Big Al's, Local bar in North Beach, San Francisco, United States.
Big Al's is a former adult bookstore and one of the first topless bars in San Francisco, opened in the mid-1960s and the city's first full-nudity bar. It stands next to the Condor Club in North Beach, and its neon sign and name were kept by the sandwich shop and later cigar shop that took over the site after it closed in 2009.
Big Al's opened in the mid-1960s as one of the first topless bars in San Francisco and the United States, and it was the first full-nudity bar in the city. By 1991 it claimed to be one of the largest porn stores in San Francisco. The adult bookstore closed in 2009; a sandwich shop and later a cigar shop took over the site, both keeping the name and neon sign.
The name and neon sign survived the 2009 closure of the adult bookstore and were kept by the sandwich shop and later the cigar shop that took over the site. The sign has appeared on postcards and in tourist brochures, and the location was used in the Survivor video for "Eye of the Tiger".
The adult bookstore shut in 2009; a sandwich shop took over the space, and a cigar shop now trades there. Both successors kept the Big Al's name and the original neon sign, so look for the sign rather than a bar entrance. The site sits beside the Condor Club in North Beach.
The site's neon sign survived both the adult bookstore's 2009 closure and the businesses that followed. A sandwich shop and later a cigar shop kept the Big Al's name and the sign, and the location appeared in the 1971 film Dirty Harry and in Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" music video.
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