SAN FRANCISCO — Kink.com founder and president Peter Acworth has opened the Armory Club, a high-end cocktail lounge located in San Francisco.
It took over a year to design and complete the Armory Club, which features pressed tin ceilings, a lit onyx bar and cast-iron fireplaces. And if the bar’s Victorian Industrial aesthetic echoes the sets from Kink’s famed Upper Floor, it’s no accident.
"For me, the Armory Club is just an extension of the Kink lifestyle,” Acworth said. “We may produce fetish material, but we're also a member of the community — whether you define that by geography or sexuality or sentiment. We’re as much an ethos as we are a company.”
The Armory Club is as welcoming as the San Francisco Armory, a massive Moorish Revival fortress that serves as production headquarters for the company. But unlike its progenitor, there’s nothing overtly sexual about the club.
“This really isn’t about sex or fetish,” said Kris Ramirez, the bar manager for the Armory Club. “It’s about Peter wanting to create his perfect bar, a place where he could come for a well-made cocktail after work. It has his sensibility, but the focus has always been on sophistication rather than sexuality.”
But Kink says not to be surprised if you see James Deen or Bobbi Starr pressing up against the bar with a glass of champagne after a long shoot — the Mission District Armory Club is less than half a block from the studio itself, and has quickly become one of the best perks about working for Kink.
Still Acworth hopes that San Franciscans will welcome it as any other local bar.
“You go if you're kink-curious,” he said, “but don't need to be dressed in leather to feel at home.”
The Armory Club is located at 1799 Mission St, San Francisco, 94103. For some video footage of the bar, click here.