Isn’t there a better way to get a peak inside the Kink.com armory? I realize that a certain Belle & Sebastian video may have suggested that this is the way to go, but do you really want to end up as the office piece of fluff?
Maybe you do.
Previously:
The Tens Takes You Inside The Armory
I have nothing against porn… but… can someone please explain to me how this fine and historic place ended up as the kink Mecca? I’ve lived in SF long enough to know that “the housing rights” activists would rather see a piece of real estate go into complete ruin before they would except change of zoning allowing residential development (condos… what a horror!!!). But, still was this the only compromised that the city could reach with the “Red Army Fraction” of the SF housing?
http://www.sfarmory.com/history.php
long story short, it was empty for 27 years until kink.com bought it and put it to good use.
A few points to consider:
30 years empty, 30 years of neglect and decay, 30 years of attack from the outside and inside.
You say that is a “fine and historic place”. I agree that it has a certain elegance, but have you given any serious thought to the point-of-view of organized labor in this city? The building does have a history, and it is not one that is entirely good. There are people in town who would prefer that that building collapse on itself, rather than stand to serve any useful purpose. Compromise? Hah!
That building is incredibly expensive to maintain safely; what kind of business do you suppose would have the capital to do it? What local government could justify the expense to voters? The best other option was probably during the dot-com boom, and the building’s enemies fought that until the bubble burst.
Has the building been cleaned-up, and is it being well-maintained? It seems so. Are the streets being overrun with naked, whip-wielding mutants? It seems not. Is the building, which you profess admiration for, looking good and healthy? To me, it does.
THEN WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU COMPLAINING ABOUT?!!! Jesus motherfucking Christ, grow the hell up and quit bitching about what other people do behind closed doors with their bodies. They don’t complain about YOU!
actually, it seems that < a href="/2010/04/29/alleged-crazy-neighbors-side-of-the-story/" rel="nofollow">they kind of do
Not about his sexuality, they don’t.
i wouldn’t put anything past good ol’ nancy scott
At one point it was going to become a dot come office in the late 90s. The City tried to even sell it many years ago for one dollar for housing but the buyer would have to bring it to code for living and that would have been in the many multi millions. My father had worked in it way back in the late 40s early 50s for a short time.
Everything cannot be for housing even though we might want that.
OK – so, I expected some interesting reactions to my comments, but I must say I’m quite impressed with the amount of vitriol in one of the responses. Interestingly enough, the part where I’m supposedly “bitching about what other people do behind closed doors with their bodies” completely eludes me. Where exactly did I say that in my posting?
I don’t know the complete history of the attempts to put that building to the best use over the past 30 year. I remember that there was a proposal to build some condos inside, while keeping the facade of the building (a trend that was quite popular in the City at some point). I was quite perplexed with the architectural challenge of such an endeavor, but I thought that it might be the best way to deal with a high cost of maintaining that building (which I did hear about). I was surprised, though by – what seemed like – a hysterical reaction of the housing activists who rolled out “the big guns” against that idea immediately. Fine. It is SF, after all.
In the late 70s there were brothel, porn studios and bonefires around South Park. It doesn’t take a staunch conservative to conclude that the current use of that area maybe a bit more pleasing to the general public. And yes, it’s just an opinion. There is a lot of money in porn, but I doubt that we’ll live to see it being as welcome in our neighborhoods as… oh let’s say… photographic equipment outlets like Calumet, or grocery stores.
Finally, a personal note – I don’t think there are any parts of my personal life that NS wouldn’t make laud comments about – not everything ends up in first floor window or on the sidewalk in front my property.
So you’re saying the Mission should follow the South Park area’s development model? Have you been to that over-priced, sterile, yupptastic neighborhood recently? No, thanks — I’ll take Kink over that any day. Plus, Kink has held a few craft fairs and similar community-oriented events, so it’s not like they’re exactly giving the Mission the finger.
What, are you just trolling the comments for this post? How can you not get that your objection to Kink getting the Armory is, ipso facto, “bitching about what other people do behind closed doors with their bodies”? It’s the basis of your comment! Without that, your words would say nothing more than, ‘Oh um, dearie me, I wonder why the Armory isn’t filled with delicious candy?’
Furthermore, if Nancy Scott were demanding that you vacate your building because you walk around masturbating naked in the apartment over her head, I would think that would be all the more reason to not join her in prurient intolerance.
@who,me? — umm, did you forget to take your medication today. Your posts are wildly off-target and just down right nasty. PiotrP made some very mild suggestions and asking some interesting questions and you respond by imputing all sorts of ulterior motives to him. There is nothing — absolutely nothing — in his posts that suggests that he is “bitching about what other people do behind closed doors”. If you want to attack straw men, that is fine. But please do it behind closed doors — your comments are just embarrassing to the rest of us.
Doggy, if you’re going to read my comments, you should try reading Piotr’s, too. Apparently, Kink.com is an unwelcome tenant in the neighborhood.
No need to feel embarrassed — I’m not.
“Isn’t there a better way to get a peak inside…”
By “peak” if you mean a mountainous boner(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peak)
because peek is what you do with your eyes.
PUNS CAN BE FUN!
The owner and a lucky few friends actually do live in there — in grand if somewhat rustic style, I might add. SO I guess technically you could call it infill housing with a giant-ass dungeon feature. Its like the sadist-hipster version of the Hefner mansion.
