SAN FRANCISCO—Carol Doda, one of San Francisco’s most influential topless dancers, died at the age of 78, due to lung and kidney failure complications on Monday, November 9.
According to longtime friend Dick Winn, Doda died in the care of physicians and nurses at St. Luke’s Memorial Hospital after about eight months there. According to Winn, in an effort to make funeral arrangements without press intervention, Doda’s family and friends kept her death quiet for two days.
Doda was a San Francisco native, born in Solano County on August 29, 1937. According to performer Joe Wawrzyniak, at the age of 14, Doda dropped out of school and began working as a cocktail waitress. She began attending school at the San Francisco Art Institute while working as a waitress and entertainer at the Condor Club in North Beach.
In the summer of 1964, Doda began her performance career with her first topless show, and remained an “American cultural sex icon of the 1960s,” according to Wawrzyniak. At the peak of her career, Doda was performing 12 shows each night at the Condor Club, and began performing nude until the early 1970s when the city passed a law prohibiting nude performances in venues that served alcohol.
Doda’s fans considered her a winning combination of personality, humor, and good looks. Doda was recognized as a silicone pioneer, appearing as “Sally Silicone” with enlarged silicone-injected breasts in the 1968 cult film, “Head.”
Doda’s fame opened many doors, including serving as the spokesmodel for KICU-TV, channel 36 in the 1970s. In 1985, Doda eventually left the Condor Club and went on to model independently, open her own lingerie store, and perform with musicians.
Doda remains an iconic figure to the historical San Francisco sexual revolution and female liberation movement area to this day.
