Join Tenderloin Museum and SF Heritage for a special presentation on the history of the Cadillac Hotel, a landmarked building in the heart of the Tenderloin that pioneered a model for non-profit supportive Single Room Occupancy (SRO) housing in San Francisco, the first of its kind west of the Mississippi. Today, the Cadillac is home to approximately 160 residents as well as a handful of small neighborhood businesses and institutions, including the Tenderloin Museum. Discover the story of the Cadillac Hotel and learn about its impact on the Tenderloin and beyond.

Built in 1907, the Cadillac Hotel opened as a stately accommodation for wealthy visitors to a thriving Tenderloin district. However, in its over century long tenure, the building has lived many lives, and when the Tenderloin fell on hard times in the 60s, the Cadillac became a refuge for the impoverished and has remained a bastion of affordable housing into the 21st century.  

Kerri Young, Communications and Programs Manager for SF Heritage, will give an overview of the history and architecture of the Cadillac, the storied “Newman’s” boxing gym, and the imaginative preservation work of Leroy and Kathy Looper that transformed the Cadillac into a neighborhood anchor, “The House of Welcome.” Then, Kathy Looper, the Cadillac Hotel co-founder and TLM board president, will be joined by Arnie Lerner, SF Heritage’s former staff architect who worked on the Cadillac’s 1977 restoration, to discuss their experience with the Cadillac’s restoration as well as its role in the neighborhood today.