Oh goodie… congrats, “me, who?” – you found yourself an enemy; no matter that he (me) didn’t say anything remotely that you attribute to him (me). Alas, as Adolf H. once said – “who the Jew is – I decide”, so it doesn’t matter what I say – I’m being painted as repressed, prude and nothing I can say will change that find.
I thought that it was in a way funny that in the city where real estate is so precious, the only paying customer for this building turned out to be a tenant whose business is “interesting” enough to entice reasonably frequent smirky comment on this very blog. Something makes me think that if it was a graphic design studio not that many people would get a kick out of the photo that started this all… No, it is porn and that is why we are even having this – getting more and more unpleasant – exchange.
As far as the South Park area is concerned: it is a very old part of the city; in the mid-19th century it was supposed to be London circles-like retreat for the city’s bourgeoisie. Over the years it changed and floated up and down in values. I had a girl-friend who- as a very young woman, in the late 70s – lived on 3rd Street, very close to SP. She was on the SF punk rock scene at the time and enjoyed “the edgy” environment. But, like many of us, she did grow up and pimp-johns fights, vomit cover sidewalks and frequent police visits is not how she defines “bohemian life-style”, any more. Neither do I. The present-day SP is tad boring, but it will change again. Just like the Mission will change – like it, or not.
And finally – a polite request, if possible to have it granted by now – let’s talk and argue – if we must – about the Armory from now on. I don’t like to hide behind nicknames, so you all quickly associate me with my – irrelevant here -truly tragic housing situation. I shouldn’t have responded to some initial comments about NS – apologies for that.
Actually, PPiotr, it does matter what you say.
“[C]an someone please explain to me how this fine and historic place ended up as the kink Mecca?” — that matters.
“[W]as this the only compromised [sic] that the city could reach[?]” — that matters, too.
Together, or even separately, they imply a moral condemnation of the operators of Kink.com, which I find tedious and hypocritical in any discussion of the contemporary social scene — and especially that of The Mission.
But you know what would have mattered, too, if you had said it? How about something like, “Wow, the Armory really does look better since the Kink people took it over and poured thousands and thousands of dollars into fixing it up. Why, a person would have to be a miserable ingrate to not appreciate what’s been done, there!”
Maybe you really meant to say something like that… maybe you got distracted by me yelling at you… maybe.
@who me: wow, you really have gone off the deep end. Apparently, the ONLY thing a person can say about the Armory is to praise Kink.com being there — otherwise that person is tedious, hypocritical etc. Sorry, the only thing that you have convinced me of is that you are arrogant and unpleasant.
It took you this long to figure that out? Hell, I’m a career smartass; I’ve been arrogant and unpleasant for years…
…to morons.
Good lord, this is all getting so contentious.
On a side note, there is probably a few Nazi uniforms folded neatly in a closet there at Kink, you know, for business use.
I live in the hood. A have a son a family. Kink has improved the building and has actually been a good neighbor. What happens within kink stays within kink. Just like what goes on in my home and yours.
The building and surround streets are much better since they took over the armory
Well, at this point I’m ready to walk away from this. I see a lot of anger, aggression in “who? me?”‘s words and, quite frankly, juvenille perception of the world in black and white terms.
As for the Armory … porn is a fringe of the social scene. One can enjoy it another can abhore it, but it wasn’t my intension to make this the subject of this discussion. It was simply a comment about the state of this city which has to rely on the fringe to solve its issues. Just to give you a less loaded example: parking tickets revenue should be “a fringe” of cities’ financial management. It is one of the most imortant sources of this city’s revenue. In my view that’s wrong. And no, it doesn’t mean that I’m opposed to ticketing poorly parked vehicles.
@ who, me?:
prurient: marked by or arousing an immoderate or unwholesome interest or desire; especially : marked by, arousing, or appealing to sexual desire
I know it *sounds* like prurient would mean “prudish,” but it actually means almost its opposite!
Dictionaries are fun.
I used the dictionary meaning. Obviously, I think Piotr has issues with porn that he is not aware of, and would certainly not want to acknowledge if he was. Pretty typical, really. Almost every other day, we see another ‘family-values’ politician getting busted for ‘inappropriate’, or even illegal, sexual conduct.
Oh, grow up – yes, you REALLY need it “who-me” … you’re so incredibly juvenile that mother’s milk is still fresh in your breath… after failure of simple text interpretation, you’re trying your undeveloped brain powers in psychoanalyzes. Also, using (incorrectly) big words as Calizzy points out. is a dead give away… you’re just some kid who needs to have the world as simple as crayon drawing… being mature is really fun… and you’ll laugh at yourself too, once you understand that are you not the owner of the ULTIMATE TRUTH… have fun with the cartoons…
OMG! It’s funny that I haven’t figured out until now who you are … I mean your true off-line identity… the tells were all over your postings: the unusual aggressiveness toward me, your eloquence combined with immaturity and self-righteous tone…
There was a cartoon in New Yorker years ago … two dogs sitting in front of computer and one says to the other – “You know, on the internet nobody knows that you’re a dog”. As clever and funny as it was, it’s not entirely true and it doesn’t take a psychological wiz to finally figure out that he is having a conversation with a 16-year old…
… good luck with that masturbation, I’m sure it’s fun, but as you may see when your acne heals, nothing tops the real thing.
Dad?
Just to clarify, that was out there because we were having the windows re-stained.
I believe the building is zoned “light industrial”. The only factory interested was Kink. Kink didn’t even have to get a variance because the fit the zoning.
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