TENDERLOIN
MUSEUM
398 Eddy Street
(@ Leavenworth)
San Francisco, CA 94102
info@tenderloinmuseum.org
(415) 351-1912
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday
10:00AM - 5:00PM
ADMISSION
Adults: $10
Students & Seniors: $6
Youth (Ages 13 to 21): $6
Children (Ages 12 & under): FREE
Art Gallery: Free
TLM participates in Museums for All, offering FREE general admission (with a valid Snap/EBT card + ID)
Walking Tours: We offer a variety of historical neighborhood walking tours. They’re usually scheduled on Saturdays at 2 PM and run approximately 90 minutes to two hours. Please check the Upcoming Public Programs page for more information and to purchase tickets.
CLOSED on HOLIDAYS:
New Year’s Day
Juneteenth
Independence Day
Thanksgiving / Day After Thanksgiving (Native American Heritage Day)
Christmas Eve / Christmas / Boxing Day (Day After Christmas)
New Year's Eve
NOW IN ITS SECOND SEASON!
The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, the critically-acclaimed, immersive theatrical production, plays every Friday and Saturday at 7 PM at 835 Larkin Street. PURCHASE TICKETS.
GET YOUR COPY!
Get your official Compton’s Cafeteria Riot mug and celebrate queer resistance every day. ORDER NOW!
"Any city that doesn't have a Tenderloin isn't a city at all"
- Storied San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen
WHO WE ARE
The Tenderloin Museum celebrates the rich history of one of San Francisco's most misunderstood neighborhoods. The 31 blocks of the Tenderloin district are the beating heart of the city peopled by immigrants and iconoclasts, artists and activists, sinners and saints. Visit the Tenderloin Museum today and encounter a kaleidoscopic American city in all its grit and glory.
WE’RE EXPANDING!
Tenderloin Museum is on the brink of something extraordinary. In 2026, we’ll open a new 6,850-square-foot space that triples our size and lets us tell more Tenderloin stories than ever—but only if we complete this final phase of fundraising. Our goal is to raise $50,000 by December 31. Your donation isn’t abstract: it becomes the exhibit walls where histories are shared, the workshops where young people make art, the archives that preserve community memory, and the gathering spaces where neighbors feel seen and celebrated. This is a once-in-a-generation moment to expand the museum’s impact, and it won’t happen without you!
WHAT YOU’LL FIND HERE
Permanent collection
Dynamic public programming—here’s what’s happening next:
UPCOMING PUBLIC PROGRAMS
DISCOVER THE LOST HISTORY OF THE TENDERLOIN
The Tenderloin's raucous history has been routinely overlooked in historical accounts of San Francisco. We invite you to get to know the Tenderloin's real story by taking one of our renowned walking tours, visiting our interactive exhibition space, or attending a public program. You'll learn more about:
Legendary venue Blackhawk Jazz Club where greats like Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Dave Brubeck, and Thelonious Monk played and recorded.
Immigrant stories of struggle and success, as people from around the world have gotten their start on U.S. soil in the Tenderloin.
The Tenderloin's role as a center of LGBTQ activism, including the 1966 Compton's Cafeteria Riot, the first recorded militant uprising by the queer community against police harassment in US history.
Recording studio Wally Heider Studios where the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young crafted albums that changed music forever.
San Francisco's golden age of vice, with gambling dens, speakeasies, bordellos, and a historic sex worker protest of 1917.
Stories from a neighborhood that immigrants, office workers, retailers, bartenders, musicians, actors, dancers and prostitutes have all chosen to call home.
The Tenderloin's rich present-day community, reflected in live music and theatre performances, film screenings, lectures, local artist exhibitions, poetry nights and more!
GETTING HERE
We are wheel chair accessible, located at 398 Eddy Street, right at the corner of Leavenworth, within easy access via public transit, bicycle, or car.
Public Transit: The Tenderloin Museum is a five minute walk from either Powell or Civic Center BART. We are also located near SFMTA bus lines 5, 8, 30, 31, 38, 47 and 49.
Bicycle: Tenderloin Museum does not have racks for bikes, however the Civic Center BART station offers secured, indoor racks that are available for public use (even if you're not riding BART).
Car: The closest parking garages are EZ Public Parking (333 Jones St) and Turk Street Garage (175 Turk St).
New 10th Anniversary Edition Updated 2025
San Francisco has gone through a lot since the original edition of this book was published in 2015. So has the Tenderloin neighborhood. That’s why we are so excited about Randy Shaw’s update to his original Tenderloin book to 2025. Shaw’s depiction of the Tenderloin as an historic center of resistance perfectly fits the current moment. It’s the 10th Anniversary of the Tenderloin Museum and all net book proceeds go to the museum.
About the Book:
Named for a part of the city where bribes bought police the highest-grade beef, San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood remains an island of primarily low-income, ethnically diverse residents in a city of every increasing wealth. How has it survived? Randy Shaw searches for answers in this powerful account of the Tenderloin from its post-quake rebuilding in 1907 through today.
The Tenderloin fought back against the establishment time and time again. And often won. Shaw shows how those outside the mainstream—independent working women, gay men, “screaming queens,” activist SRO hotel tenants and many others—led these struggles. Once known for “girls, gambling and graft,” the Tenderloin was also fertile ground for the Grateful Dead, Miles Davis, Dashiell Hammett and other cultural icons. The Tenderloin is the untold story of a neighborhood that persisted against all odds. It is a must read for everyone concerned about the future of urban neighborhoods.
Praise for the 2025 Edition:
“In this second edition to his book, Shaw recounts how this multi-racial working-class enclave managed to survive, if not always thrive, amid a city dominated by tech industry wealth and privilege.” - STEVE EARLY, CounterPunch
“Written with the deep knowledge and admiration of an activist who has promoted the Tenderloin for over four decades, Randy Shaw gives us a rich and accessible history of America’s most maligned and misunderstood neighborhood. This book is full of insights and lessons for building a more just future for marginalized communities.” - FORREST STUART, Professor of Sociology, Faculty Director, Program on Urban Studies, Stanford University
“Randy Shaw’s wonderful book is a perfect companion for a visit to the Tenderloin Museum. Shaw uncovers the neighborhood’s lost history and describes the challenges facing the vibrant Tenderloin today.” - KATIE CONRY, Executive Director, Tenderloin Museum
About the Author:
Randy Shaw is the Editor ofBeyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco’s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw's latest book is Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. He is the author of four prior books on activism, including The Activist's Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century. Shaw is the founder of the Uptown Tenderloin Inc., which led the effort to create the national Uptown Tenderloin Historic District and later to create and open the Tenderloin Museum.