SAN FRANCISCO — Fifty soggy yet passionate picketers marched in front of the old armory on San Francisco’s Mission Street today to protest the dirty movies being shot on the other side of the brick walls.
Carrying signs reading "Shut it Down" and "Stop Sex-ploitation,” the protesters demanded that Kink.com, an online pornographer, stop its plans to make X-rated bondage videos inside the building.
But instead of backing down, Kink boasted that it had already shot three videos inside the 93-year-old armory, featuring veteran porn star Princess Donna, who was "expertly suspended above the drill court . . . with no complaints from anyone.”
"This is oppressive and inappropriate for our community,” said Sam Ruiz, executive director of Mission Neighborhood Centers. "It’s not OK to promote acts of degradation and violence. We don’t want this kind of stuff here.”
Protesters complained that Kink degrades the neighborhood, degrades women and offers "dead end” jobs that no decent person would want.
Kink, which bought the building in December for $14.5 million and announced plans to turn the 200,000-square-foot landmark into a pornography production palace, said that it wants to be a good neighbor and that no one need ever know that dirty movies are being shot inside.
Kink has been operating from an unadorned, two-story building on Mission Street, a block east of the remodeled San Francisco Centre. Few of its neighbors know anything about the whips, handcuffs, ropes, shackles and chains inside. Kink owner Peter Acworth said any Mission District community leader was cordially invited to tour that studio and see how decently the company treats its manacled performers.
None of the protesters seemed aware today that filming at the armory had already begun.
"Is that right?” said Roberto Hernandez, the artistic director for the annual Carnaval parade. "Maybe we have to go to court to stop it. This neighborhood is already plagued with enough violence and prostitution as it is.”
Acworth said he understood the protesters’ concerns and said his studio was a "closed shop.” He promised that residents would "have a better idea what’s going on inside their neighbor’s bedrooms than inside the armory.”
The company, he said, has already removed graffiti from the armory walls and is arranging to replace broken windows and install outside lighting. There is no Kink sign on the building.
As for the filming that has already taken place, Acworth said Princess Donna in her ropes and chains was suspended above the massive drill court on the main floor last week, and that two other bondage videos were shot this week in the basement boiler room.
"No neighbor noticed,” Acworth said. "There were no complaints from anyone.”
The only problem, Acworth said, was that the old building was too cold for performers during shooting. The company will be investing in more portable heaters, he said, because it’s important for his hogtied and horsewhipped actors and actresses to be comfortable.