The Tenderloin Museum is thrilled to host the Dave Casini Latin Jazz Quartet at the Concerts at the Cadillac, a free concert series open to the public that, since 2007, has provided high-quality music for the residents of the Cadillac Hotel and San Francisco's Tenderloin District.

Friday August 19, 2022 | 1:00pm - 2:00pm

*this show takes place at the Cadillac Hotel! 380 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102*

About the Dave Casini Latin Jazz Quartet: Dave Casini has been playing jazz in the Bay Area for 50 years. He released two albums of his compositions in 2019, is on CDs with Tribu, Octobop, as well as 9 videos at the Cadillac Hotel. While the pandemic has limited gigging, Dave is the vibist with Primavera Latin Jazz, Joel Dorham’s Latin Jazz Octet, Orion’s Joy of Jazz and drummer with the Bob Roden Quintet. Dave has played multiple performances at the SF Jazz Festival, the San Jose Jazz Festival, Yoshi’s and the Fillmore.

FREE

Open to the public | Mask wearing required

Tenderloin Museum presents an homage to one of San Francisco’s most storied jazz clubs in a day-long mini music festival featuring performances by Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, SF Recovery Theater, plus a community-based music production, Tenderloin Voices, by Bay Area jazz composer, trumpeter and singer Sarah Wilson produced by the Tenderloin Museum in collaboration with Larkin Street Youth Services, Skywatchers, and Tenderloin writer Lyzette Wanzer. Presented as part of Sounds of the Tenderloin, a series of TLM public programs that animate the neighborhood’s undersung cultural history through live music (made possible by generous support from Hardly Strictly Bluegrass).

Saturday August 13, 2022

12:30 - 5pm; Music starts at 1pm

Location: Dodge Place SF, CA 94102 (SE corner of Turk at Larkin)

FREE

Famous photographers incorporated neon signs to capture iconic American landscapes from Walker Evans to Weegee and Vivian Maier.

Join us for this online presentation, an illustrated exploration of American photographs and photographers that feature neon and signage, hosted by presentation by Al Barna of SF Neon. This presentation showcases images from photographer heavyweights like Lee Friedlander, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Harry Callahan, Stephen Shore, William Eggleston, Vivian Maier, Gordon Parks, Fred Herzog, and Weegee; as well as lesser known photographers and photographs made during the decades before neon signs were considered blight. Explored through photographs, historic neon signs are a fascinating synecdoche of small businesses and a window to the past. Get ready for a deep dive into the work of photographers who engaged with the spectacle and social themes of neon signs.

Thursday, July 28, 2022, 6:30pm | Tickets $10 Regular | $5 Students/Educators

Reserve your tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/neon-through-the-lens-1930s1970s-tickets-382158354927

This is a Zoom event, recording will be available on YouTube for one week after the event. In proud partnership with the Tenderloin Museum.

The Tenderloin Museum presents DOTCOM & THE NOISE in concert at Dodge Alley as part of its Sounds of the Tenderloin live music series and in collaboration with the Tenderloin Community Benefit District.

DOTCOM & THE NOISE: Sounds of the Tenderloin at Dodge Alley

Thursday July 21, 2022

Performance 6-7pm | Block Party from 5-8pm

Dodge Place, SF, CA 94102

Free! Outdoors!

All are welcome at Dodge Place on Thursday, July 21st from 5-8pm, with the musical performance from 6-7pm. Free to attend; food & drink by Shovels Bar & Grille available for purchase.

Tenderloin Museum’s Sounds of the Tenderloin series animates the neighborhood’s undersung cultural history through live performances that explore, deepen, and complicate participants’ understanding of Tenderloin history while supporting local working musicians and creating accessible cultural activities for the neighborhood residents. Support for this event and TLM’s Sounds of the Tenderloin live music series generously provided by Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.

The Tenderloin Museum is thrilled to host Renegade Orchestra at the Concerts at the Cadillac, a free concert series open to the public that, since 2007, has provided high-quality music for the residents of the Cadillac Hotel and San Francisco's Tenderloin District.

