(Updated 7:40 AM) Violence broke out in front of the Broadway Showgirls early this morning, as an employee and customer of the North Beach strip club were victims of a drive by shooting.

We’re told that this incident is suspected to be an escalation in a long-running feud between Showgirls (which lays claim to “plush atmospheres” and a “show shine service” on their website, neato!) and another North Beach men’s club.

One long-time San Franciscan we spoke to reminded us “there is a precedent to this — at one time, one side of the street was all mob-owned clubs, pitted against the others.” Back in Sam Conti’s heyday, the Garden of Eden club was firebombed, “someone threw a molotov cocktail in the door or something.”

Both men are presently hospitalized and expected to recover. Showgirls has video cameras mounted outside their doors, which caught the shooting. While the faces of the suspects (shooter and driver) weren’t visible, we’re told they were in a four-door, maroon colored sedan (though ABC7 is reporting that the car was a silver one, we’re checking on that).

the author

Eve Batey is the editor and publisher of the San Francisco Appeal. She used to be the San Francisco Chronicle's Deputy Managing Editor for Online, and started at the Chronicle as their blogging and interactive editor. Before that, she was a co-founding writer and the lead editor of SFist. She's been in the city since 1997, presently living in the Outer Sunset with her husband, cat, and dog. You can reach Eve at eve@sfappeal.com.

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