SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Legendary stripper Carol Doda, who helped introduce topless entertainment more than 50 years ago, has died at age 78.
Friend Ron Minolla says she died Monday in San Francisco of complications related to kidney failure.
Doda went topless in 1964 at the Condor Club and soon changed every nightspot on busy Broadway. She left the club in 1985 and later owned a lingerie store.
Doda, known for her augmented bust, rode onto stage atop a piano on an elevator platform, debuting the same day President Lyndon B. Johnson drew half a million people in a visit to San Francisco. It wasn't long before the big news in town was "The Girl on the Piano."
An illuminated sign on the club in Doda's likeness later became a landmark.