Friday July 15, 2022 | 1:00pm - 2:00pm

*this show takes place at the Cadillac Hotel! 380 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102*

About Renegade Orchestra: Welcome to the Renegade Orchestra–it’s time to throw out all the old conventions of a quiet, sleepy, stuffy show of musicians locked in straight jackets of tradition. Clap your hands, tap your feet, and yell all you want–the Renegade Orchestra embraces the virtuosic skills of top bay area musicians and turns them loose on songs orchestras have never or maybe shouldn’t do.

FREE

Open to the public | Mask wearing required

My Overdose Will Not Be Tragic is a gallery show of DIY posters, zines, and ephemera from the archive of Heather Edney + The Santa Cruz Needle Exchange.

Thursday, July 7, 2022 | 5:30 - 7:30 PM

Curated by Greg Ellis, Director of Ward 5B, My Overdose Will Not Be Tragic explores a body of work that provides important historical context for how harm reduction is practiced today; it also paints a portrait of young, grassroots organizers who tapped into a subcultural zeitgeist to compassionately care for people who use drugs in the name of public health.

As the fourth authorized syringe exchange program in the U.S., SCNEP was groundbreaking in its work with young injection drug users and sex workers. They spearheaded the first Hepatitis A & B vaccination campaign in the State of California, partnering with UCSF researching the practices of young people who inject drugs in and around the Haight Ashbury, Polk, Mission, SoMA, and Tenderloin neighborhoods of San Francisco. Their revolutionary ideas and programs remain the bedrock of harm reduction today.

Free

The Tenderloin Museum & The Tenderloin National Forest are thrilled to co-present Rent Romus and David Boyce for a special afternoon of live music at the Luggage Store Gallery’s enchanting and intimate community arts space, The Tenderloin National Forest. This free show is part of our “Sounds of the Tenderloin” program series which aims to animate the neighborhood’s undersung cultural history through live music.

Saturday July 2nd, 2022 | 2:30 pm

This double header of sonic explorers pays homage to the expansive legacy of experimental, and improvised music in the Bay Area and in particular the scene’s robust and dynamic node in the Tenderloin. The TL’s longest running venue for these sounds has been the Luggage Store Gallery’s artist run Creative Music Series, which has hosted new music of all stripes and skill levels weekly since 1991. Improvisor/composer Rent Romus has curated the series since 2002, and to celebrate this pillar of the new music scene in SF, TLM has invited Romus to perform in the captivating space that is the Tenderloin National Forest. Romus’ group, Lords of Outland, will be paired with Black Edgar (David Boyce), for an epic afternoon trip through the outer and inner reaches of sonic headspace.

Note! This event takes place at The Tenderloin National Forest: 501 Ellis St. SF, CA 94109

FREE

As community partner, the Tenderloin Museum joins Frameline46 in proudly presenting the world premier of Donna a film by Jay Bedwani. Don't miss out on this loving portrait of local legend Donna Personna — a long time TLM collaborator and friend.

Saturday June 25, 2022 | 11:00am - 12:30pm

Now in her seventies, Donna traces Donna Personna’s intimate journey to becoming who she is today: a storyteller, an artist, an activist. Director Jay Bedwani follows Personna as she works on an immersive play detailing the riot at Compton’s that spurred the trans right movement, sharing her rich memories of that turning point. His camera also captures a long overdue reunion between Donna and her family. Expanding on My Mother, Bedwani’s Iris Prize-winning short about Personna, Donna paints a captivating portrait of a fearless yet charming fighter.

Don't miss the world premiere of Donna at Frameline 46!

Admission: $17.50 | $16 for students, seniors, disabled

Reserve your tickets here: https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline46/donna

Join us for a screening of works on video & film selected by the late, great video artist Dale Hoyt that investigates the intersection of punk rock & performance art in the TL. Co-presented with SF Cinematheque!

