Carol Doda attended the San Francisco Art Institute and worked as a waitress and lounge entertainer at the Condor Club, at the corner of Broadway and Columbus in the North Beach section of San Francisco. Doda’s act began with a grand piano being lowered from the ceiling by hydraulic motors; Doda would be atop the piano dancing, as it descended from a hole in the ceiling. She go-go danced “The Swim” to a rock and roll combo headed by Bobby Freeman as her piano settled on the stage.