Built over 100 years ago for the U.S. National Guard, The Armory at 14th and Mission in San Francisco is now home to Kink.com, a BDSM-oriented pornography lifestyle site. Quite the change. But now, after Tuesday night's approval by the Entertainment Commission, the (in)famous venue will be home to Live Nation concerts. And not everyone is pleased.
Residents in the rapidly changing neighborhood claim that the Armory already hosts late-night shindigs, ones that cause an upsetting amount of ruckus. As it stands, the venue is already authorized to hold one concert per month inside their Drill Court, a 4,000-seat space for large events. Even that, according to neighbors, has been too much to bear.
The new permit would "allow the company to host concerts seven nights a week, and stay open until 2 a.m.," reports KTVU. The venue has allegedly made it a habit of hosting unpermitted parties lately, causing a breech in security and quality-of-life issues. So much so that the Armory has been unaffectionately renamed the "EDM castle."
But it's not only new arrivals to the area who are upset. KQED has more:
"It seems like they’ve taken liberties with their current permitting at the expense of the neighborhood," said Sandra Davis, speaking with KQED. Davis has lived within a block of the Armory for 20 years, and "it’s almost like they were pushing the boundaries to see what they could get away with, and now they want even more latitude. And with the events director who’s also a commissioner?… We don’t know if we can trust the process."
For their part, Kink.com explained to KTVU Fox 2 that they plan on making necessary changes in order to appease both sides, saying:
"Over the past three years, we have had about 50 events without incident, including fundraisers, theater events, festivals, big parties, and sporting events. After hearing from residents, we are working to further soundproof the building, employing additional security guards to manage people outside the armory, and adding clean-up crews to make sure the area around the armory remains pristine."
After a few months of tiding up the place with needed adjustments, the Armory could start hosting live shows in three months. That is, unless the neighbors have their way.
Expect to hear more about this over the coming weeks.
San Francisco's Kink.com concert venue approved [KTVU]
The Armory, Kink.com’s ‘EDM Castle,’ Besieged By Permit Complaints [KQED]