Thursday, June 23, 2022 | 7pm - 8:00pm

By the early 1980s, the Tenderloin & Mid-Market’s dazzling district of movie theaters had fully devolved into seedy porno joints and schlocky grind houses; but these cultural dregs reacted spectacularly with the DIY ethos and youthful energy of punk rockers and performance artists attracted to the neighborhood’s rough and ready atmosphere. Both materially and symbolically, the Tenderloin informed this artistic milieu’s experiments in appropriation, recontextualization, and cultural critique, aided by the emergence and proliferation of the video format.

Hoyt’s program leans towards the musical in its survey of punk/performance in the Tenderloin and includes videos featuring The Units, Tuxedomoon, Snakefinger, and Flipper, along with works by Craig Baldwin, Richard Gaikowski, and Hoyt himself.

Admission is $10, reserve your tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/once-upon-a-time-in-the-tl-punkperformance-on-screen-tickets-327538064167

The Tenderloin is celebrating Juneteenth by recognizing local Black businesses, organizations, and artists at the Tenderloin Juneteenth People’s Talent Show!

Tuesday, June 21, 2022 | 3:00 - 5:00 PM

Hosted by the New Leadership Foundation in association with TNDC, Code Tenderloin, the Coalition for the Homeless, and the Tenderloin Museum. Join us at 398 Eddy Street on Tuesday, June 21st from 3:00 - 5:00PM for this free event highlighting the many skills and talents within our vibrant community. Dancers, singers, musicians, poets, comedians - your audience awaits. Bring your family, friends, neighbors, and come let your talent shine!

Contact Jamie at 415-358-3997 or JVILORIA@TNDC.ORG for auditions and more information.

FREE

Open to the public | Mask wearing encouraged

Don’t miss your chance to get in on the conversation as the Tenderloin Museum hosts a live conversation with Donna Personna!

Wednesday, June 15, 2022 | 5:30 - 6:30 PM

In anticipation of the world premiere of DONNA at Frameline46, join us for a personal conversation with Donna Personna, moderated by SFFilm's Rod Armstrong.

FREE

Open to the public | Mask wearing encouraged

Online only! An illuminating talk on the 1960s–70s era when SF gay bars went above ground. Join us on Zoom, this event now online.

Thursday June 9, 2022, 6:30 pm | ONLINE ZOOM EVENT

$10 | $5 for members of the Tenderloin Museum and the GLBT Historical Society.

Gay bars were often hidden, unmarked enclaves for only those in the know. Often veiled behind tinted glass, with narrow entrances to allow doormen to screen patrons, they needed to hide the goings-on within from the general public, and the police, as a matter of survival. In the late 1960s they started coming out of the dark, announcing themselves with neon signs. These photographs, chiefly by Henri Leleu (from the GLBT Historical Society Archives) capture a dawning of San Francisco's gay bars and clubs, circa 1960s-1970s. Plan to share your personal histories of some of these long-gone (as well as a few surviving) sites.

Hosted by Jim Van Buskirk with guests Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan of SF Neon, in proud partnership with the GLBT Historical Society.

Jim Van Buskirk was the founding Program Manager of the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center at the San Francisco Public Library, and has advised and collaborated with San Francisco Neon. He co-authored Gay by the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the SFBA and Celluloid San Francisco, and co-edited Identity Envy: Wanting to Be Who We're Not and Love, Castro Street: Reflections of San Francisco. Having contributed to various newspapers, magazines, anthologies, websites, blogs, and radio broadcasts, Jim currently works as a book group facilitator, writer, editor, public speaker, exhibit curator, and collections manager. Photo: Al Barna, Twin Peaks Tavern.

Reserve your tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/neon-comes-out-san-franciscos-gay-bar-signs-registration-337435878797

In advance of San Francisco’s first Marcha de lxs Putxs (on June 4th), the Tenderloin Museum and organizers of the Marcha de lxs Putxs proudly present a screening of CAER (2021), a film honoring Transgender Latinx sex workers.

