Where kink is king
The San Francisco Armory is that dark, rusty-red brick fortress on the corner of 14th and Mission Streets. It’s a moody castle, with its Gothic allusions and Moorish-revival turrets. Designed by a state architect, it’s also associated with some of the city’s more medieval instincts. It was built in 1912 in an area that was originally marshland and later became Woodward’s Gardens (1866–1891), which included a zoo, an aquarium, and an amusement park. Initially, the garrison was the sole home of the California National Guard, but in the 1920s the place became popular for prizefights and was known as the “Madison Square Garden of the West.”
In 1976, the Guard gave up its affiliation with the armory, which went dark for the next thirty years, although several scenes from Star Wars were shot there and the San Francisco Opera used the large interior space to construct its massive sets. Then in 2007, against stiff community opposition, Kink.com, a small porn empire, bought the historic landmark building for $14 million and recast it as an adult-film factory.
Info
Address 1800 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, www.armorystudios.com | Public Transport Bus: 49 (Mission St & 14th St stop) | Hours Open for scheduled tours only; reservations required. For available dates and times, and to make a reservation, visit: tours@armorystudios.com; tickets are $25| Tip Nearby at 2174 Market Street is the historic Cafe Du Nord, established in 1907. The former prohibition-era speakeasy was for decades a dimly lit, slightly grungy concert venue with a boudoir-style interior, which hosted a variety of musicians from Neil Young to Mumford & Sons. The restaurant has been recently remodeled and includes a smaller music venue.
The facility includes offices and a soundstage, complete with the very finest in de Sadian devices and fetish treasures. The storage room looks like a backlot carpenter’s shop, with its connoisseur’s collection of bondage equipment. There’s a hamster wheel that rolls submissives through a water trough. There’s a cage shaped like a kneeling body with a hole for the head, and a wardrobe center with every conceivable design of miniskirt, lingerie item, and stiletto shoe.
Aficionados can take a 90-minute tour of the nearly 200,000-square-foot facility; tickets are $25 and the experience is generally well reviewed, even if there’s no live shooting.
The armory remains an urban Rosetta stone that captures the city’s many paradoxes, including its conservative nature and libertine personalities.
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