San Francisco has been a groundbreaking place in many ways, and a new documentary zeroes in on one of the city’s most surprising contributions to the cultural landscape: topless bars. As North Beach shimmied into the ’60s, press agent “Big” Davey Rosenberg worked overtime to grow clubs like the Condor and stars like Carol Doda. A new documentary, Carol Doda Topless at the Condor, tracks Doda’s ascent from San Francisco waitress to international icon, but in his latest for Alta Journal, contributor Jack Boulware centers Rosenberg’s contributions to live adult entertainment. Boulware joins Alta senior editor Matt Haber and the documentary’s directors, Jonathan Parker and Marlo McKenzie, to talk topless San Francisco and the man who made it all happen.
About the guests:
Jack Boulware was a cofounder and executive director of San Francisco’s Litquake literary festival. He’s currently working on a novel based on his experiences as a travel journalist and posts twice weekly at his Substack newsletter, What Jack Boulware Fails to Realize.
Jonathan Parker is a writer, director, producer, musician, and composer who is currently based in San Rafael. Parker’s first feature film, Bartleby, which he also scored, was the opening-night selection at the New Directors/New Films Festival at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Deauville. Starring David Paymer, Crispin Glover, and Glenne Headly, Bartleby was an official selection at SXSW as well as the Seattle, Munich, Jerusalem, and Karlovy Vary film festivals.
Parker’s film Untitled, starring Adam Goldberg and Marley Shelton, won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Cinema Choice Award at the Mannheim-Heidelberg Film Festival as well as Best American Film at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. The Architect, starring Parker Posey and Eric McCormack, made its world premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival and was an official selection at the Vancouver, Seoul, Rio de Janeiro, Houston, and Mill Valley film festivals.
Marlo McKenzie believes that story can change the world, and to create a better world, we must first be able to imagine it. She produced Butterfly Town, USA and Standing on Sacred Ground. McKenzie is also the director of My Secret Country, a documentary about children who invent imaginary friends and worlds, which is having its world premiere at the San Francisco Documentary Festival on June 2 at the Roxie Theater.
McKenzie lived several lives before finding a home as a producer and director in San Francisco. The Detroit native spent time in Europe, working in theater in Germany and studying in France. In Australia, McKenzie cofounded a video production company that helped underserved youth.•