Friday June 3, 2022 | 5:30pm - 7:00pm (rescheduled from Tues 5/31)

CAER is an experimental and collaborative documentary combining fiction (ethnofiction) and observational nonfiction methods, CAER highlights the history, resilience, fierceness and joy of the sex worker community and serve as a reminder that we cannot be erased. In it, Rosa and Paloma, the two fictional protagonists, fight transphobic violence, persecution from the police and defend their cases of trafficking in an increasingly anti-migration political environment in the US. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with sociologist and filmmaker Nicola Mai, the principal investigator of the project, and Liaam Winslet, Executive Director of the TRANSgrediendo Intercultural Collective, a grass roots association defending the rights of trans Latina migrant women in Queens, New York City whose members collaborated on all aspects of the filmmaking to express their real individual and collective experiences of migration, sex work, and exploitation.

Free!

Please wear a mask and show proof of vaccination or negative COVID test. Thank you!

The Tenderloin Museum is thrilled to host The Jeffrey Chin Trio at the Concerts at the Cadillac, a free concert series open to the public that, since 2007, has provided high-quality music for the residents of the Cadillac Hotel and San Francisco's Tenderloin District.

Friday June 3, 2022 | 1:00pm - 2:00pm

*this show takes place at the Cadillac Hotel! 380 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102*

About the Jeffrey Chin Trio: Pianist, composer, and recording artist Jeffrey Chin has been playing piano since the age of six, when he began his formal musical training in classical piano under the tutelage of Julia McCaslin and Samuel Rodetsky. During that time, he won numerous scholarships and awards, performing regularly in many open competitions and recitals. He eventually branched out and taught himself to play many other styles and types of music, including what would eventually turn out to be his passion...jazz. Jeffrey currently owns and runs his own recording studio, production company, music publishing company and independent record label. Past touring, recording and performance credits include: Sylvester and the Two Tons Of Fun, Lenny Williams (Tower of Power), Chris Issak, Teddy Pendergrass, Ray Charles, Dolly Parton, Oracle, Adobe, KRON, KMEL, the San Francisco 49ers, and countless others.

FREE

Open to the public | Mask wearing required

Tenderloin Museum and Great American Music Hall co-present Flipper (ft. Fletcher from The Garden on vocals), The Mutants, & Longshoremen together for a special evening of live music that celebrates punk’s under documented roots in the Tenderloin and its crossover with the edgy performance art world of the 1980s.

Thursday May 26, 2022 | Doors at 7pm, Show at 8pm

*show takes place at Great American Music Hall! 859 O’Farrell St. SF, CA 94109*

Regular performers at the Sound of Music (on 162 Turk St. in the TL), Flipper conjured an intense, slowed down, heavier than hell sound that was idiosyncratic for its time and developed an influential cult following that included bands like the Melvins and Nirvana. Flipper’s TL bona fides run deep: not only did they frequent the Sound of Music, they practiced across the street at Turk St. Studios, and cut records at Hyde Street Studio.

Also on the bill: SF punk legends The Mutants and “cryptic poetry damage vocal trio” the Longshoremen. The Mutants brought a raucous theatricality to punk music, and their songs oozed with zany wit that captured the zeitgeist of American counterculture in the late ‘70s & early ‘80s. Fronted by a spoken word artist named Dog, the Longshoremen ushered the spirit of Beat poetry into the punk generation. Don’t miss this rare chance to see a trio of titans from SF’s early punk scene in the TL’s most iconic venue, the Great American Music Hall!

$28 advance tickets available online here or in person at the GAMH box office (no fees) | $33 at the door

Join us for an opening reception for Punk/Performance in the Loin, a gallery show & public program series that explores the intersection of punk rock and performance art in the wild and ragged Tenderloin of the 1980s, organized by the late, great video artist Dale Hoyt.

Thursday, May 5, 2022 | 5:30 - 7:30 PM

Focused loosely on a triptych of arts spaces that were pillars of the 1980s TL scene–Sound of Music, Club Generic, & the side-by-side Market St. galleries A.R.E. & Jetwave, Inc–Punk/Performance in the Loin features over a dozen long-form video interviews shot by Hoyt that create impressionistic portraits of each venue & its respective community, as well as a collection of posters, photos, and ephemera. Like its subject, Hoyt’s project constellates a frenetic and sometimes cacophonous remembrance of an under documented, fleeting time (and place) in the San Francisco art world, one in which heady conceptual art was sublimated through a visceral and voluminous punk ethos.

