The Armory Porn
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The Armory Porn
From Military To Kink: The History Of The Armory, San Francisco’s Porn Castle
The Armory's Hogtide Room. | Photo: Larissa Runkle
By Larissa Runkle - Published on May 03, 2017.
"We like to tie people up like piñatas ," said tour guide Dusty Wallace as she led visitors through the historic San Francisco Armory .
The space serves as the headquarters for Armory Studios, better known as Kink.com , the world's largest producer of BDSM porn. Films for its 29 websites were shot within the walls of the Moorish Revival castle up until this past February.
Kink is also the current owner and tour provider for the Armory—and it's not shy about sharing its X-rated values with visitors.
As guests head to the basement, they are invited into the Hogtide Room, a chamber that was used for munitions storage when the building was as a training and social center for the National Guard.
“All the way in, folks—we’re not playing 'just the tip.'” Wallace slams the thick steel doors and invites attendees to take pictures in front of the rough cagey-looking props, which several couples do. O-rings hang from an original concrete structure in the back of the room.
The Armory wasn't always this risqué. Built in 1914, the current 200,000 square foot building replaced the original armory, which was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake.
Now a 4,000-person concert hall, an enormous drill court at the back of the building was once home to tactical training, live boxing matches, and other sporting events, earning it the name “Madison Garden of the West.” To this day, the court is the city's largest unsupported enclosed space .
Even before Kink's arrival, filmmakers were drawn to the castle's intrigue. In 1976, Star Wars creator George Lucas visited the castle, later filming scenes for "The Empire Strikes Back" in the space.
Decades later, actor/director James Franco became fascinated with the unconventional world inside the Armory, resulting in the 2013 documentary " Kink ."
After the building was abandoned for several years following the National Guard’s move to Fort Funston, several unsuccessful purchase attempts were made by local real estate organizations. The castle received historical status in 1978, but as a result, aspiring tenants weren't permitted to make significant structural changes.
Because Kink founder and CEO Peter Acworth could use the space without major modifications, he acquired the property for $14.5 million in January 2007. Kink started filming inside later that month.
Repairs were necessary such as plumbing and electricity updates, sprucing up the original floors and surfaces and even hiring divers to help drain the flooded basement. New floors and soundproofing were installed in the drill court to accommodate the company’s plans to host large-scale events.
Ten years ago, many residents near the corner of 14th and Mission weren’t thrilled with the idea of their new neighbors, but the company made arrangements to be good neighbors, covering up windows and setting up the majority of filming in the basement.
Rumors of wild sex parties overflowing into the street were never more than gossip, Wallace said. “There were definitely parties, but I’ve never heard of them pouring out into the streets.”
As for the other floors, there’s not a whip in sight—well, maybe one or two—since Kink uses the upper-level spaces for the operations crew. They’ve even had a few tenants over the years, notably LGBT sex toys vendor Prerogatives.
To keep costs low, Kink stopped filming at the Armory in January, instead shooting in different cities across the country. The company will even have a mobile production vehicle driven by Kink director James Mogul.
Armory Studios plans to leave most of the property as-is and rent rooms out as sets. Thanks to an exemption passed by the Planning Commission in January , Kink will be permitted to convert and rehab parts of the Armory without applying for a conditional use permit. The company will also continue to host events in the Drill Court, like the upcoming Jungle Pride .
There's no word yet on leasing to new tenants, but Wallace said the building isn’t undergoing extensive remodeling. Currently, the only construction projects involve installing a new roof over the drill court and adding more green rooms and restrooms.
Although porn has left the building, Kink still plans to keep things sexy. The upstairs Edwardian Lounge —where submissives graduate to serve their dominants—isn’t going anywhere, and staff will continue to offer BDSM workshops.
To attend a tour or workshop at the Armory, visit its website . To find out more about events, visit SFarmory.com . (Both sites are safe for work.)
The Mission District’s Armory Club didn’t make much sense after Kink.com skipped town, but the new cocktail destination Dahlia Club has bloomed in its place.
The Slanted Door pop-up, featuring new dishes in testing, will be happening in UC Berkeley Wurster Hall on nine nights, Wed-Fri, in the second half of June, and reservations are now available.
Former Tartine head baker Nick Beitcher finally realized his goal of opening a brick-and-mortar bagel shop last week with the debut of Midnite Bagel (646 Irving Street).
