Behind the grand facades of several buildings in the Bay Area lie shady little secrets that few know about. These locales once hid a past that has now been revealed...

- Maiden Lane, San Francisco:

The incredibly thin, rich women who rush in and out of posh Maiden Lane boutiques, such as Chanel and Yves St. Laurent, are most likely unaware that in this same place stood seedy, dirty brothels where women sold their bodies instead of designer clothes. The narrow alley in Union Square was once called Morton Street and, according to Fodors, the travel guide company, reported “at least one least one murder a week during the late 19th century.”

- Condor Sports Bar, 300 Columbus Ave.,
San Francisco:

The Condor is where waitress-turned-dancer-turned-actress and boutique owner Carol Doda danced in a topless bikini, exposing her breasts in 1964. The exposure caused San Francisco to become the birthplace of topless dancing, then illegal in many parts of the country. It was also here that a man was killed in the early 1980s when he and another Condor worker had sex atop a piano. Unluckily for them, the piano happened to be connected to a hydraulic system, which was accidentally set off, raising the piano and pinning them both against the ceiling. The man was crushed to death, and the terrified girl was stuck under him for hours before being discovered.

- The Shops at Tanforan, 1150 El Camino Real,
San Bruno:

Newly remodeled and bustling with business, Tanforan in San Bruno was once a temporary internment camp. During World War II, Tanforan Race Track was used as an alien assembly center in 1942 for the thousands of Japanese-Americans that were evacuated from their homes in the San Francisco area. Here, people were forced to live in the tiny horse stalls until being forced to move once again to other camps.


- Former Hollywood Video, 1450 Noriega St.,
San Francisco:

Many San Francisco residents would be shocked to learn that the Hollywood Video store on Noriega Street, now a vacant building, was once the Hibernia Bank that heiress Patty Hearst robbed in 1974. Hearst, daughter of millionaire publisher William Randolph Hearst, had been kidnapped from her home in Berkeley by members of the Symbionese Liberation Army and was held captive for two months before the robbery. Hearst claimed to have been brainwashed and changed her name to Tania. She also partook in the criminal activities of her captors, including this hold-up.