If you’ve ever been lucky enough to have found yourself at the corner of Mission and 14th Streets in San Francisco’s Mission District, you know the presence in the air that was felt when looking up at the menacing, historical monument that is The Kink Armory building. San Francisco air is cold, crisp, and cutting, yet within those darkened, concrete walls, adult performers were warmly welcomed as instant family, as community. We found friendship, lovers, and ourselves in each other. We found freedom of expression for our fluid sexualities and genders. We had a safe space to reveal parts of ourselves locked away, both physically and psychologically. We discovered new kinks and new ways to come.
The Armory served as a meeting place for many performers of marginalized communities that were able to consider it home. It was the unholy intersection of mainstream porn stars, queer and gay porn stars, trans performers, one-time performers, BDSM-only riggers and performers, niche performers: everybody was truly welcome. It certainly gave people like myself, that often felt like misfits in the mainstream, a place to feel like we finally belonged in a place within the porn world that truly mattered. I likened my first impressions of being inside the Kink Armory to what the young recruits to the X-Men Academy must have felt like walking through the fictional hallways of that comic book sanctuary. To be surrounded by history, talent, and powerful sexuality is quite an intoxicating feeling. The marble floors and large, wide staircases led you to walls adorned with breathtaking original paintings of Kink.com’s most notable directors, producers, and production crew. They were simply exquisite.
There were so many rich opportunities to connect to kindred spirits by simply walking down the halls, sitting in the green room, going to the gender-neutral bathroom and shower, and, of course, post-shoot hangs at the Armory Club Bar across the street. You could bump into a favorite performer you may have never had the chance to otherwise meet in person. The opportunity to have chance encounters with performers that rarely made it to America was all around you. You could make friends with performers that you may never work with because of our various niche categories, but you got to meet them there in the green room and share breakfast and a chat. There were organic moments of human connection that simply do not exist anymore in any aspect or area of porn.
Seeing a recent Twitter thread about that demise from a once long-time director on one of Kink.com’s sites shed new light to my freshman understanding of what was going on behind the Kink.com scenes. He detailed how many directors had their pay cut in half multiple times as Peter Acworth repeatedly replaced Kink’s Head of Production. The cuts affected sales and morale.
Performer/director Matt Williams said,
“Orlando quit first, then me, then Donna…Then Tomcat, then Marty all within a year. As I remember now, the mass quitting of directors took about 2 1/2 years after I quit. Not one, but the point is the same. That’s the short version on the downfall of a porn superpower.”
What did Kink.com create for adult performers by hosting its production in this beautifully dark, old San Francisco monument? I asked some performers, some production crew, and behind-the-scenes Kink.com staff what the Armory has meant to them over time and what it means now that it’s gone.
What did the Armory represent or mean to you?
“The Armory was definitely a unique building to work in. It had an iconic allure to it and walking into the building up the marble steps was always something that I truly enjoyed. I loved the experience being one of many employees that got to spend their work day in a castle in the middle of San Francisco. From the sets, to the architecture, there is no denying that working in the Armory was a one-of-a-kind experience.”
— Anonymous Kink Production Crew Person
“Yeah, the Armory was community to me. It was the space where I was able to have my first queer community and learn more about my gender as well as my kinks. Kink was home in a lot of ways.”
— Anonymous Regularly Booked Kink Performer
What is your porn experience like without that?
“Even though we are no longer shooting content at the Armory, my porn experience without it is totally fine. While I do sometimes miss being able to be in the building, the fantastic Kink community that has been established and built from years of hard work and [the production of] top-of-the-line, authentic BDSM porn has not died down. We don’t need a fancy building to continue to strive in shooting the most diverse and ethical porn out there.”
— Anonymous Kink Production Crew Person
“I still get to shoot with different Kink directors since Kink restructured because I was lucky to have gotten to shoot with them when the Armory was a thing. It’s not the same because we just don’t have the same vibe as when we had a lot of us performers in the same space together. I miss having a shared green room.”
— Anonymous Regularly Booked Kink Performer
Have you worked a Kink.com shoot since the closing of the Armory? If so, how is it different?
“I have worked on a Kink shoot post-Armory and the only change is the location. The camaraderie, professionalism, and stellar performances from the variety of performers we continue to shoot has not changed.”
— Anonymous Kink Production Crew Person
“It’s different and the same in a lot of ways. Like the awesome directors are still awesome, but we don’t get to see as much of the Kink team anymore — like the makeup and wardrobe people and talent-office people. Now on set it’s just the site-specific crew, which is still lovely, but I think we all kinda miss having a big awesome building.”
— Anonymous Regularly Booked Kink Performer
The contrast in how the Armory experience for Kink performers and Kink crew is something worth noting. For the crewperson, they seemed not as deeply saddened by the fact that Kink scenes are no longer shot inside the Armory. They acknowledged the community loss, but for the most part, was reconciled with the fact that Kink production quality and standards remain in tact.
For the Kink performers, myself included, we feel like we lost something so damn important for us — our oasis, our sanctuary, our escape from unethical or less-organized porn sets. Perhaps because, for some of us on the queer side, the existence of that building and the community within it represented the potential of our dreams. Being inside Kink Armory was an absolute dream. It was surreal. And it was honestly too good to be true.
I started performing at Kink.com inside the Armory in 2014. I remember having been a fan of the site for so long that I was thrilled to finally be invited to shoot there. I was aware that there were internal struggles within Kink management and ownership, rumors I had heard here and there in passing. Little did I know that those struggles would soon after my first shoot escalate into the demise of the facility I was barely becoming familiar with.
I remember in 2016 when the whole wardrobe department was wiped out and there were notably less staff walking the halls. It just felt so different, so bleak. No longer was it a bustling chamber filled with kinksters and supporting staff. There were few people and in much less places. There was an emptiness, there was a draft. From that moment on is when I recognized that my Kink.com experiences would never be the same… or so I thought.
Fast-forward to this past month, I was asked to return for Whipped Ass, one of my favorite Kink.com sites. One thing’s for certain, even though the Armory building is gone from us, the spirit of Kink.com remains. I played the Domme role to Violet Monroe’s sub role. Our director was Fivestar, who I’ve had the pleasure of working with previously in the Armory. Much like our work days in the Armory, everything was up to Kink.com standards, just minus the building. She and everyone else on staff were pleasant, efficient, and sensitive to our needs as performers. Every item of use was carefully labeled and laid out in full view, from the snacks, to the arnica rub, to the bandages, or douche bottles. Everything was as it always had been, just minus the building.
So despite the fact that yes, we lost this incredibly ominous, looming, beautiful, haunted, historical building in the Armory, we still haven’t lost all of what we know and love about Kink.com. It exists within us performers, directors, productions crew, and makeup artists that carry on the Kink.com standards of the highest level of care by being the shining example of how to treat performers on a hardcore set. Just wish we still had the green room!
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