February 11, 2007 | Sex & Society

Kink.com a pain for San Franciscans

What do soldiers and fetishists have in common, besides a love for uniforms and an occasional need for discipline? Not much. Unless you live in San Francisco, that is, where porn company Kink.com has purchased the old  State Armory, an historic building in the city's Mission district that once was home to the city's National Guardsmen.

Kink.com, which produces S&M videos and operates sites like Hogtied.com and MenInPain.com, bought the former State Armory for $14.5 million, according to the Associated Press, claiming that the vacant structure's dark, Moorish architecture would be the perfect backdrop for hardcore pornography.

"The basements in particular have a creepy, dungeony feel that is quite appropriate,"  company  founder Peter Acworth told the AP; he planned his first shoot in the old Armory this week, in the very same building where, for six decades, troops trained.

While the new Kink.com studio is legal according to San Francisco zoning requirements, local residents and politicians are hesitant to embrace it. Yesterday fifty picketers marched in the rain to protest the armory's new identity.

"While not wanting to be prudish, the fact that Kink.com will be located in the proximity to a number of schools gives us pause," said Mayor Gavin Newsom, who is facing his own sex scandal after admitting he had an affair with the wife of his campaign manager.

Kink.com's Acworth points out that the building, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, has been vacant since 1970. What's more he promises that his studio will maintain a low profile.

"Under no circumstances would they know more about what goes on in the armory than they do about their neighbors' sex lives," he said. "The walls of the armory are so thick, the idea that anyone would have any idea what's going on inside is ridiculous."

And if someone wants to see what's going on inside? Well, all they need to do is click their mouse.

• Porn studio puts city in a kink [BusinessWeek]
• Fifty protest porn business inside old Mission Street Armory [SF Gate]