams.

The murals were sponsored in their entirety by Jim and Artie Mitchell.

The mural was repainted in April/May of 2012. This time the artists were John Wentz, Matt Robertson, Mike Poland, Lindsey Millikan, Craig Gillooly, Hana Ihaya, Jaqueline Moore, Janet Song, Wythe Bowarty, Karina Svalya, Emilio Villalba, Maurice Sampson, Jeremy Eaton and Joevic Yeban.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  6 Responses to “Mitchell Brothers Theater Mural”

  1. Bruce Clark says:
    July 21, 2012 at 6:45 am

    Great looking mural. We have a similar one in downtown New London, CT. Its amazing what can be done on such a large scale.

  2. JM says:
    July 21, 2012 at 9:00 am

    Fantastic! I love the underwater world. And I love whales although I have only ‘met’ one (and her calf) once. 🙂

  3. RedPat says:
    July 21, 2012 at 10:14 am

    Not what you would expect on such an adult only establishment.

  4. AVCr8teur says:
    July 21, 2012 at 10:34 pm

    With a beautiful mural like that, one would expect an aquarium inside. My parents had a restaurant not far from there when I was a child. Little did I know so many famous people have been by this theater you mentioned it.

  5. geetlee says:
    July 21, 2012 at 11:34 pm

    Wow! The mural is so gorgeous.. love the depiction of the marine life.
    It paints such a different picture from the history of the O’Farrell theater (amazing story, thanks for sharing)

  6. Gail says:
    July 23, 2012 at 8:36 pm

    The murals certainly don’t give you any idea of what is inside the theater! What a history this place has!

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