Free!

Explore the Tenderloin's many murals, and get to know the story behind the TL's diverse & dynamic visual culture with a walking tour

Saturday, April 30, 2022 | 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM PST

Wherever you stand in the Tenderloin, there’s likely a mural in-sight! Explore the neighborhood's rich tradition of public art on the Murals of the Tenderloin Walking Tour, and get to know some of the artists and community groups behind the TL's diverse and dynamic visual culture. The tour will visit recent additions to the neighborhood pantheon, including several large scale works organized by Luggage Store Gallery, as well as some of the Tenderloin's most iconic urban imagery arranged by the TLCBD, CounterPulse, DISH, and various independent street artists.

*The tour will take place outdoors, masking is required regardless of vaccination status. As with our historic walking tours, attendees may purchase museum admission for an additional $5.*

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/murals-of-the-tenderloin-walking-tour-tickets-310707182547

Blackwell pays homage to the lively San Francisco jazz culture with an evening of live painting, live music, poetry, and performance art.

April 14th 2022 | 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM PST

Visual artist, poet, and playwright Charles Blackwell pays homage to the lively San Francisco jazz culture with Blackwell’s Black Hawk: Painting, Poetry, Performance Art, a multimedia happening inspired by jazz music’s spirit of invention and collaboration. Informed by the Bohemian mash-ups and after hours jam sessions of the ‘40s and ‘50s, as well as by Blackwell’s nearly two decades of creating art at the Hospitality House Community Arts Program, Blackwell’s Black Hawk integrates the artist’s poetry and painting practices with a small jazz ensemble featuring musicians David Byrd (sax), Russell Brown (guitar), Ollie Dudek (bass), and the dancer Andreína Maldonado. Responding to and providing visual accompaniment to the live music, Blackwell stages an up-close and semi-improvised encounter with jazz music and jazz musicians, subject matter central to both his visual art and his poetry practice. Tenderloin Museum is honored to host Blackwell’s work across several mediums–painting, poetry, and performance–as part of TLM’s Sounds of the Tenderloin live music series, generously funded by Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Blackwell’s Black Hawk is an in-person event and space will be limited; vaccination and booster (if eligible) will be required to attend, as will mask wearing. Free or $10 suggested donation; sign up via Eventbrite here.

Free | Suggested donation of $10.

Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/blackwells-black-hawk-an-evening-of-painting-poetry-performance-art-tickets-261450865577

Sunday Streets SF returns to the Tenderloin for an afternoon of fun for the whole family on over a mile of car-free streets, featuring a second line procession with the Bay’s best New Orleans style brass band, MJ’s Brass Boppers.

Sun, April 10, 2022 | 11:00 AM – 4 PM PST

Second Line starts at 12PM on the corner of Ellis & Leavenworth

Sunday Streets returns to the Tenderloin on Sunday, April 10th, and the Tenderloin Museum is celebrating with a second line processional along the route with live music by MJ’s Brass Boppers, a nine-piece brass band with the authentic New Orleans sound and roots in the TL. Join us and the whole neighborhood for a funky stroll through the TL! All are welcome and encouraged to march along with the band, dance, and sing along; music starts at 12pm on the corner of Ellis and Leavenworth, and the band will process along the Sunday Streets route along Ellis, Larkin, and will conclude at Golden Gate and Leavenworth at 2pm.

FREE
Learn more here: https://www.sundaystreetssf.com/tenderloin/

Join us on Friday, April 8th at 1pm to celebrate the mural project at the Tenderloin Children's Playground at 570 Ellis Street.

