The old San Francisco Armory, where yesterday’s soldiers trained and where today’s porn stars flay each other with whips, has gotten the green light to reinvent itself once again.
The San Francisco Entertainment Commission on Tuesday granted permission for the Armory’s owners to produce concerts, providing they end no later than 2 a.m. and are attended by no more than 4,000 people.
The old San Francisco Armory, where yesterday’s soldiers trained and where today’s porn stars flay each other with whips, has gotten the green light to reinvent itself once again.
The San Francisco Entertainment Commission on Tuesday granted permission for the Armory’s owners to produce concerts, providing they end no later than 2 a.m. and are attended by no more than 4,000 people.
“We have imposed a slew of conditions,” said commission Executive Director Jocelyn Kane, who said the owners must install soundproofing, hire security guards and observe curfews before the shows can start, probably sometime in the fall.
“We’re not going to issue a permit until we make sure the soundproofing is done,” Kane said. “That has to take place. Our sound engineers will go into neighbors’ homes and measure. It’s important that the neighbors don’t hear, smell or see whatever is going on inside.”
Kane said that the space is “humongous” and that Kink.com would be “able to do anything” in terms of entertainment. That’s something that Kink.com customers say the owners are already good at.
Under the terms approved by the commission, concerts could run until 11 p.m. on Sundays through Wednesdays, until midnight on Thursdays and until 2 a.m. for Friday and Saturday shows.
The primary business of Kink.com is a website that offers thousands of videos — most of them filmed on elaborate sets inside the Armory — with such titles as “Electrosluts,” “Hogtied,” “Everything Butt” and “Dungeon Sex.” Customers pay $1 to view each video, although that rate plummets to 93 cents per video to any customer capable of watching at least 75 of them.
“We can’t tell them what kind of entertainment they can put on,” Kane said. “That’s a First Amendment issue.”
Kane said Kink.com could even put on a circus, if it wants to. Kink.com fans say that’s a fairly good description of the existing business model. Armory spokesman Mike Stabile said the company was “not planning that many events” at the Armory.
“If some people are thinking there’s going to be a big concert every night, that’s not going to be the case,” Stabile said.
