San Francisco kink scene Archives

Everything was so organized back then, before the actual opening!

There was a contract I signed and everything. The postcards were about the concept of service, and never went any further than these roughs. I like the detail of the espresso machine and milkshake machine in the top drawing, though I am shocked and appalled at how I drew the “default people” as white, abled and slim.

Latte art at Wicked Grounds in San Francisco. Michealangelo S. via Yelp

Funny thing about opening a restaurant, always: once it starts, no matter how good your plans were, you can’t find your ass with both hands.

San Francisco did not make it easy to open Wicked Grounds. Anyway it was a nice meeting, and ultimately led to me working at Wicked Grounds as an employee in September of that year. After a brutal divorce, losing my Berkeley home and my freelance business and then losing my apartment and being taken in by a beloved Friend-Muse-Patron, I was shattered. I needed connection and community.

And I know Wicked Grounds helped a lot of others.

Blessed memories. Sweet kinksters. Puppies frolicking in the back of the cafe where we’d pulled the tables away, drinking milkshakes from dog bowls and shaking the floor with their leaps. “Sanitize as necessary”. Making out with my young boyfriend as we pulled espresso shots!

Live queer porn shoots in the cafe, sign on the door “Closed for porn shoot”. Hot and sweaty Folsom Sunday when we were all topless, wearing just Wicked Grounds stickers on our nipples! Meeting my brother-from-another-mother Mickey Mod, KC and so many more.

I found a bunch of 2006 drawings that had never been archived!

The 2006 album on my flickr has always been oddly scant, although I was documentary-drawing quite a bit already that year (though I was painting much more). For some reason, these drawings were scanned, but they were never posted. Now they are out in the world!

The top drawing is a lovely woman in toe shoes and a Dark Garden corset I drew at Folsom St. Fair that year; her partner bought it so I no longer have the original. I was working incredibly hard in September of 2006; you can see my drawings from the Folsom Eve party at Kink.com’s original headquarters here.

This is the first picture I ever made of my Never-Muse!

I met Little Miss Never for the first time when she stopped at my booth at Folsom 2006. She was wearing a white rose in her snakes of black hair and one of her grandmother’s negligees, and I instantly knew that I must know her and paint her, at depth and breadth, for all time. This sketch was made with black acrylic paint, from memory, shortly after meeting her, then touched up with pen later.

In 2006 my second ex-husband was living in Los Angeles, working at a studio down there, and I went down to LA at least once a month.

I hated LA with a passion, and our marriage was on the rocks. It was horrible going down there. The upside of it was going to the wonderful LA goth clubs. I loved Bar Sinister at Boardner’s, where in September of 2006 the premiere party for Ernest Greene’s Story of O film was held.

Ernest Greene and Nina Hartley, legendary LA BDSM power couple, at the “O – Power of Submission” premiere party!

What a great event this was, and what a good time! I had a press pass and all the access I could dream of. I was of course dressed up in a pvc corset and lots of fishnet, black lace and fancy hair feathers. The crowd was pure Hollywood adult film royalty, in their finest latex and leather!

What a thrill! Holy cow it was an exciting night.

Nina Hartley, the iconic adult film director, performer, sex educator, feminist, and author, was a star of the movie as well, and kindly posed for me.

I even painted a quick portrait of Ms. Hartley.

I stood there at my portable easel painting while latex-clad porn stars squeezed past me in the crowded courtyard of the club and the band played. Ms. Hartley’s eye had been injured, so she was wearing an eye patch; I really liked the rakish effect. I donated this painting to a benefit, I think for SF Citadel, and it was bought by one of my clients, so I no longer have it, sadly.

After Ms. Hartley I painted a great portrait of the film’s star, Carmen Luvana, but I do not have a picture of it! I loaned it to a show in San Francisco, and there was some confusion and I was never able to collect it. It’s a shame because it was very cute, like a ’70’s Playboy cover, all blonde and tan.

I also did a quick painted sketch of Evan Stone, another of the film’s stars.

I was, um, familiar with him from his work 😉 He was completely kind and surfer-dude friendly as he posed and I feel like I got a good likeness.

Ava Rose, a very hot young starlet, posed for a drawing.

She was utterly vamping me as I drew her, and she was so beautiful.

Here are some young ladies posing for photos!

This was the era of Lip Service fetish wear and everyone was wearing pleated vinyl micro-minis, which I love! You can see another drawing of the guests at the event here. I’m so glad I was there documenting these sexy moments.

I also made a lot of drawings at DNA Lounge on Halloween in 2006.

Most of them were published already, but I found the ones above and below in the “lost” file.

And I found several more orphaned drawings, including one I can’t share here from the Caligula party at SF Citadel in December of 2006!

I went to the Vampire Ball, in Alameda, that year.

I drew this beautiful girl sleeping in her corset in the powder room. I sold the original years ago, to a fellow artist who recognized what a goddam banger of a figure drawing this is!

Here are some young ladies at Kink.com’s original HQ (known as The Porn Palace)!

This drawing is from November 4, and I remember we were all up on the roof at the hot tub at sunset, and I really couldn’t believe the life I was leading. My marriage was ending, and that was so very painful and terrifying.

But I was surrounded by amazing people, making art about sexuality, and I knew I would survive.

None of these art scans had ever been published; until now, no record of them existed outside our home – if we had a fire or flood they would just be gone forever.

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Suzanne Forbes, a New Yorker thriving in Berlin. Crowdfunded documentary art made possible by the generous support of her Patrons. https://www.patreon.com/SuzanneForbes.

Tag Archives: San Francisco kink scene

From the Vaults: illustrations for Wicked Grounds.

As I work on organizing images for the book, I am finding all kinds of forgotten art.

Everything was so organized back then, before the actual opening!

Someone else, with much better graphic design skills than me, drew the awesome logo.

Funny thing about opening a restaurant, always: once it starts, no matter how good your plans were, you can’t find your ass with both hands.

Wicked Grounds was my refuge.

So basically WG saved my life on so many levels.

And I know Wicked Grounds helped a lot of others.

Jared from DNA gave me the sobriquet “Velocicougar” – “My God, it can open a door!”

Leather elders meeting in the cafe. Littles playing! So much beautiful kink scene. So much glorious SOMA leather spirit.

You can find Wicked Grounds online on the website, twitter, Instagram, and on Patreon.

You can watch me talk about those days, at Bawdy Storytelling!

I am incredibly grateful to my Patreon Patrons, whose monthly financial support in this final year makes it possible for me to document my art archives.

Archiving 2006 drawings!