Mitchell Bros. Theatre, The ‘Carnegie Hall of Sex,’ Is For Sale

Once described by legendary journalist Hunter S. Thompson as “the Carnegie Hall of public sex in America,” the Mitchell Brothers' O’Farrell Theatre in San Francisco is up for sale. But according to the real estate agent marketing the building, a new owner will be free to keep the adult entertainment establishment running, The San Francisco Weekly reported this week. Located at 895 O’Farrell Street in the city’s notorious Tenderloin district, the theater served as the set for the 1972 breakthrough porn film Behind The Green Door, produced by the Mitchells and starring a former Ivory Snow model named Marilyn Chambers, and which was one of the most important films of that era in opening hardcore adult entertainment to a mass audience and creating a phenomenon dubbed “porno chic” by The New York Times.  The Mitchell Brothers Theatre is also widely considered to the place where the “lap dance” was invented. But there has been no sale price listed yet, in case anyone is interested in purchasing the historic venue. But a new tenant can lease both floors of the structure for about $39,000 per month. Brothers Jim and Artie Mitchell had a contentious relationship to say the least. Reportedly frustrated and angered by his brother’s alcoholism, Jim Mitchell shot his brother to death in 1991. He served less than three years behind bars for the killing, but died in 2007 of an apparent heart attack at age 63. But the Mitchells never owned the building that housed their famous theater, where Chambers was arrested in 1985 for “undulating” and permitting audience members to touch her in an intimate fashion. They were always simply renters. “I’m actually working for the family who’ve owned the building since—I believe it was back in the late '50s or early '60s. The Mitchell Brothers have been their tenants for 50 years,” said real estate agent Susan Jordan, who represents the property. “There’s a lot of potential for the building, possibly development, and also possibly for getting another tenant in there in the same business.” Photo by BlackAsker/Wikimedia Commons Public Domain