It's What's Inside That Counts

We took a tour in the Mission District of San Francisco today. (This is where Foreign Cinema is located as well, the place we went for brunch yesterday.) We had booked into an early evening tour of the historic San Francisco Armory.

San Francisco Armory

Photos taken by ME with my phone

According to Wikipedia (as well as what we heard on the tour): The building was constructed as an armory and arsenal for the United States National Guard between 1912 and 1914. It was built to replace the old San Francisco Armory that had been elsewhere, which had been destroyed by the 1906 earthquake. In addition to its role as an armory and arsenal, during the 1920s, it served as a venue for sporting events, mainly boxing prizefights.  The Armory was a stronghold and rallying point for the National Guard in their suppression of the 1934 San Francisco General Strike, also known as "Bloody Thursday." The building closed as an armory in 1976, when the National Guard moved its facilities. After 1976, the building was largely unused for the next 30 years, though in 1978 the building was registered as a historical landmark.

Then, in 2006, it was bought by a production company. The SF Armory is now home to the elaborate and cinematic sets that have since been constructed for use as production studios. So, while we learnt about the building's history, we also toured the sets. Check out this dungeon one:

Dungeon Set - SF Armory

Taken by ME with my Phone

Between 1978 and 2006, when the SF Armory was empty, George Lucus had the buiding zoned for 'Arts Production' and filmed some of the interior space ship scenes for the first Star Wars movie inside. So, when the current company purchased the property in the mid-2000s it could start production quickly. Not just any production company, this one focused on elaborate and high-quality BDSM porn. The company's name is Kink.com, (that is a link to the Wikipedia article about the company, you can actually look up the website on your own.) So, yeah, Teri, Greg, Jason, and I toured a porn studio. They shoot during a standard work day so there was no filming, but we got to see the sets, including a wet room, shock room, and catfighting ring.