A 2,500 square foot mural now proudly coats SoMa’s Oasis with a historical celebration of the LGBTQ performers who blazed the trail for the club scene of today.
Hoodline - your city's top journalists reporting original news & stories across neighborhood beats.
From Military To Kink: The History Of The Armory, San Francisco’s Porn Castle
The Armory's Hogtide Room. | Photo: Larissa Runkle
By Larissa Runkle - Published on May 03, 2017.
"We like to tie people up like piñatas ," said tour guide Dusty Wallace as she led visitors through the historic San Francisco Armory .
The space serves as the headquarters for Armory Studios, better known as Kink.com , the world's largest producer of BDSM porn. Films for its 29 websites were shot within the walls of the Moorish Revival castle up until this past February.
Kink is also the current owner and tour provider for the Armory—and it's not shy about sharing its X-rated values with visitors.
As guests head to the basement, they are invited into the Hogtide Room, a chamber that was used for munitions storage when the building was as a training and social center for the National Guard.
“All the way in, folks—we’re not playing 'just the tip.'” Wallace slams the thick steel doors and invites attendees to take pictures in front of the rough cagey-looking props, which several couples do. O-rings hang from an original concrete structure in the back of the room.
The Armory wasn't always this risqué. Built in 1914, the current 200,000 square foot building replaced the original armory, which was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake.
Now a 4,000-person concert hall, an enormous drill court at the back of the building was once home to tactical training, live boxing matches, and other sporting events, earning it the name “Madison Garden of the West.” To this day, the court is the city's largest unsupported enclosed space .
Even before Kink's arrival, filmmakers were drawn to the castle's intrigue. In 1976, Star Wars creator George Lucas visited the castle, later filming scenes for "The Empire Strikes Back" in the space.
Decades later, actor/director James Franco became fascinated with the unconventional world inside the Armory, resulting in the 2013 documentary " Kink ."
After the building was abandoned for several years following the National Guard’s move to Fort Funston, several unsuccessful purchase attempts were made by local real estate organizations. The castle received historical status in 1978, but as a result, aspiring tenants weren't permitted to make significant structural changes.
Because Kink founder and CEO Peter Acworth could use the space without major modifications, he acquired the property for $14.5 million in January 2007. Kink started filming inside later that month.
Repairs were necessary such as plumbing and electricity updates, sprucing up the original floors and surfaces and even hiring divers to help drain the flooded basement. New floors and soundproofing were installed in the drill court to accommodate the company’s plans to host large-scale events.
Ten years ago, many residents near the corner of 14th and Mission weren’t thrilled with the idea of their new neighbors, but the company made arrangements to be good neighbors, covering up windows and setting up the majority of filming in the basement.
Rumors of wild sex parties overflowing into the street were never more than gossip, Wallace said. “There were definitely parties, but I’ve never heard of them pouring out into the streets.”
As for the other floors, there’s not a whip in sight—well, maybe one or two—since Kink uses the upper-level spaces for the operations crew. They’ve even had a few tenants over the years, notably LGBT sex toys vendor Prerogatives.
To keep costs low, Kink stopped filming at the Armory in January, instead shooting in different cities across the country. The company will even have a mobile production vehicle driven by Kink director James Mogul.
Armory Studios plans to leave most of the property as-is and rent rooms out as sets. Thanks to an exemption passed by the Planning Commission in January , Kink will be permitted to convert and rehab parts of the Armory without applying for a conditional use permit. The company will also continue to host events in the Drill Court, like the upcoming Jungle Pride .
There's no word yet on leasing to new tenants, but Wallace said the building isn’t undergoing extensive remodeling. Currently, the only construction projects involve installing a new roof over the drill court and adding more green rooms and restrooms.
Although porn has left the building, Kink still plans to keep things sexy. The upstairs Edwardian Lounge —where submissives graduate to serve their dominants—isn’t going anywhere, and staff will continue to offer BDSM workshops.
To attend a tour or workshop at the Armory, visit its website . To find out more about events, visit SFarmory.com . (Both sites are safe for work.)
The Mission District’s Armory Club didn’t make much sense after Kink.com skipped town, but the new cocktail destination Dahlia Club has bloomed in its place.
The Slanted Door pop-up, featuring new dishes in testing, will be happening in UC Berkeley Wurster Hall on nine nights, Wed-Fri, in the second half of June, and reservations are now available.
