Legendary S.F. stripper Carol Doda dies at 78
Carol Doda, who helped take stripping out of the shadowy margins of American society and gained worldwide fame as a topless dancer in the 1960s and ’70s, died Monday of complications related to kidney failure. She was 78.
Longtime friend Dick Winn said friends and family wanted to keep the news quiet for a couple of days so they could make funeral arrangements in peace.
“San Francisco history is made up of characters, and Carol certainly was one of those,” said Charlotte Shultz, chief of protocol for San Francisco. “She changed Broadway and made news around the world. People said, ‘Only in San Francisco,’ and we didn’t mind people saying that.”
Ms. Doda was not the first stripper in San Francisco but she was probably the classiest, and she made her art form more acceptable to a mainstream audience. The city has always embraced the entertainer in any form, and Ms. Doda, with her combination of looks, personality and humor, was eagerly promoted as the city’s peep-show ambassador.
“Carol Doda was a part of that early scene that transformed North Beach into what one would expect to see in New Orleans or in some of the areas in Paris,” said former Mayor Willie Brown. “She was bright, able, beautiful, creative and outrageous.” So outrageous that columnist Herb Caen “made her one of his weekly figures, and that was an honor,” said Brown.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Legendary-S-F-stripper-Carol-Doda-dies-at-78-6625160.php
RIP Carol Doda! 
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I remember her well. She frequently performed in North Beach in S.F. My late father took a couple of Mormons to one of her shows (they were trying to recruit my mother). After the outing w/my parents, they never bothered my mother again, that's for sure! 
