jim mitchell died today and the whale mural

mitchell brothers theater, originally uploaded by PourLeCorps.

when i was a little boy i always enjoyed the whale mural on polk and o'farrell streets. what i found out years later was that the whales were on the side of the mitchell brother's adult theater. the mitchell brothers opened the theater in 1969 and shot and produced such classic movies as 'behind the green door.' i guess the reason it was such a popular porn film was because marilyn chambers was also an ivory soap model. i think i heard somewhere that in previous decades there was pretty much only kind of soap: ivory. hunter thompson was the night manager of the theater for 2 years to research a never published book. read more about jim shooting the other brother, artie. obituary

now both mitchell's brothers are dead but the whales, although a little faded and with some graffiti, are still there. they have moved to the back of the building so they are no longer on polk st. the jungle scene pictured above is now the offering on polk. it is sad, as the whales were much more at home on polk st.