Former Tartine head baker Nick Beitcher finally realized his goal of opening a brick-and-mortar bagel shop last week with the debut of Midnite Bagel (646 Irving Street).
A 2,500 square foot mural now proudly coats SoMa’s Oasis with a historical celebration of the LGBTQ performers who blazed the trail for the club scene of today.
Hoodline - your city's top journalists reporting original news & stories across neighborhood beats.
Ex-armory turns into porn site / Kink, a Web-based pornography distributor, buys historic S.F. building to film its bondage movies
Steve Rubenstein , Chronicle Staff Writer
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A friendly band of San Francisco pornographers can't wait to get inside the old armory on Mission Street and start tying people up, artistically.
Not only tying them up, but also spanking them, swatting them, cuffing them and whipping them, with sensitivity.
"This is going to be very exciting," said porn director James Mogul . "What an opportunity."
The other day, Mogul paid a visit to the cavernous old armory, just to look around. The Moorish-style brick building was recently purchased for $14.5 million by Kink, a Web-based pornography distributor that outgrew its South of Market dungeon.
The armory, built in 1912, served as a military induction and training center during the two world wars. It's listed on the National Register of Historic Places but has been empty since 1970. In recent years, plans to build apartments , offices and an Internet switching facility never got off the ground.
At present, kids on skateboards practice their moves on its front steps, and homeless people sleep in its doorways. Its windows are broken and boarded up, its walls covered with graffiti, and its dungeonlike basement is peeling, chipping, rotting and moldering.
Nothing wrong with that, say the pornographers. A real, ready-made dungeon is just the thing for filming bondage movies.
Filming could begin inside the 200,000-square-foot armory as early as next month. To get ready for that happy day, Mogul wandered the crumbling corridors of the enormous dark and dank basement, scouting locations.
"I see tied-up girls, right here," Mogul said, standing in what was the soldiers' gymnasium. "You suspend them from these arches. This will be very cool."
In the boiler room, Mogul said, the possibilities are endless.
"You could put a girl right inside the boiler," he said. "Why not? It's a nice little chamber. You wouldn't have to change anything. It's already formidable looking. You don't have to build a fake dungeon; this building is already a dungeon."
The boiler room and an adjoining room with a giant industrial fan were arousing Mogul's artistic impulses.
"I see erotic whipping," he said. "I see all kinds of kinky things going on in here. It's wonderful to put soft human flesh next to ugly, industrial machines. That's what we call juxtaposition. The possibilities are endless."
Mogul, a 41-year-old filmmaker from Boston, said many pornographers went to fancy film schools to learn their craft, but he never found that necessary.
"I got my start tying up my girlfriend," he said. "It all took off from there."
Mogul writes, directs and produces an hourlong porn film every week for "Men in Pain," one of nine Web sites in the Kink chain. At last count, about 70,000 subscribers worldwide were paying $25 a month to gain access to the Web sites, according to founder and owner Peter Acworth , the fellow who bought the armory.
At present, the company's porn movies are filmed, edited and produced in a two-story building on Mission Street, a block from the San Francisco Centre shopping complex. That building features a dozen sets, including a castle, dungeon, jail, barn, boudoir and what looks like a spaceship. Alas, the Mission Street building has grown too small for the nine movies that must be shot every week.
Acworth said not only is the armory big enough to meet all his porn needs, he also plans to rent out extra space in the building to mainstream filmmakers.
"It could soon become the San Francisco Film Center ," he said.
Residents aren't quite sure what to make of their new neighbor. Luis Granados , the executive director of the Mission Economic Development Association , said his group found it had no legal grounds to object to having a pornographer next door.
"Whatever you might think about what they're doing, it's perfectly legal," he said. "Do I think it's a good fit for our family-based neighborhood? No, I don't."
Kink will do its part to fit in, said Acworth, pledging to fix the broken windows and the graffiti right away. Kink is proud to bring its high standards to the neighborhood, he added, because Kink stands for decency in pornography. "We have values," Acworth said. "We believe in showing respect toward women in our work."
As for vulgarity, Acworth said, that's all relative. The building's original purpose, he pointed out, was to train soldiers to kill people.
"That's obscenity," he said. "What we plan to do is nothing compared with what this building was intended for."
Chronicle staff writer Steve R
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