The general manager of a historic San Francisco topless bar was shot and killed outside his Santa Rosa home last week and, at least for now, his killer’s identity remains unknown, according to multiple media outlets.
Police say Mark Calcagni, 60, was found unresponsive in the bike lane of Brookwood Avenue near Birdsfoot Way at around 6:25 a.m. on Oct. 3, KTLA’s sister-station KRON reported.
Officials with the Santa Rosa Police Department said the manager of the Condor Club had been shot multiple times and that a motive for the homicide is unknown.
The club, which opened in 1964 and bills itself as the birthplace of topless entertainment in the country, is no stranger to scandal and tragedy. It is infamously known for the 1983 piano death of another employee during a sexual interlude, the L.A. Times reported.
While the club’s bouncer Jimmy Ferrozzo and his girlfriend, Theresa Hill, an exotic dancer, were engaged in intercourse on the piano, which during shows came down from the ceiling attached to cables, the couple hit the on switch by accident, causing the piano to rise up and fatally crush the bouncer against the ceiling.
Dancer Carol Doda, who started her nightly shows atop the piano, is credited with making topless dancing popular. She gained worldwide fame in the 1960s and ‘70s because of her act. She passed away in 2015 at the age of 78.
Just a year after the Condor Club opened, police raided the establishment on the grounds of indecent exposure, arresting then club-owners Gine Del Prete and Pete Mattioli, who were charged with “running a disorderly house,” according to The Times. They were later acquitted in a case that went on to establish that topless bars did not violate California’s obscenity laws.
The Condor Club acknowledge its most recent tragedy in a statement Wednesday, saying “the tragic death of our beloved general manager Mark Calcagni” has left them shocked and saddened.
“Mark’s memory – his warmth, generosity and commitment to community – will endure,” the statement continued. “On behalf of everyone at Condor Club, we send our deepest condolences and stand in solidarity with those mourning this extraordinary loss.”
In 2022, under Calcagni’s watch, the Condor Club became San Francisco’s first adult entertainment venue designated a legacy business by the city.
“He was a really great guy,” Wolfgang Welch, who manages 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.”
A spokesperson for the Santa Rose Police Department said that as of Oct. 8, investigators have been unable to locate a suspect or a weapon in the deadly shooting and that anyone with information or residents with security camera footage is urged to contact police.
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