Fri, April 8, 2022 | 1:00PM PST

A very special addition to the pantheon of TL street art, the TL Children's Playground mural incorporates the voices of the playground's children in its design, which portrays a young, confident girl just beginning to spread her wings and aims to bring a feeling of inspiration and encouragement to the kids who hang out and play in this vital urban sanctuary. The project was organized and actualized by muralist Deirdre Weinberg, who connected with community partners at the Tenderloin Children's Playground and Up on Top program during a residency at the Tenderloin Museum.

Part 3 of the Neon-Matchbook tour series, featuring the history of East Bay/Oakland nightlife and design via vintage neon and matchbooks.

Thu, Mar 31, 2022 | 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM PST

Tune in for an illustrated exploration of typography used on the matchbooks and neon signs from the neighborhoods of Oakland and the East Bay. Just like matchbooks, historic neon signs are a fascinating synecdoche of the small businesses they represent, and a window to the past explored through material culture. This illustrated presentation will be hosted by Stephen Coles of Letterform Archive with co-host Al Barna of SF Neon. This is the debut of a new typography tour, get ready for a deep dive into the history of matchbook design and the unique letterforms of matchbooks and neon signs.

Free | Suggested donation of $10.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/east-bay-neon-matchbook-typography-tour-tickets-238705433377

A benefit featuring video highlights from "The Cockettes Are Golden," Q&A with Scrumbly Koldwyn and Birdie Bob Watt, a performance by Kitten on the Keys, and a tribute to the late Bambi Lake.

Thu, Mar 24, 2022 | 6:30 PM – 8 PM PST

Join the Tenderloin Museum and DJ Dank for a benefit screening to support the Cockettes’ upcoming new revue, featuring video highlights from the intrepid genderbending troupe’s 2020’s 50th Anniversary celebration The Cockettes Are Golden, a performance by Kitten on the Keys, a Q&A with Original Cockette and Musical Director Scrumbly Koldwyn and Assistant Director Birdie Bob Watt, as well as a special dedication to the late, great Bambi Lake, whose final performance was at the 50th Anniversary show.

$10 Admission

Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-cockettes-are-golden-benefit-screening-tickets-277155919817

Vaccine, booster, and masking will be required.

Join the Tenderloin Museum, Tenderloin transgender icon Collette LeGrande, and playwright Mark Nassar for the inaugural reading of Collette’s one woman play, Collette LeGrande, that tells a harrowing story of intense intimacy with matter-of-fact honesty.

Thu, Mar 10, 2022 | 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM PST

Join the Tenderloin Museum, Tenderloin transgender icon Collette LeGrande, and playwright Mark Nassar for the inaugural reading of Collette’s one woman play, Collette LeGrande, that tells a harrowing story of intense intimacy with matter-of-fact honesty. LeGrande and Nassar first collaborated on The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot play, produced and premiered by the Tenderloin Museum in 2018; since then, LeGrande has worked with Nassar to shape her charismatic telling of her life story into a performance for the stage. The resulting play is a genuine and deeply personal chronicle of a longtime Tenderloin resident’s journey of becoming her true self, set against the backdrop of the neighborhood’s iconic and (in)famous nightlife.

Free | Suggested donation of $10.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-simple-tenderloin-queen-collette-legrande-reads-collette-legrande-tickets-275886342477

Full vaccination (vaccine + booster) & indoor masking will be required throughout the event.

Free advanced tickets sold out, $10 tickets still available

Join the Tenderloin Museum and Skywatchers for the world premiere screening of Skywatchers' 10th Anniversary documentary, Skywatchers: The Slow Art of Belonging.

Thu, Mar 3, 2022 | 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM PST

Since 2011, Skywatchers has created performances that center the urgent concerns of formerly unhoused residents of San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, working with professional artists in a collaboration rooted in the ethos that large-scale social change begins with intimate, interpersonal relationships. Born out of an initial collaboration between Anne Bluethenthal’s ABD PRODUCTIONS, Community Housing Partnership, and the Luggage Store Gallery, Skywatchers has created or collaborated on a repertoire of twenty multidisciplinary works and over forty events that range from formal- and site-specific performance, to intervention, ritual, visual art, and multi-media work as part of a long-term community-embedded social practice.

Free!

No RSVP needed, but vaccines and masking are required.

Revisit mid-century San Francisco through photos and videos of vintage matchbooks and neon signs. Part 2 of the matchbook-neon tour series.

Thu, Feb 24, 2022 | 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM PST

Revisit mid-century San Francisco through photos and videos of vintage matchbooks and neon signs from the nightclubs, hotels, and late-night greasy spoons that shaped Tenderloin nightlife. Back by popular demand, this virtual tour features imagery and stories researched by hosts Katie Conry from the Tenderloin Museum with Al Barna of SF Neon. This tour is back by popular demand!

This event is part of Seasons of Neon, an ongoing series of illuminating talks and tours presented by the Tenderloin Museum and SF Neon that celebrate the publication of Neon: A Light History (Giant Orange Press, 2021) and explore San Francisco history through the city’s rich legacy of iconic glowing signs.

Free | Suggested donation of $10.

Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tenderloin-neon-matchbook-tour-tickets-236768961337

Explore the Tenderloin's many murals, and get to know the story behind the TL's diverse & dynamic visual culture with a walking tour

Saturday, February 19, 2022 | 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM PST

Wherever you stand in the Tenderloin, there’s likely a mural in-sight! Explore the neighborhood's rich tradition of public art on the Murals of the Tenderloin Walking Tour, and get to know some of the artists and community groups behind the TL's diverse and dynamic visual culture. The tour will visit recent additions to the neighborhood pantheon, including several large scale works organized by Luggage Store Gallery, as well as some of the Tenderloin's most iconic urban imagery arranged by the TLCBD, CounterPulse, DISH, and various independent street artists.

*The tour will take place outdoors, masking is required regardless of vaccination status. As with our historic walking tours, attendees may purchase museum admission for an additional $5.*

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/murals-of-the-tenderloin-walking-tour-tickets-238766526107

A virtual artist talk and open studio to celebrate Choice Cuts: Charles Blackwell selections from Hospitality House Community Arts Program

Thu, February 17, 2022 | 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM PST

Join us for a virtual artist talk and open studio on 2/17/22 to celebrate Choice Cuts: Charles Blackwell selections from Hospitality House Community Arts Program, on view 2/3/22 - 4/2/22 in the Tenderloin Museum gallery.

Choice Cuts is a group show curated by the artist, poet, and playwright Charles Blackwell that nods to the neighborhood’s jazz history and that music’s spirit of invention and collaboration. Featuring works by several longtime participants and staff of the Hospitality House Community Arts Program--Zumani, Txutxo Perez, Gigot, Kate Laster, and Blackwell–Choice Cuts exemplifies the robust, resilient, and resourceful practice of creating in the TL, as well as CAP’s decades long role as a vital and wide open conduit into the powerful artistic and cultural landscape of our community.

Free | Suggested donation of $10.

Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/choice-cuts-virtual-artist-talk-open-studios-tickets-261447355077

Thu, January 20, 2022 | 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM PST

Tune in for an illustrated exploration of typography used on the matchbooks and neon signs from the neighborhood. Just like matchbooks, historic neon signs are a fascinating synecdoche of the small businesses they represent, and a window to the past explored through material culture. This illustrated presentation will be hosted by Stephen Coles of Letterform Archive with co-host Al Barna of SF Neon. Back by popular demand, get ready for a deep dive into the history of matchbook design and the unique letter forms of San Francisco matchbooks associated with legacy businesses and neon signs.

Existing at the intersection of material culture and built environment, neon signs are emblematic of the many small businesses that comprise a vital thread in the dynamic tapestry of the urban ecosystem. The Tenderloin and Mid-Market sport the densest concentration of extant neon in the Bay Area, which makes the Tenderloin Museum an ideal forum to consider neon and its powerful, often overlooked ability to chronicle a city and its people.

Free | Suggested donation of $10.

Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/san-francisco-neon-matchbook-typography-tour-tickets-236762140937